Bow down to our acting children. (Image: Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureDecember 11, 2024

How does New Zealand produce so many successful child actors?

Senior writer

Bow down to our acting children. (Image: Tina Tiller)

Alex Casey takes a look back at the long history of Aotearoa’s child stars shining on the world stage and asks: are they our greatest export?

If you too feel as if your sense of national pride is sinking into oblivion like a pavlova left outside in the forthcoming hottest summer on record, I can recommend escaping into pop culture for some much-needed patriotism. Head to the cinemas where half the cast of Moana 2, currently the number one movie in the world, are New Zealanders. Pop on Netflix and see Thomasin McKenzie in Joy. Julian Dennison is apparently the best part of A24’s big new comedy Y2K, and Nell Fisher is about to blow up in Stranger Things S5.

We are punching well above our weight in Hollywood for a tiny Briscoes piss country, but closer analysis reveals another interesting trend in this crop of exports: many had star turns long before their 18th birthday. Julian Dennison was just 14 when he played wise-cracking Ricky Baker in The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, soon catapulted into the Deadpool multiverse at 16. Thomasin McKenzie was 15 when she made us all cry as Pixie on Shortland Street, and 17 in her award-winning role in Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace.

Julian Dennison (right) in A24’s new disaster comedy Y2K

Nell Fisher is the freshest of the bunch at just 13 years old (she is not New Zealand-born, but she has said we can claim her as our own, so push on this 33 year-old must). She was 10 years old when she screamed her way through the New Zealand-filmed Evil Dead Rise, and 12 when she starred alongside Elijah Wood in this year’s local family adventure film Bookworm (I tried to get an interview with her about the Canterbury Panther but she was a bit busy on a top secret new project, later revealed to be season five of Stranger Things).

We could go back further and talk about KJ Apa, who had a two-year stint as a teenager on Shortland Street before hitting the big time as Archie in Riverdale. There’s Rose McIver, who was just 17 in Maddigan’s Quest, eventually leading her to the top billing in American sitcoms iZombie and Ghosts. Melanie Lynskey was 15 years old when she starred in Heavenly Creatures, and went on to massive roles in Two and Half Men, Yellowjackets, The Last of Us, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and, of course, Coyote Ugly.

Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures

Keep digging and the local young blood to Hollywood pipeline simply overfloweth. Frankie Adams and Martin Henderson were both teens on Shortland Street before being hurtled into huge US television roles in Grey’s Anatomy and The Expanse, respectively (Adams is also in the upcoming live action Moana). Michelle Ang was 15 when she braved post-apocalyptic teen series The Tribe, later returning to a futuristic zombie hellscape in AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead as an adult (which she also got an Emmy nomination for).

And that’s all before we’ve even mentioned The Big Two. The square pegs in the round holes. The tiny children in floppy beaded berets at The Oscars. Anna Paquin was just 11 years old when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1994 for her role in The Piano (second youngest winner behind Tatum O’Neal in 1974). A decade later, 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes also made history as the youngest person to ever to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award (usurped in 2012 by Quvenzhané Wallis, but still).

As you can see (thank you Shanti Mathias for taking time out from writing about plastic pollution etc to help me with this), it’s a very strong showing from Aotearoa when it comes to small children vs large gold statuettes. Despite only making up 0.06% of the world’s population, we represent 15% of all actors under the age of 14 nominated for an Academy Award. And if we look at the total number of New Zealanders to ever receive an Academy Award nomination for acting, and we dutifully ignore Russell Crowe, the results are 100% kids.

What is remarkable about our local child stars is not just the calibre of their early performances, but their longevity in Hollywood. While Ryan Gosling, Ethan Hawke and Jodie Foster have survived and thrived, there’s just as many young American stars that have flamed out. Sometimes they step aside to make way for an inflammable younger sibling (the Culkins, the Olsen Twins), sometimes they swap acting for stock cars (Frankie Muniz), sometimes they disappear for decades to simply grow a big beard (Haley Joel Osment).

Keisha Castle-Hughes in particular has spoken candidly about the pitfalls of finding fame at a young age. “It was an incredible time for me when I was young, but really overwhelming,” she told Stuff. “I don’t think anyone really knew how to handle it. It all happened really quickly.” Hounded by local paparazzi so intensely that she had to give a fake name when she went into hospital to give birth in 2007, she left Aotearoa at 18 and went on to get roles in Star Wars, Game of Thrones and now is four seasons into FBI: Most Wanted.

Paquin too secured a raft of great adult roles following her stratospheric early success – not that it was something she pursued very hard in her youth. “I was 11. I wanted to go back to school and be with my friends,” she told Interview of her Oscar win. Even still, the New Zealand child star elixir remained potent within and Paquin would eventually star in everything from Almost Famous to Squid and the Whale, X Men to Scream, The Irishman to True Blood (for which she won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in 2007).

So why is it that this tiny island nation is so bloody good at producing such high quality, long lasting, free range young actors?

I asked around industry-adjacent people, and the primary reason that came up time and time again was this: Aotearoa makes a hell of a lot of good movies with kids and teenagers at the centre of the story, hurtling young actors into the cinema of unease instead of the Disney Channel. NZ On Screen has a whole collection saying as much, including Boy, Rain, The Changeover, Alex and Vigil. This year alone, we’ve had at least three coming-of-age titles released in We Were Dangerous, Bookworm and Head South.

In Alistair Fox’s book Coming-of-Age Cinema in New Zealand, Vigil filmmaker Vincent Ward reckoned childhood was one of the most common themes in our writing. “Perhaps this is due to the relative newness of the national identity, and ‘rites of passage’ stories reflect this coming of age,” he said. Fox also noted how our coming-of-age films are some “the most esteemed and successful films to be made in New Zealand, attesting to the vitality and creative inventiveness of what is still a relatively young industry.”

Anna Paquin in The Piano, not on the Disney Channel

So our child star success could be because our stories all skew young. It could also be down to… Shortland Street. Henderson, McKenzie, Adams and Apa in particular all had significant stints in Ferndale as young people before being catapulted to the big time. “When I’m talking to young people about acting as a career, I tell them Shortland Street is the most successful graduation programme that we’ve got in NZ,” Miranda Harcourt, acting royalty and mother of Thomasin McKenzie told The Big Idea in 2022.

“We certainly wouldn’t be where we are, joining the party at such a high level and punching above our weight in the global TV and filmmaking market with success at the Oscars and Emmys without Shortland Street.”

There’s another obvious reason for why our young people go the distance in Hollywood: they get to come home, touch grass and have a bloody L&P on the beach. Where young stars in the US can all too easily lose their grip on reality, New Zealanders can always flee Tinseltown for Titirangi, just like Castle-Hughes. “The things that I think I ran away from have become the things that I now crave and miss the most,” she told Stuff. “The part of home that always felt boring or stifling has become the thing that I really want in my life.”

Scour any interview and you’ll find similar sentiments. McKenzie is looking forward to visiting Princess Bay when she comes home for summer. McIver misses the black sands of Piha and the New Zealand sense of humour. Melanie Lynskey felt the pull to move home while shooting here during the “warm and lovely” months last year: “I was like, ‘What am I doing? Why don’t we live here?’” Even after condemning our tall poppy attitude, KJ Apa still pops back to film drunk people in wheelie bins every now and again.

Whatever the reason for our child star success rate, it’s worth holding onto as a point of pride in these grim times. For too long we have focussed on the importance of exports such as concentrated milk, meat, butter, and rough wood, and neglected the value of a wobbly-chinned 11-year-old doing a speech in a school hall, or a nine-year-old wearing a powerful bonnet on a West Coast beach. And if that’s not enough to give you a small burst of hope, consider this: our next big Hollywood superstar could be taking their first steps right now.

Keep going!

Three people with pixelated faces walk down a street. The person on the left wears a hoodie and shorts, the middle person wears a puffer vest, and the person on the right wears a scarf. A white van and car are parked beside them. The image is in black and white.

Ram Raid Mums follows the journey of three mums and ram raid ringleader Sonnie. (Image: Supplied)

ĀteaDecember 10, 2024

Review: Ram Raid Mums provides a blueprint for breaking the cycle

Liam Rātana

Ātea editor

Ram Raid Mums follows the journey of three mums and ram raid ringleader Sonnie. (Image: Supplied)

With youth crime dominating headlines and the government doubling down on punitive measures, Ram Raid Mums offers a powerful, humanising alternative. Liam Rātana reviews.

It’s easy to say that all criminals should be locked up. That we should throw the book at people who break the law in an attempt to deter them from reoffending. The thing with that approach is it doesn’t actually solve anything. Putting people in prison doesn’t fix the root causes of crime. When it comes to youth crime, imprisoning young people usually leads to them joining gangs and going on to commit further crime, potentially becoming career criminals.

If prison isn’t the answer, then there must be an alternative. Prime minister Christopher Luxon has long admitted there is a need to solve the root causes of crime – poverty, poor housing, poor healthcare, poor education, unemployment and economic inequality, just to name a few. However, the government’s policies instead seem focussed on punitive measures, such as imprisonment and the establishment of boot camps, rather than preventive policy.

One of the most highly publicised issues the government and police have been grappling with in recent years is the ram raid epidemic. According to police data, there have been a total of 173 ram raids in 2024 as of November 15. This is down significantly on 2023, in which police recorded 495 ram raids for the year, more than one every day.

In response, parliament introduced the Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill, which passed its first reading on August 29, 2023. The bill underscores a shift towards holding young offenders accountable, particularly by introducing harsher measures at younger ages. By criminalising ram-raiding as a distinct offense with severe penalties, the aim is to deter future offences and reduce glamourisation. Ram raids would be punishable by up to 10 years in jail, and give police the power to prosecute children as young as 12 years old.

While many may agree that punitive measures and deterrence are the best way to solve the issue, a new documentary shows there are other ways to help young offenders. Ram Raid Mums on TVNZ+ shines a light on the ram raid epidemic plaguing the streets of Auckland. Based in Papakura, production of the documentary began over two years ago, during what was arguably the height of the issue.

We meet three mums whose children have all been involved with ram raids together, and follow the journey of Sonnie, a young ringleader who is fighting to turn his life around after engaging with a community group called Mana Inc. Directed by Brandon Te Moananui (Ngāti Tameterā, Ngāti Hako, Ngāpuhi), the documentary illustrates the positive impact alternative measures can have on youth who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Marama, Debs and Jan – the three mums – begin by detailing the harrowing experiences they have endured desperately trying to keep their sons out of prison and away from bad influences. It quickly becomes apparent that Sonnie is a key figure in the group’s escapades.

Sonnie’s story is all too familiar for many youth in Aotearoa – broken families, parents with addiction issues, a lack of support, and no food in the cupboards. Naturally, Sonnie was forced to fend for himself, which led to him stealing cars and committing aggravated robberies. Sonnie’s openness is credit to the relationship Te Moananui has built with the teenager, who admits throughout the documentary that he finds it hard to express his feelings. This helps viewers quickly build a relationship with Sonnie, helping to humanise him and showing him as more than just a young offender.

Usually, the trajectory for people like Sonnie ends with them committing more serious crimes, joining a gang, and spending their lives in and out of prison. It’s a stereotype that many unfortunately fill. However, Sonnie’s future now looks a little brighter, thanks to intervention from community group Mana Inc. The group has six pou, providing course participants with exposure to everything from coding and robotics to outdoor experiences, kapa haka, driver licensing and forklift training. They even help participants through the judicial process.

Jan and Muna Lee from Mana Inc (Image: Supplied)

The documentary provides a unique insight into the state of mind and circumstances that lead to youth committing such crimes. It taught me that the ram raids weren’t just about racking up clout on social media and that deeper issues were contributing to the problem. With Te Moananui following Sonnie’s journey so intimately, the interviews with the initially shy teenager are surprisingly candid, capturing the raw emotion and feelings as Sonnie navigates his path forward.

Fed up with a lack of support and desperate for help, the mothers turned to Mana Inc. to see if there was any way the group could steer their sons away from a life of crime. While the focus was initially on the youth, the mothers soon realised they too had to deal with their own trauma to help break a cycle of poverty and crime. The three women openly reveal their own issues in sit-down interviews, which ties into showing how Mana Inc also focuses on the whole family unit.

Sonnie continues his journey of transformation, committing to the programme. and eventually choosing to hand himself in to police, in order to deal with the paranoia he has about potentially being “nicked” at any moment. With an initial indicative sentence of around four and a half years imprisonment, Sonnie is challenged with continuing his commitment to the work with Mana Inc.

Although the firsthand perspective of the victims is visibly lacking at times, Te Moananui and producers Nicole Horan (Ngāti Maniapoto) and Becs Arahanga (Kai Tahu, Waitaha, Ngāti Raukawa) are cognisant of this fact, with the documentary spending a good chunk of time near the end attempting to balance the narrative, covering Sonnie’s restorative justice hui with some of his victims. Eventually, Sonnie receives a drastically reduced sentence of four months’ community detention.

As Mana Inc chief executive Kelly Teariki-Peterson (Ngāti Rangiwewehi) admits, there is still much work for Sonnie to do, but his participation in the programme has clearly had a positive impact. The key was Sonnie’s ability to work towards positive change before being locked away in a prison cell, where he would have likely been recruited into a gang and gone on to commit more crime. Instead, Sonnie was determined to create a positive change and be an example to his friends that change is possible and there are other pathways out there for people in similar circumstances.

Ram Raid Mums is an inspirational labour of love. Modern graphics and animations with a youthful spin add to the impressive production. It is beautifully shot and a well produced documentary that approaches sensitive issues with careful consideration. While it can feel like an expensive advert for Mana Inc at times, the story is carried well through multiple perspectives and interviews, including the police. Although the documentary is clearly arguing against the status quo of imprisonment and harsh penalties for young offenders, it acknowledges that crimes have been committed that have had a negative impact on the victims. Ram Raid Mums illustrates that there are alternatives to prison and bootcamps that can have a far more positive effect on youth who just need a little aroha.

This is Public Interest Journalism Funded by NZ On Air.