Lani Tupu

Wellington-raised Lani Tupu — son of the actor of the same name - moved into acting after stints at teachers college, as a singer, and as a dancer on music show Ready to Roll.

In 1977 Tupu was awarded a Queen Elizabeth ll Arts Council bursary to study at NZ Drama School. The previous year he'd made his screen debut in bicultural thriller Epidemic (he can be seen in the finale of episode one). The first Samoan to graduate from the school, he followed it with three years at Theatre Corporate, where his work ranged from classical drama to musicals — including playing three roles in Piaf, and co-starring as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, for “visionary” theatre director Raymond Hawthorne.

Tupu then began a two-year stint at Auckland's Mercury Theatre company. Then he learnt that producer Stephen McElrea was casting on both sides of the Tasman for the lead role in TV series Country GP. “It was a stunning audition,” recalled McElrea. “Amazingly well-prepared. Six beautiful studies of the character as he saw him.”

During an interval during a performance of Chicago, Tupu found out that he'd landed the Country GP role. It would be life-changing, in terms of the acting roles that opened up to him. Set in 1945, Country GP saw Tupu (then Larney Tupu) playing the conscientious and successful GP David Miller. “There are things I identify with in his character. His quietness, his seriousness,” said Tupu at the time.

Though the character’s nationality was downplayed onscreen, the fact that this nostalgic primetime show had put a Polynesian in the main role marked a big step. During Country GP’s extended television run another Samoan actor, teenager Faifua Amiga, made his mark in feature Kingpin, and Polynesian TV movie Mark II followed in 1986.

Ironically, five years before, Tupu had auditioned for the movie of Albert Wendt's Samoans in Aotearoa tale Sons for the Return Home. Though his father won a part as parent to the main character, Tupu junior got only a fleeting role. “I just didn’t look Samoan enough. I’ve been mistaken for everything else, Italian, Greek.”

After two seasons on Country GP, Tupu relocated to Australia, hoping for more acting opportunities. He would return to Aotearoa occasionally to act in coming years — including for his movie debut, 1988 comedy Send a Gorilla, and to play straight-laced casino manager David Spence on two seasons of Marlin Bay. 

In Australia, Tupu changed the spelling of his first name to Lani, after tiring of casting people who expected that Larney meant he was of Irish descent.

In 1995 Tupu came back to New Zealand for a very different role: as a director on a pioneering series dedicated to Samoan culture in Aotearoa. Tala Pasifika was a series of short dramas showcasing Samoan talent. Written by Samoan Lisa Taouma, Talk of the Town (Tala o le Taulaga) marked Tupu’s debut as a screen director. The episode followed the life of a fa’afafine who is now a cabaret performer. Henry Ah-Foo Taripo's performance in the main role later won him a Best Actor Award at indigenous film fest Rainmaker in Canada.

In 1999 Lani Tupu won two roles, and a global fanbase, thanks to sci-fi series Farscape. Shot in Australia with a largely Australasian cast (including Tupu's ex Mercury Theatre boss Jonathan Hardy), Farscape ran for four seasons, followed by a wrap-up miniseries. Tupu initially auditioned to play alien warrior D’Argo, but saved lots of time in make-up by winning the part of goateed-villian Captain Crais instead (he had been wearing the goatee at the audition, thanks to a previous role as a Portuguese count). Tupu found Crais "very freeing to play”. He also had a secondary role on the show, voicing the ship's animatronic pilot character.

Tupu’s other Australian-based parts range from a “wonderful cameo” in multi award-winning feature Lantana, to Dolph Lundgren action vehicle The Punisher (as a Mafia chief), TV’s Police Rescue, and tele-movie Heart of Fire, based on heroic Kiwi firefighter Royd Kennedy. He also appeared in Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby) neighbours from hell tale The King is Dead (2012) and serial killer miniseries Reckoning (2020).  

Tupu was one of the founding members of theatre group Walkers and Talkers, alongside fellow ex-pat Kiwis Gary Stalker, Mary Regan, and his Marlin Bay screen wife May Lloyd."The reference came from what we do as actors: 'walk and talk, and try not to bump into the furniture," says Tupu. "We were all actors not getting any work, and decided to create our own..in the late 80s there were no co-op theatre companies at all. We turned the tables around and bought the rights to award-winning plays, and auditioned the directors instead."

Tupu set up his Screen Actors Studio in the late 1990s, and has taught acting on both sides of the Tasman — including at Toi Whakaari in Wellington, and Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art. He has also done many voice-overs for Australian network SBS, and paints. Some of his artwork chronicles his travels as an actor.

Profile updated on 5 February 2023 

Sources include
Lani Tupu
Dinah Priestley, Larney Tupu (Interview) - Onfilm, 1984
'Lani John Tupu' The Internet Movie Database website. Accessed 5 February 2023