Lani Tupu
Lani Tupu (born 4 November 1955 in Auckland, New Zealand[1]), billed variously as Larney Tupu, John Tupu and Lani John Tupu, is a New Zealand-born classically trained actor of Samoan descent. He was educated at Rongotai College and Wellington Teacher's Training College. He was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Bursary in 1977 to enter New Zealand Drama School, where he graduated in 1978. Lani left New Zealand for Australia in 1985 to "branch out across the big pond."
Lani John Tupu | |
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![]() Lani Tupu at DragonCon 2009 | |
Born | Auckland, New Zealand | 4 November 1955
Other names | John Tupu; Larney Tupu |
Career
Lani Tupu has been nominated for several awards throughout his career. These include the Best New Talent at the 1984 Feltex Television Awards, several awards from the New Zealand Film and TV Awards (1993) for Best Dramatic Performance and a Best Actor award for Talk of the Town, which he also directed, at the Dream Maker Festival in Ontario, Canada. He was also finalist for the Male Performance Supporting Role at the 1986 Listener Film Television Awards for his work in the film Send a Gorilla[2], and was nominated for Best Actor in 1985.
Tupu participated in the foundation of an Australian theatre group called The Walkers and Talkers, which is no longer running, and has also served as an acting coach and taught "Acting for the Camera" in Australia and New Zealand. He also runs weekly workshops on "Screen Acting" at the Actors Centre in Sydney, Australia. He is active in stage production, both as a director and actor, and spends considerable time behind the camera. He directed Going Home for the stage as well as the critically acclaimed and award-winning short film Talk of the Town (1996).
Tupu's TV appearances include: Country GP, Impossible (1988), Time Trax (1993), The Feds (1993), High Tide (1994), The New Adventures of Flipper (1996), House Gang (1998), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1999/2000), Farscape (1999–2003)[3][4][5], Green Sails (2000), The Finder (2001), Grass Roots (2003), Stingers (2002/2004), Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004).
His movie appearances include Send a Gorilla (1988), The Punisher (1989), Marlin Bay (1992), Heart of Fire (1997) (USA: "Tanker Incident"), Lantana (2001), Liquid Bridge (2003), and Robotropolis (2011).
Since 2007 he has been the narrator for promos on SBS.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | Send a Gorilla | Ian Hunter | |
1989 | The Punisher | Laccone | |
1996 | Talk of the Town | Short | |
2001 | Lantana | Patrick's Lover | |
2003 | Liquid Bridge | Sharky Garcia | |
2007 | The Condemned | El Salvador Warden | |
2009 | Dear Diary | Dan | Short |
2009 | Broken Hill | Maestro Pindari (voice) | |
2011 | Robotropolis | Gordon Standish | |
2012 | The King Is Dead! | Boss Maori | |
2012 | Marla | Carlos | Short |
2015 | Mise-En-Abyme | Ryan Cumberford | Short |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1976 | Epidemic | Tini | TV miniseries |
1984–85 | Country GP | David Miller | Episodes: "1.32", "Tim's Commie Dad" |
1985 | Roche | Siosi Vaumauga | Episode: "E.T." |
1986–87 | A Country Practice | Richard Monti | Episodes: "Day After Day: Parts 1 & 2", "Caught in the Act: Parts 1 & 2" |
1990 | Mission: Impossible | Michael Otagi | Episode: "Cargo Cult" |
1990 | Embassy | Kalim | Episode: "First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Love" |
1992 | Police Rescue | David Goldberg | Recurring role (season 2) |
1992 | Marlin Bay | David Spence | TV film |
1993 | The Feds: Abduction | Idris Karya | TV film |
1994 | Time Trax | Col. Nabib Kila | Episode: "The Gravity of It All" |
1994 | G.P. | Brian Farmer | Episode: "Breaking Out" |
1994–95 | High Tide | Rev. Simon Henry | Episodes: "Let Us Prey", "Regarding Joey" |
1996 | Flipper | Count Vicente | Episode: "The Sword of Carlos de Cabral" |
1997 | Heart of Fire | Roger Parks | TV film |
1998 | Tales of the South Seas | Caleb Trader | Episode: "Paradise Regained" |
1998 | House Gang | Dennis | Episodes: "Moving Out", "Chaos" |
1999–2000 | The Lost World | Capicotchi / Tolmac / Prince Apep's Slave | Episodes: "The Journey Begins", "Stranded", "Salvation", "The Prisoner" |
1999–2003 | Farscape | Bialar Crais / Pilot (voice) | Main role |
2000 | Green Sails | CCT Negotiator | TV film |
2001 | The Finder | Lyle Riskin | TV film |
2002, 2004 | Stingers | Ellery Berman / Consul Khemal Lazo | Episodes: "Disgraceful Conduct", "No Man's Land" |
2003 | Grass Roots | Lynton Aubrey | Episodes: "Garbage", "Investigation" |
2004 | Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars | Pilot (voice) | TV miniseries |
2006 | Monarch Cove | Joe | Episode: "1.9" |
2007 | Home and Away | Lou Baines | Episodes: "1.4407", "1.4415" |
2007 | The Sun's Search for the Moon | Blue God | TV miniseries |
2009 | The Cut | Norberto Silwa | Episode: "The Best Sex I Ever Had" |
2010 | Rush | Pell Fisher | Episode: "3.5" |
2012 | Packed to the Rafters | Psychic Simon | Episode: "Sign of the Times" |
2013 | Camp | Dr. Welter | Episode: "Parents' Weekend" |
2013 | Redfern Now | Minister | Episode: "Consequences" |
2014 | The Code | Thom | Episode: "1.1" |
2017 | The Letdown | Jimmy | Episodes: "Genealogy", "Mother Nature" |
2019 | Preacher | Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand Winston Peters | Season 4, Episode 2 |
2019 | Reckoning | Dr Horatio Cabrera coroner
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References
- http://samoanbios.com/lani-tupu/
- Screen, NZ On. "Lani Tupu | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
- "BBC - Cult - Farscape - Interviews - Lani Tupu". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
- "Lani Tupu Interview - Farscape". www.thescifiworld.net. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
- S, Ian; well (20 July 2018). "Farscape – Where are the cast now?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 15 April 2020.