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Home / Gisborne Herald / Lifestyle

A life not following the script

Gisborne Herald
17 Mar, 2023 10:48 PMQuick Read

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IN CHARACTER: Gisborne-born Vanessa Rare as the sprightly Tarns, grandmother of Piki in the television series This is Piki, which screens on Thursdays (8pm) on Maori Television. Pictures supplied
IN CHARACTER: Gisborne-born Vanessa Rare as the sprightly Tarns, grandmother of Piki in the television series This is Piki, which screens on Thursdays (8pm) on Maori Television. Pictures supplied

IN CHARACTER: Gisborne-born Vanessa Rare as the sprightly Tarns, grandmother of Piki in the television series This is Piki, which screens on Thursdays (8pm) on Maori Television. Pictures supplied

SHE no longer has a Mohawk and only wears her punk rock T-shirts “every now and again”, but Gisborne-born Vanessa Rare says she can relate to the rebellious spirit of the protagonist in her latest on-screen drama.

The former Shortland Street actress, who left Lytton High School at the age of 15, stars alongside New Zealand heavyweights Temuera Morrison and Calvin Tuteao in recently-released series This Is Piki.

“It’s a fantastic theme. It’s all the ins and outs of what happens when teenagers leave home,” says the former Waikirikiri School and Ilminster Immediate student.

The brainchild of The Dark Horse movie star Cliff Curtis, this eight-part series follows the life of rebellious Rotorua teenager Piki, who dreams of breaking away from her traditional kapa haka background and finding fame in modern music.

While Rare plays the protagonist’s grandmother, Tarns, there are parallels between her own life growing up in Gisborne and that of Piki’s.

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“I left Gisborne when I was 15 years old to go to Australia. I ran away, basically,” she says.

“I worked in a factory in Auckland, saved my money and then went to Australia. When I got there I did all sorts of things, sang in nightclubs, waitressed.”

Unlike Piki, the actress’s progression into showbiz was unplanned.

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She was “on a Harley going north” when she got a call saying she was wanted for a feature film.

Debut in comedy Ruby and RataThat telephone call from friend Aimee Gruar, an acquaintance of director Gaylene Preston, led to Rare’s on-screen debut in the 1990 comedy Ruby And Rata.

“They had looked at 180 women and Aimee said, ‘why don’t you look at Vanessa’?”

Like Piki, Rare is an avid musician and performed all of her character’s rock songs on the 80s-inspired comedy.

“I’ve been playing guitar since I was seven.”

Despite her smooth progression into acting, working in the industry has had its challenges.

“You have to be a Jack of all trades in this business. There’s not enough money to sustain work in the arts in New Zealand,” Rare says, adding that she has cleaned toilets and filleted fish to get by.

Even after her four-year stint as Te Hana Hudson (nee Kahu) on New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street, the Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business star has found it hard to support herself through acting.

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“This is the first paid job I’ve had in acting for many years,” she says.

Rare’s work on 2014 eco-activism film The Z-Nail Gang, for which she was nominated as best supporting actress at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards, was voluntary.

Aside from industry issues, Rare says the job itself can be challenging.

“I was contract fencing at Whatatutu when I was 15, and it’s much harder than that.”

Personal challengesShe has recently been dealing with more personal challenges.

“My sister contracted an extremely rare disease, neurofibromatosis type 2, and so my family did tag-team care of her,” she says.

“That occupied my whole time until she passed. It’s been a rough journey. We were extremely close.”

Ms Rare’s sister, Gisborne-born-and-bred Angela Smith, died in September 2013.

Their father, East Coast surfing personality Eddie Rare, still lives in Gisborne, working as a fencer and taking to the waves whenever possible.

His 50-year love affair with surfing was the subject of a documentary piece titled Surf's Up, which aired on Maori Television’s Native Affairs earlier this year.

This Is Piki takes place in Rotorua and Auckland, but Ms Rare believes it will appeal to the community she grew up in.

“There will be a huge amount of Gisborne tamariki who will relate to this story — the fact that she (Piki) breaks away, even with all that controversy, from her family,” she says.

She describes her own character as sprightly and lively.

While she prefers not to use the word “cougar”, she says the character engages in the sorts of “youthful activities” that might be associated with the name.

“She’s fantastically equipped and even if she’s not, she says she is,” Ms Rare says of her party-going, middle-aged character, who raises granddaughter Piki after her own daughter leaves.

This is Piki, which opened last week, screens on Thursdays at 8pm on Maori Television.

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