Actor Te Ao o Hinepehinga Rauna (Head High, Shortland Street) tells us about getting in trouble at kōhanga reo, a hair-raising rumour and more in this week’s episode of FIRST. 

You probably know her as pregnant teen Aria on high school rugby drama Head High, or as hot-headed nurse Waimarama on Shortland Street. Or, if you went to school with Te Ao o Hinepehinga Rauna on the East Coast, maybe you still remember her as The Girl Who Shaved Her Head.

At least, that was the rumour that went around when she was 12. “I was sick with food poisoning, I think, and I hadn’t been at school for like a week and a half,” Rauna recalls. Walking to school on her first day back after overcoming the bout of crook guts, she was mobbed by her friends. “I was like, ‘Oh, they missed me!’” Then they started tugging at her hair. 

“[They were] like, ‘Is this a wig?’ And I’m like, “Ow, no, what’s going on?’” Nobody knows how or why the shaved head rumour started, but it was a good one. 

Watch Head High on Three and Shortland Street on TVNZ.

Follow FIRST on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.