Dominic Ona-Ariki

After playing the nephew of fan favourite TK Samuels on Shortland Street in 2007, Cook Island Māori actor Dominic Ona-Ariki took a break from acting. He’d previously co-starred as the time travelling Fred on P.E.T Detectives. From 2017 he got busy with roles in miniseries Jonah as All Black Eric Rush, and in the acclaimed Australian sci-fi series The Commons. In 2023 he played a sperm donor to a lesbian couple in comedy series Double Parked. The same year Ona-Ariki won an NZTV Best Actor award for his starring role in crime drama One Lane Bridge; he played a detective haunted by visions of the dead across three seasons of the show. 

I just thought that it was kind of cool to bridge the gap between the two worlds. I was brought up by my Mum who had quite a spiritual side, and then going out into the corporate world when I was in university . . . you don't normally get to have those two conversations at the same time, and in this show, we get to bring those ideas together. Dominic Ona-Ariki on his detective character in One Lane Bridge having second sight, The NZ Herald, 16 April 2020