Savae Keneti James Fitzgerald Apa,

Moata'a Moata'a is a village on the island of Upolu in Samoa. It is situated on the central north coast of the island, to the east of the capital Apia. The village is in the political district of Tuamasaga. The population is 1412. As of September 2022, act ...

(born 17 June 1997) is a New Zealand actor, singer and musician. He has received various accolades, including a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

and nominations for an

MTV Movie & TV Award The MTV Movie & TV Awards (formerly the MTV Movie Awards) is a film and television awards show presented annually on MTV. The first MTV Movie Awards were presented in 1992. The ceremony was renamed the MTV Movie & TV Awards for its 26th editi ...

, two

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

and two

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United S ...

, and was appointed the matai title of ''Savae'' chief of his village

in 2022. He began acting playing

Kane Jenkins Kane Jenkins is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera '' Shortland Street''. He was portrayed by KJ Apa from late-2013 to mid-2015. The character was introduced as part of the extended Cooper family unit and as a means to depict youth ...

in the New Zealand primetime soap opera ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

'' from 2013 to 2015. In 2017, Apa was cast in the lead role of

Archie Andrews Archibald "Archie" Andrews, created in 1941 by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom,

in the CW drama series '' Riverdale''. In film, Apa has starred in ''

A Dog's Purpose ''A Dog's Purpose'' is a 2010 novel written by American author W. Bruce Cameron. It chronicles a dog's journey through four lives via reincarnation and how he looks for his purpose through each. The novel was a ''New York Times'' bestseller f ...

'' (2017), ''

The Hate U Give ''The Hate U Give'' is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-ye ...

'' (2018) and '' I Still Believe'' (2020). In 2021, he released his debut solo album, the

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

folk-rock album ''Clocks'', which received some attention on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

and

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

Early life

Apa was born on 17 June 1997 at

Waitakere Hospital Waitakere Hospital is a general hospital located in the Henderson/ Lincoln area of the New Zealand city of Auckland. It is administered by the Waitemata District Health Board and provides health services to approximately 560,000 residents thro ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand, the son of Tupa'i and Tessa Apa (née Callander). His father is Samoan and a '' matai'' (chief) of his village in Samoa; his mother is a European New Zealander. He has two older sisters and is the nephew of former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player and coach Michael Jones. He attended high school at King's College in Auckland before beginning his acting career.

Career

Early work and breakthrough (20132017)

From 2013 to 2015, Apa starred as

in the New Zealand prime-time soap opera ''

''. In 2016, he was cast as

Archie Andrews Archibald "Archie" Andrews, created in 1941 by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom,

in the CW drama series '' Riverdale'', after a four-month worldwide talent search. In 2017, he starred as teenage Ethan Montgomery in the comedy-drama film ''

'', which was released on the same day as ''Riverdale'' premiered on television.

Further films and critical fluctuations (20182020)

His next film role was replacing

Kian Lawley Kian Robert Lawley (born September 2, 1995 in Sioux City, Iowa) is an American YouTuber, influencer and actor. Lawley launched his personal YouTube channel, superkian13, in 2010. Lawley has also been a part of collaborative YouTube channels, inc ...

in the 2018 drama film ''

''. He starred as Griffin in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

film '' The Last Summer'', which was released on 3 May 2019. He also starred as singer

Jeremy Camp Jeremy Thomas Camp (born January 12, 1978) is an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter from Lafayette, Indiana. He has released eleven albums, four of them RIAA-certified as Gold, and two live albums. Camp's original musi ...

in the biographical romantic drama film '' I Still Believe'', which was released in March 2020. KJ Apa (48478685986)

Apa starred in Adam Mason's critically panned 2020 thriller film ''

Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

'', produced by

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget, high-concept action films characterized by fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of ...

Platinum Dunes Platinum Dunes is an American production company founded in November 2001 by filmmakers Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form. The company produces horror films, such as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'', ''The Purge'', ''Friday the 13th (20 ...

. The film was accused of using the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

to create a thrill plot. In May 2021,

Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the larg ...

announced he would appear in a military based drama ''West Pointer''.

Music ventures (2021present)

In 2021, he independently released his debut album, ''Clocks'', which explores the

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

genres. It gained some attention on

and

Personal life

Apa was involved in a minor car accident in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in September 2017, but was uninjured when the passenger side of his car hit a light pole. The late-night crash was reportedly the result of him falling asleep at the wheel after a long day of filming. KJ Apa (31026088678)

Since 2020, Apa has been in a relationship with French model Clara Berry. Their child was born in September 2021. Apa was raised in a Christian family and has stated that he is a Christian. In April 2018, he publicly criticized Australian rugby player

Israel Folau Israel Folau ( to, ‘Isileli Folau; born 3 April 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer who plays for the Shining Arcs in the Japan Rugby League One and the Tonga national rugby union team. He has previously played Aust ...

for claiming that it was God's plan to send gay people to hell, describing Folau's comments as "disappointing".

Moata'a rule

In September 2022, he was awarded the matai title of ''Savae'' by his village of

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

In addition to soundtrack work on ''Shortland Street'', ''Riverdale'' and ''I Still Believe'', Apa has released independent music. * ''The Third Room'' (2012) * ''Clocks'' (2021)

Awards and nominations

Note

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Apa, KJ 1997 births 21st-century New Zealand male actors Actors of Samoan descent Living people New Zealand Christians New Zealand male film actors New Zealand male soap opera actors New Zealand male television actors New Zealand people of European descent New Zealand people of Samoan descent People educated at King's College, Auckland People from Auckland Samoan chiefs