ENTERTAINMENT PROFILE

Tu Tangata, Issue 5, 1 April 1982, Page 28

ENTERTAINMENT PROFILE

Kevin Roberts

“You can do it, you can do it,” is the motto used in a current Television advertisement urging New Zealanders to get out and do things they always wanted to try, but never quite got around to doing. It also sums up Jim Moriarty’s attitude to his work as an actor and his answer to the dearth of Polynesian performers throughout the various local entertainment fields.

Jim is probably the most easily recognisable of all of our homegrown actors, due largely to the six years he spent as Rikki on “Close to Home”. He recently left the local soap opera “as it was time to move on.” His first move was to Circa Theatre in Wellington where he played a four week extended season as “Delroy” in the play “Sus” concerning a polite interview of a coloured suspect. He followed “Sus” with his current national tour as Che Guevara in “Evita”. Not totally lost to T.V. audiences however he will be seen later in the year in Roly Hubbards’ drama about a Maori land march. Porirua bred Jim Moriarty was born and bred in Porirua and despite being only twenty

nine, he recalls days when that city was “a rural town, when you could cast nets into Porirua harbour and wild pig and deer occasionally ventured to the back door.” He looks back on his childhood as being “idllyic” in an area with a true community spirit. A background he says he has not lost sight of. After schooling at St Pats College town, he trained as a psychiatric nurse at Porirua Hospital. His seven years as a nurse provided an invaluable background for an actor both “as a study of human behaviour and in learning to express your own personality.” Nursing is a humbling profession that keeps you in sight of what’s important in life, like two young sons and an extended family of relatives and friends.”

Slipped into.

Jim began acting at school “and just slipped into a professional career.” However he doesn’t just see himself solely as an actor that entertains.

“Acting can be so much more a vehicle for cultural expression for instance.” “But by the same token any actor sould be able to play any type of role.” “Maori actors shouldn’t just portray ethnic characters but also those created by Shakespear, Brecht and Chekov too.”

On a larger level Jim sees the media in general as a good avenue through which to share a culture and build racial understanding. However the media remains under-utilised in this respect.

Part of the problem is the lack of Polynesian writers in the South Pacific and a fear and reluctance, especially among Maori elders, to use the modern communication vehicles.

This fear is no doubt born out of a desire to ensure “that what remains of the true culture is not desecrated.”

“There is a willingness to share, but what happens to the “product” in the “market place” is a constant worry.” If we portray our heritage we must do it “the right way” is the elders plea.

Future hopes. So what of the future? Jim hopes more Polynesians and Maoris will “give the entertainment industry a go.” “After all we have an inherent ability to tell stories and sing just look at our marae.”

And of his own future? Like all actors, Jim is constantly looking for work, and in between roles? Perhaps he”ll do some script writing, maybe finish a University degree or fulfill a nagging ambition to do some V.S.A. work. Any way you look at it Jim Moriarty is doing it!!!