Shavaughn Ruakere (born 3 March 1978) is a New Zealand Māori actress and television presenter. She is best known for her role as presenter on the children's TV show What Now. Shavaughn also played the role of

Roimata Ngatai Roimata Ngatai (previously Samuels) is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Street'', who was portrayed by Shavaughn Ruakere from January 2011 to January 2014. Initially introduced as a 3-month love interest for TK Samuel ...

on the prime-time soap opera '' Shortland Street''.

Early life

Ruakere was born in Hāwera but lived in Ōpunake until her family moved to

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

when she was eight years old. She attended university in Auckland before relocating to Christchurch for a television presenter role on '' What Now''.

Career

Ruakere started out as a presenter for popular children's television shows such as '' What Now'' in New Zealand in the late nineties and later on '' ITV s '' SMTV Live'' in 2003. Her acting career began with minor roles in the films ''

River Queen ''River Queen'' is a 2005 New Zealand-British war drama film directed by Vincent Ward and starring Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison and Stephen Rea. The film opened to mixed reviews but performed well at the ...

'' (2005) and ''

Sione's Wedding ''Sione's Wedding'' (also marketed outside New Zealand as ''Samoan Wedding'') is a 2006 New Zealand comedic film directed by Chris Graham and written by James Griffin and Oscar Kightley, and produced by South Pacific Pictures South Pacif ...

'' (2006). From 2011 to 2014, Ruakere played the character of

on '' Shortland Street'', her most notable television role to date. In 2018, Ruakere was a contestant on ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. Although making it to the Grand Final, she and dancing partner Enrique Johns were first of the four teams to be eliminated. In 2022, she became the host of New Zealand's edition of FBoy Island.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people New Zealand film actresses New Zealand television actresses New Zealand Māori actresses New Zealand Māori people People from Hāwera New Zealand soap opera actresses 21st-century New Zealand actresses {{NewZealand-actor-stub