10 Greatest Polynesian Actors in Science Fiction

Game of Thrones – Drago (Jason Momoa)

Recently a picture of Aquaman from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released and it’s full of symbolism of Polynesian culture. This isn’t surprising since the actor, Jason Momoa
has said that his Polynesian heritage will influence the character. He
said “the greatest thing for me is that Polynesians, our gods, Kahoali,
Maui, all these water gods, so it’s really cool and a honor to be
playing a [water] character. And there’s not too many brown
superheroes, so I’m really looking forward to representing the Polynesians, the natives.”

The Polynesian people consists of various ethnic groups that speak
Polynesian languages and inhabit a small amount of land spread over a
very large portion of the mid and southern Pacific Ocean. Hawaii, New
Zealand and Easter Island.

Here are the most influential Polynesian actors in science fiction films.

Russell Ira Crowe
was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (née Wemyss) and
John Alexander Crowe. Russell Crowe’s great grandmother, Erana Putiputi Hayes Heihi, was Maori making him Polynesian. His best known role is as the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator (2000), directed by Ridley Scott.
He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. He actually
started out as a musician with New Zealand singles including “I Just
Want To Be Like Marlon Brando”, “Pier 13”, “Shattered Glass”. He became
an actor in Austrailia with TV and movie roles before coming to the US
and co-starring in his first film in 1995. It was the science-fiction
thriller Virtuosity with
Denzel Washington where Crowe played a virtual reality serial killer.
Russell Crowe starred in several Oscar nominated films like A Beautiful Mind, L.A. Confidential and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Recently, he played Jor-El in Man of Steel.

Starting in 2009, Crowe and several other well-known Austrailian actors
appeared in a series of special edition postage stamps called “Legends
of the Screen”, even though he doesn’t have Australian citizenship.

Jason Scott Lee was born November 19, 1966 and
is an actor and martial artist of Hawaiian and Chinese
descent. His first big break was as a minor role playing the character Chester “Whitey” Nogura in
Back to the Future Part II, who was part of Griff’s gang. He was the guy that said hoverboards don’t work “unless you’ve got power!” Lee also appeared in Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision.

Jason Scott Lee’s first lead role was playing Bruce Lee in the biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993). His mixed ethnicity has allowed him to play multiple races from an Inuit Eskimo (Map of the Human Heart), a Polynesian prince (Rapa Nui) and an Indian (Jungle Book). He was named by Goldsea, the Asian American website as one of “The 130 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time”.

Julian Arahanga is a New Zealand
film and television actor born on December 18, 1972 in Raetihi, New
Zealand. He’s best known for playing best known for his role in the
movie Once Were Warriors from
1994, where he plays Nig Heke, the son of Jake “the Muss” and Beth
Heke. He had a minor role as the hacker Apoc in The Matrix (1999) but he made it his own.

Jay
Laga’aia was born 10 September 1963 and is a New Zealand-Australian
actor of Samoan descent. He’s best known as Captain Typho in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. He also played the role of Draco in several episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess. The Star Wars
films are a huge break for him because of his attitude and cool
eye patch.

Back in his native Australia, he spoke out against the
perceived racism of Australian television by casting mostly White
actors instead of Natives. After he lost his job on Home and Away, he blasted the show on Twitter saying,
“I think commercial TV should take a leaf out of children’s TV in this
country. We are a rainbow nation in kids’ TV. No tokens here.” At least
we know racism on television isn’t just an American thing.

Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut,
Lebanon, the son of Patricia Bond (née Taylor), and Samuel Nowlin
Reeves, Jr. who’s of Native Hawaiian, Chinese, and Portuguese ancestry.
Reeves said, “My grandmother is Chinese and Hawaiian, so
I was around Chinese art, furniture and cuisine when I was growing up.”
He’s best known for movies like Bill
and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Speed (1994), and The Matrix trilogy.

As for keeping
in touch with his Hawaiian heritage, Reeve’s father left them when he
was young and Keanu hasn’t spoken to his fatherin decades. Keanu’s father said, “I pretty much know what
he’s doing, but he’s made it clear that he wants nothing to do with me.”

Jonathan Manu Bennett (also known
as John Bennett or Jon Bennett) is an Australian actor born
on 10 October 1969 in Rotorua, New Zealand. He’s best known for playing the gladiator Crixus in Spartacus, Azog the Defiler in the The
Hobbit movies and Deathstroke in Arrow. Bennett is of Māori –
specifically Te Arawa and Ngāti Kahungunu – and Irish descent on his
father’s side, but his mother is Scottish. At the 2012 Comic Con
Bennett explained, and then demonstrated a traditional Polynesian “Haka” in true ear-splitting fashion. The Haka is a traditional ancestral war
cry, dance, or challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand. It was
originally performed by warriors before a battle to intimidate their
opponent with their display of strength and prowess.

He says he enjoys going back to work in New Zealand because ”it
allowed me to re-source my Maori identity and history.”

Rena Owen was born in New Zeland on July 22, 1962 and is best known in America as Taun We in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
Owen’s father is Maori and her mother is White and regularly performed
in local Maori Culture groups and performed in dramas and musicals
while in high school.“Acting wasn’t considered a career then,
particularly not for a little Maori girl from the country – I was
supposed to be either a secretary or a teacher or a nurse.” But, the
culture of New Zealand entertainment discouraged her from taking up a
career in acting. Owen said, “There were no brown faces on the New
Zealand screens of the ’60s or ’70s, apart from a newscaster or two. It
simply wasn’t an option.” She continued in acting and her breakthrough
film Once Were Warriors earned her multiple international awards including Best Actress at the Montreal World Film Festival.

She took on the voice of the Kamino Cloner Taun We and got to work with
her Once Were Warriors co-star, Temuera Morrison who played Jango Fett.
When talking about her role on the Star Wars franchise she said, “even though my role is small, that I have become a part of the Star Wars legacy.”

Temuera
Morrison is of Māori, Scottish, and Irish descent and is best known as
the bounty hunter Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers in the Star Wars
series. He  was born in the town of Rotorua, in the North Island
of New Zealand, the son of Hana (née Stafford) and Laurie Morrison, a
musician. He received two Best Actor award from the New Zealand Film
Awards for his role as the violent and abusive Māori husband Jake Heke
in Once Were Warriors in 1994
and the sequel. He also portrayed Abin
Sur in the 2011 superhero film Green
Lantern. When he was inducted as a Mandalorian Mercs Honorary
Member at Dragon*Con 2011 he did a traditional Maori Haka dance.

You can watch it here:

Jason
Momoa was born Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa in Honolulu, Hawaii, on
August 1, 1979. His father is Hawaiian painter Joseph Momoa,and his
mother is Coni Lemke. Known for his television roles as Ronon Dex on
the military science fiction television series Stargate: Atlantis (2004) and as
Khal Drogo in the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011). He also
starred in Conan the Barbarian (2011).

When he went to his audition for
Game of Thrones
a friend suggested doing the Polynesian Haka dance even though it
wasn’t in the script.

You can watch it here:

Recently a picture of his role of Aquaman from
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice revealed a heavily tattooed and
armored superhero. The tribal tattoos are packed with Polynesian
symbolism which Screen Rant
broke down like shark teeth and arrows. “A lot of things are very black
and white. Aquaman is especially cool because being a Kanaka
Maoli—being Hawaiian—our Gods are Kanaloa and Maui, and the Earth is 71
percent water, so I get to represent that. And I’m someone who gets to
represent all the islanders, not some blond-haired superhero. It’s cool
that there’s a brown-skinned superhero.”

Dwayne
The Rock Johnson is one of the all-time greatest wrestlers and action
heroes. His first lead role was in the movie The Scorpion King and then
he moved into movies like G.I. Joe:
The Rise of Cobra and the upcoming
Shazam movie. Johnson was born
in Hayward, California on May 2nd 1972
to  his mother Samoan Ata Johnson (née Maivia) who’s a descendant
of Samoan chiefs, and Canadian-born professional
wrestler Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson.

He’s proud of his Samoan heritage
and, because of his mother and in recognition of his
service to the Samoan people, Malietoa Tanumafili II bestowed upon
Johnson the noble title of Seiuli during his visit there in July 2004.
In 2003, he followed the Samoan tradition of having his family historytattooed on his arm.

Who’s your favorite Polynesian actor?

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