Teuila Blakely wants to help Pacific youth find their voice. Photo/Matt Klitscher.
Teuila Blakely tells Aroha Awarau why she's stepping up for Pacific youth – and still fighting racism.
After a four-year self-imposed break from public life, Teuila Blakely is back. The actor says she's been avoiding the spotlight for her own mental health after she was publicly shamed when a video of her engaging in a sex act with former Warriors player Konrad Hurrell was made public on social media, without her consent, in 2014.
At the time, the former Shortland Street actor spoke out about the double standards in society between men and women, especially regarding sexuality, and her stance encouraged an important discussion around victim-blaming and revenge porn.
But the backlash and the viciousness became too much for the normally confident Blakely, and she needed to take some time out.
"The break from public life was purposeful. There are times when I've been absolutely slaughtered and persecuted. I'm a very strong woman but you can do without that," she explains.
"It didn't matter what the subject was, I would still get put down and insulted. No one needs to live like that. I have a really nice life and I enjoy my life. I've taken some beatings and undeservedly. I just wanted a break."
Blakely was hesitant to do this interview because of how much the negativity has impacted on her confidence.
But she's excited about her new TV project, Duckrockers, a prequel to the popular 2006 hit comedy Sione's Wedding.
In the film - which became one of the highest-grossing New Zealand films - and its 2012 sequel, Blakely starred alongside other Pasifika actors like Oscar Kightley, Dave Fane, Shimpal Lelisi and Robbie Magasiva.
Duckrockers revisits the beloved characters as teenagers growing up in Auckland in the 80s. Blakely is not only acting in the series, as the mother of her Sione's Wedding character Leilani, but for the first time in her career, she has come on board as a writer and one of the show's associate producers.
"I care about this project so much. I put my heart and soul into it. It's a time in life and a world that we haven't seen in this context before. I felt it was important to come out and really talk about that."
Blakely was initially approached to work on the show as an actor and writer. But being a strong Pacific woman, the producers saw the need to have Blakely's voice represented and asked if she was interested in also being a producer.
"As an actor, you really have no say, other than what you're doing in your performance. Someone else makes all of the decisions around the project. I've always wanted to have more creative input. It made sense that I had a little bit more of a say on this project than just being an actor and a writer because of my knowledge of this world. I was a brown girl in the 80s and I knew that my input was important."
Blakely says being a producer of a TV show was exhausting but she enjoyed the experience. Her confidence grew so much that some of the cast members started calling her Shonda Rhimes, the successful African American TV producer and writer of hit shows like Grey's Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder and Bridgerton. Blakely doesn't mind the comparison because she idolises Rhimes.
"You've got to have people who you admire, you look up to and who inspire you, even if you don't reach their heights. As long as there are women of colour like Shonda Rhimes doing what she does, then it makes it possible for every other woman of colour to achieve in that space."
To the Pacific teen cast of Duckrockers, Blakely says, she was more of a wise aunty than a producer. Blakely, whose mother is from Samoa and father from Central Otago, was born in Tauranga and moved to West Auckland when she was 7. She says Duckrockers is a homage to her generation, born to Pacific migrants. Life was tough and racism was rife. She says she became emotional explaining to the younger generation what life was like in the 80s.
"One of the things I like about where we've approached Duckrockers from is that we were the kids who were ignored in the 1980s, and now we've got our own show. I found it emotional teaching the young actors about what life was like for us," she says.
"We were subjected to an overt type of racism. I'm still traumatised by that because it became part of our lives. We weren't recognised, we were looked down on as second-class citizens."
Blakely gave the young actors a pep talk, ending on a positive note, telling them New Zealand has changed and come a long way in terms of racism. But hours after she gave her speech earlier this year, Blakely visited a store in West Auckland and was shocked when she was racially profiled.
"I was dressed like a 12-year-old boy, I was wearing a mask, a cap and jandals. I was accused of being intimidating, just by the way I was standing." Blakely says when she got out her phone to record the racist outburst, the shop assistant slapped the phone out of her hand, calling security and accusing Blakely of assault.
Blakely later complained to the store's head office and the company apologised for the exchange. But the ordeal left her questioning whether or not New Zealand's attitudes towards racism actually have changed.
"When you attempt to weaponise your racism to hurt someone else, then that becomes an issue. That's why racism is a hideous thing."
Blakely says that is why it's important to make films like Sione's Wedding and TV shows like Duckrockers, to celebrate Pacific cultures, to honour their parents and to show New Zealand that the children of Pacific migrants can overcome the traumas of the past.
"Our parents are the ones who sacrificed to come here. They are the ones who didn't get to do what they wanted because they were trying to find their way in a country that was not ready or welcoming of them. They have always deserved their honour and status. We should be grateful for what that Pacific generation did for this country. We are the children of these people and Duckrockers is a show for them."
Blakely has caught the writing and producing bug and will continue to work in these areas. She has received development funding to write her feature film, Island Girls, an adaptation of the 2002 play she co-wrote with fellow Duckrockers writer/producer/actor Oscar Kightley. The pair were once engaged, but now have a close working and professional relationship. She enjoyed reuniting with Kightley on Duckrockers.
"We've got a long history. I adore him and respect him immensely. We have always been each other's go-to. I've read every script he's ever written, I run everything that I have written by him. We have a good understanding of where each other is coming from creatively. It's a wonderful relationship."
For now, Blakely realises the importance of stepping up as a writer and producer, so she can continue to provide work for Pacific actors and creatives – especially for Pacific women.
"If no one is writing characters for them and providing them with work, then we don't get to see them. That is enough motivation for me to keep going."
Duckrockers screens on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+ from November 2.
Studio images:
Photographer: Matt Klitscher
Hair and Makeup: Lisa Matson
Styling: Jaime Randell
Clothing: Hami, Maggie Marilyn
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