Alex Tarrant

After graduating from drama school Toi Whakaari in 2012, Māori-Niuean-Samoan actor Alex Tarrant got a gig co-presenting youth show Totes Māori. But 2014 was the year that things really took off: he co-starred in WWl miniseries When We Go To War (as a Māori pacifist forced to go to Gallipoli) and played bad boy roles on both Cook Islands set miniseries Tatau and Kiwi-Australian hit 800 Words. In 2021 he joined the core cast of new crime show NCIS: Hawai'i. Tarrant's burgeoning CV also includes time on the medical staff of Shortland Street, corporate drama Filthy Rich, Australian TV show SeaChange, and Canadian-shot film Night Raider.

The whole experience of playing Manaaki has taught me things I try to embody now. To stand up for myself, to stay strong in what I believe in and to question things that don't sit right with me. That's what I love about acting — learning skills and qualities that I can apply to real situations. Alex Tarrant on miniseries When We Go to War, Stuff, 21 April 2015