Cliff Curtis competing in Napier half-Ironman

Cliff Curtis as chess player Genesis Potini in Dark Horse. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand movie star Cliff Curtis will realise a dream when he competes in the IronMaori half-Ironman in Napier on Saturday.

Curtis, 46, will do the 2km swim leg for the three-person Team Mo, put together by singer Moana Maniapoto, in line with the kaupapa of the One Heart Many Lives health project.

Ms Maniopoto will take on the 21km run and the 90km bike ride will be done by George Bradfield, husband of Ngati Kahungunu songstress Hinewehi Mohi.

Curtis (Te Arawa, Ngati Hauiti) had been set to do the run for Ms Maniapoto's Te Arawa Tri-Hards in 2012 but was a late withdrawal because of work commitments in Prague. Mr Bradfield replaced him at the time and reported the actor was "gutted" not to be there.

The Rotorua-born star of Whale Rider, Once Were Warriors and numerous other movies and TV features has harboured the desire ever since and, while unable to be contacted last night by Hawke's Bay Today, his entry was confirmed by event founder and organiser Heather Skipworth.

Despite a quarter-century in television and movies and a series of startling action roles, he apparently also harbours some trepidation about Saturday's 8am thrash in Pandora Pond, Miss Skipworth revealing: "He's a bit nervous."

Ms Maniapoto said on Facebook: "Pleased that he was spouting our mantra 'completing, not competing'. Surviving is what it's all about. Says he might be the only one in the pond wearing floatie devices. He said he's perfected the art of dog paddle."

Cliff Curtis has an extensive list of movie credits, from his bit-part debut in Jane Campion's The Piano in 1993 to what is possibly the closest he has come to playing a sports star, as chess player Genesis Potini in Dark Horse, which hit the cinemas in July.