Allan is one of these rare people who at a young age had a very clear idea of what he wanted to do when he grew up. He wanted to be a cartoon character. So, he prepared himself for the role by doing martial arts, gymnastics, dance and acrobatics.
There were some recurring themes in his talk. One was how important the special teachers and mentors were in his life. He had a brilliant School Principal who ensured his low decile school had access to multiple language teachers drawn from his school community. He had an outspoken drama teacher who introduced him to the idea that being an actor/performer was a thing. She saw the potential talent in him and encouraged him to follow his dream. She also introduced him to Shakespeare which gave him the confidence to dream big. Through this exposure, Allan met Dawn further fuelling the fire in his belly.
Allan came from family who had all left school early so his ambition to continue his education beyond school was foreign to them. This same family are now his biggest supporters. He has been the agent of generational transformation.
He attended Toi Whakaari Drama School where his teacher facilitated exposure to Andy Serkis who was doing the motion capture for King Kong. Allan passionately believes that representation matters – meaning if a young person can see it, they know they can do it. So, when he saw Andy Serkis doing what he wanted to do in his town – he realised his dreams were attainable and possible. This was a watershed moment. Conversations with Weta Effects followed and they now have two decades of working together. His roles as King Kong in Godzilla King Kong and the bear in Cocaine Bear led to working on a Minecraft movie – the Director saw the Cocaine Bear and recognised the skillset required to be the bear!
To have this trajectory shows how important it is for every young person to have strong representation in terms of their culture, gender identity or socio-economic status. Allan takes his
role as a teacher and mentor very seriously.
And the future? Allan would like to take more of a role in the creative direction of films, being the one to create the opportunity. He is such an extraordinary example of someone living their 8 year old’s dream.
Allan came from family who had all left school early so his ambition to continue his education beyond school was foreign to them. This same family are now his biggest supporters. He has been the agent of generational transformation.
He attended Toi Whakaari Drama School where his teacher facilitated exposure to Andy Serkis who was doing the motion capture for King Kong. Allan passionately believes that representation matters – meaning if a young person can see it, they know they can do it. So, when he saw Andy Serkis doing what he wanted to do in his town – he realised his dreams were attainable and possible. This was a watershed moment. Conversations with Weta Effects followed and they now have two decades of working together. His roles as King Kong in Godzilla King Kong and the bear in Cocaine Bear led to working on a Minecraft movie – the Director saw the Cocaine Bear and recognised the skillset required to be the bear!
To have this trajectory shows how important it is for every young person to have strong representation in terms of their culture, gender identity or socio-economic status. Allan takes his
role as a teacher and mentor very seriously.
And the future? Allan would like to take more of a role in the creative direction of films, being the one to create the opportunity. He is such an extraordinary example of someone living their 8 year old’s dream.