From Wairoa to Summer Bay:
New Zealand actor Ethan Browne tells Kerry Harvey about his role as Tane Parata in Home And Away.
The latest Kiwi to join Home And Away talks about his role.
It’s the sea change that he didn’t see coming. Wairoa-raised Ethan Browne can’t believe how much of a splash his Home And Away debut has made across the Tasman. “I saw the promotion and thought, ‘Oh my god, they’ve gone way out for it and made a big fuss’,” says the actor who plays Tane, the fourth member of the Parata family to move to Summer Bay.
“It’s cool but I’m not used to any of this to be honest. It’s a bit weird seeing myself running out of the water in slow motion. And there’s the voiceover – ‘Who is the new bad boy?’ and stuff like that. I guess I’ll get used to it.”
Browne’s first scenes – on the end of a telephone – screened before the Covid-19 pandemic forced the long-running drama off air.
The month-long break delayed his much-anticipated main debut, a situation Browne found frustrating.
“It was hard enough waiting originally before Covid happened because I come in later than the others,” he says. “I was getting messages from friends saying, ‘Mate, are you lying to us? Are you even on the show?’ ”
Browne, 28, put his time in lockdown to good use, working on maintaining his impressive physique.
“I’ve got a little set-up in the backyard and I’ve been training most days,” he says.
“And I’ve also been doing a lot of training via Zoom with my friends back in New Zealand. We call ourselves the Rascals.
“We train every morning, Monday to Saturday. We take turns at writing the workout and then we’ll do it together on line.”
However, Home And Away is now back in production and Tane has joined the Kiwi wh nau – brother Ari (800 Words’ Rob Kipa-Williams), sister-in-law Gemma (Shortland Street’s Bree Peters), and nephew Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo) – in Summer Bay.
For Browne, it’s the realisation of a dream he never expected to become a reality.
“I’d wanted to be an actor since I was a kid but where I was from there was sort of tall poppy syndrome ... you know what I mean ... it’s like (acting is) something you don’t do. I wanted to but I didn’t have the courage.
“I did regret not doing it but looking back now I sort of don’t. I did other things instead. I studied civil engineering and when I left New Zealand to come to Australia I thought it was a good opportunity to try out what I always wanted to do.”
His efforts paid off when he won a place at Sydney’s National Institute Of Dramatic Arts (Nida) and, soon after graduation, scored a three-year contract on Home And Away.
“I learnt a lot about life before I went to Nida and I think it’s important to have life experience if you are going to be an actor.
“Looking back now, I don’t regret it. The journey worked out in its own weird way.”
Tane is a bit of a hothead with an eye for the ladies and a questionable way of making money.
“He’s a bit of a criminal for lack of a better word,” says Browne, who reveals his character followed his brothers Ari and the late Makaira into the family crime business.
“The age gap’s quite big. Tane was young when they were doing that stuff and I looked up to them. They were my heroes. And then I naturally just followed their path. He does all this bad stuff but deep down he’s really family orientated.
“He just wants to take care of Nikau, his sister-in-law and Ari but he wants to do it his own way. He doesn’t want anyone to boss him around.”
The Paratas are Summer Bay’s first M ori family and all four actors have previously expressed determination to see their people and culture portrayed truthfully.
“We do have a M ori adviser who helps with the scripts and as a cast we talk about how can we make this our own and how can we do it in a safe way, in a real way,” Browne says.
“Little things like bringing in our slang, saying ‘chur’ or ‘bro’, just things like that, making it as authentic to us as possible.”
They also put down Summer Bay’s first hangi. “We have a karakia in M ori and just to show how we do things like that in M ori culture.
“When we were filming that day a lot of the cast were like, ‘That’s just so beautiful, how you have prayer and then everyone eats together and you feel like family’. They loved it. Hopefully, the audience – who are not New Zealanders – can appreciate it as well.”
“We do have a M ori adviser who helps with the scripts.” – Ethan Browne