By LOUISA CLEAVE
She came from nowhere to blow moviegoers away with her portrayal of abused Grace Heke in Once Were Warriors.
Then Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell disappeared from the public eye. Tonight she resurfaces on television in the fact-based drama, Staunch, but the 23-year-old actor is considering quitting the business.
It is almost eight years since Kerr-Bell made Warriors but the ghost of Grace lingers.
In Staunch her role is again a young Maori woman living in poverty at a south Auckland address. But, unlike Grace, 17-year-old Ariana Stevens is given the chance to stand up and fight back.
Kerr-Bell says Ariana's situation reminded her of Grace's but the outcomes are different.
She says Ariana "was kind of a victim but this time she triumphed. She came out of her shell and decided it was worthwhile standing up for herself. She was a lot stronger than Grace was, and I didn't have to commit suicide."
Staunch is based on the real-life work of Brian Lepou, a social worker who taught young Maori offenders how to defend themselves in court.
The 15-year project of director Keith Hunter was filmed for TV3 last year after failed bids to the New Zealand Film Commission and TVNZ to finance production. Award-winning playwright Toa Fraser co-wrote the drama with Hunter.
Tamati Rice plays the character based on Lepou, and the story follows his preparation of Ariana to defend a charge of assaulting a policeman.
Ask Kerr-Bell if she was in demand after Warriors and she lets out a huge laugh.
"Not at all." But she wasn't worried. "You've just got to go with the flow because if nobody writes a part that fits your description, then you've got no work at all."
Kerr-Bell had been living up north, devoting her time to her daughter and taking roles "here and there." She would travel to Auckland for auditions, but decided to make the city her permanent home two years ago.
She had a stint on Shortland Street in 1997 (playing Tania Rikihana), worked in theatre, in the local drama Duggan and last year's Matou Uma, a half-hour drama on TV One.
Staunch was a job when they were not easy to come by, although Kerr-Bell admits that Ariana is not the kind of character she wants to keep playing.
"I'm sick of being a young Maori girl, or a young Pacific Island woman," she says without any bitterness. "I want to be a woman. I want to play a woman's role.
"I like a bit of emotion, a bit of meat in it that I can sink my teeth into."
She has just turned down a part in a story about teen suicide - "I don't want to take on anything that heavy again" - and is thinking about new career directions, including going back to polytech next year.
"I don't know if I want to be in the public eye anymore ... "I think I'll be doing something corporate ... find me a corporate ladder to climb up."
TV: Career change will lay ghost of Grace to rest
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