Actor Acushla-Tara Kupe on being one of New Zealand’s first IVF triplets: ‘You’re never alone’

Acushla-Tara Kupe actor stars in new Kiwi crime drama The Gone. Photo / Provided

As Stuff reporter Bridget Jones told

When you grew up on Agatha Christie novels, there must be some insider fun to being thrown into a TV thriller.

And indeed, Acushla-Tara Kupe (Ngti Maniapoto) calls her starring role in The Gone, a crime drama co-production on Aotearoa between TVNZ and Irelands RT, glorious.

Kupe, 32, began her professional acting journey over a decade ago in the cult feature Fresh Meat alongside Temuera Morrison, before spending four years with Wellingtons Circa Theater and winning roles in the BBC drama Creeped Out and an appearance playing kapa. haka on Netflix’s The Crown.

Most recently, she worked on the Apple TV+ show Mr Corman alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the Mori-language children’s series Te Pmu Kmara. Kupe lives in Auckland with her fiancé And The Gone starts tonight on TVNZ 1.

I WISH, 10 YEARS AGO, KNOWN ID

May everything work out in the end. That everything will be fine no matter what life throws at you. And as difficult as it is, it’s going to be just as exciting – so maybe I wouldn’t have been so stressed and could have enjoyed the ride a bit more. And this applies to work and life.

Ten years ago I was hopeful, optimistic and positive – and still am to this day – but a little reminder that it’s not always rosy, but you’ll be fine in the end would have been good.

I filmed Fresh Meat just over 10 years ago this year – it was the first time I had a line on screen. I filmed two of them, but they cut one. This led to my very first professional theater performance and when you think about what has happened over the last 10 years, it’s crazy. There have been many victories in life, many professional victories.

I WANT TO EXCHANGE LIFE WITH

A cat. They have it so easy. They come for hugs when they want, they get food when they need it, and if they don’t want to hang around, that’s it. They end up doing what they want to do, they’re fiercely independent, and they’re not dictated by anyone or anything.

I WISH, EVERY DAY I COULD EAT

Three healthy meals. When I work on screen, it’s easy – restoration [on set] always hits. If I’m doing theater or working from home, I tend to get into the habit of being so focused and forgetting to eat – and I know that’s a problem! It is neither sustainable nor healthy. I have an amazing fiancé who cooks dinner every night so I know I have one good meal a day, but three would be fine.

I WANT TO LIVE IN

My own home, wherever that is. Ideally it would be near a city, because I’m a heavy theater consumer, I don’t think I could live in the country. But I wish I could live in my own house, with my love.

THE PERSON I WANT TO APPEAR ON A TICKET IS

More inspiring women. I wanna look at a note and leave, yeah! And there are great people who have done inspiring things, but we need more inspiring women.

THE SOUND I WISH TO NEVER HEAR AGAIN IS

The scratches you get in different places. The classic is to nail a blackboard, but sometimes when your shoes squeak, or your nail runs along a material and it squeaks, or the polystyrene squeaks. The squeaks that go through your spine that automatically make you uncomfortable.

I WOULD LIKE TO SPEND A SUNDAY WITH

My grandparents. We used to spend every Sunday having dinner with them, since before my sisters and I were born. He was my maternal grandmother and my maternal step-grandfather, but he was always my grandfather.

Every Sunday we would have dinner with them – it would be BBQ, Chinese food or a roast. And when we went to boarding school, we were always home on Sunday for that dinner, and then we went back to school. I would love to do that again. My grandfather is actually the reason we were alive.

My two sisters and I are IVF triplets, and he paid for the second round of IVF that created us. We were the first [IVF triplets] in the country. You are never alone [as a triplet] – That doesn’t mean we always get along, but you always have someone there.

I WISH NEW ZEALAND WAS MORE

United. I think America has imported some really interesting and culturally beneficial things to New Zealand, and in recent years we’ve seen the opposite. We have had imports of ideas, ways of thinking and behaviors that go against what it is to live in this country. Yeah, kotahitanga – unity.

QUICK HITS

STAY/ GO

SALAD /SAUSAGE ROLL

HAND SHAKE /CUDDLY

SPREAD IT/ AT THE MOVIE THEATER

SLEEP IN/ EARLY NIGHT

TELLING A JOKE /HEAR A JOKE

GLASS HALF FULL / GLASS HALF EMPTY

BAND / ONE ON ONE

CALL/ TEXT –VOICE NOTE