Writing is therapeutic so it's that thing about scars, ....I have some pretty meaty scars myself
Rob Mokaraka.
Rob Mokaraka is proudly Nga Puhi, while many māori actors are Toi Whakaari (The New Zealand Drama School) alumni, Rob is proud to have started off his acting training at Northland Polytechnic in Whangarei, alongside his mate and fellow actor Tammy Davis.
While Rob has held a number of jobs over the years, it was acting that hooked him. He grew up the son of an army dad, and that's where he finds many of his ideas for his writing. In 2001 Rob won a Chapman Tripp award for his role in Have Car, Will Travel, he starred as one of the six soldiers in the Taika Waititi directed short film Tama Tū, and has acted in the award-winning play Strange Resting Places with Paulo Rotondo.
In the radio drama Echoes of War, he says there are similarities between Rob and the character of Tāne, they both experience depression and they both want to symbolise traumatic events in their lives. For Rob it is writing and for Tane, it is receiving a Taa Moko. Rob Mokaraka talks with Justine Murray about writing for radio, and the semi-autobiographical themes of Echoes of War.
