Keneti James Fitzgerald Apa (born 17 June 1997), known by his stage name KJ Apa, is a New Zealand actor. He gained recognition for playing Kane Jenkins in the New Zealand soap opera ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand Prime time, prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital. The show was first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992 and is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, be ...

'' (2013–2015) and

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

the CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

teen drama series '' Riverdale'' (2017–2023). He has also starred in the adventure drama film ''

A Dog's Purpose A Dog's Purpose may refer to: * ''A Dog's Purpose'' (novel), a 2010 novel by W. Bruce Cameron * ''A Dog's Purpose'' (film), a 2017 American adventure drama film, based on the novel {{disambiguation ...

'' (2017), the teen drama film '' The Hate U Give'' (2018), and the romantic drama film '' I Still Believe'' (2020). In 2021, Apa released his debut solo album, the indie folk-rock album ''Clocks''.

Early life

Apa was born on 17 June 1997 at Waitakere Hospital in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, 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. His father is known as Keneti Apa, with Keneti being a Samoan rendering of "Kennedy": both Apa and his father are named after the late United States President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. He has two older sisters. Their uncle is former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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

Career

From 2013 to 2015, Apa starred as Kane Jenkins 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 Ethan Montgomery in the comedy-drama film ''

'', which was released on the same day as ''Riverdale'' premiered on television. His next film role was replacing

Kian Lawley Kian Robert Lawley (born September 2, 1995) 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, including ''Our2ndLife' ...

in the 2018 drama film '' The Hate U Give''. He starred as Griffin in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

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, contemporary Christian singer and songwriter from Lafayette, Indiana. He has released eleven albums, four of them RIAA certification, RIAA-certified as Music ...

in the biographical romantic drama film '' I Still Believe'', which was released in March 2020. 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 5,00 ...

'', 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 with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...

Platinum Dunes Platinum Dunes is an American film and television production company founded in 2001 by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form. It is mainly known for producing horror films, such as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'', '' Friday the 13th'', '' ...

. The film was accused of using the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

to create a thrill plot. In May 2021,

Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Films (spelled as Lions Gate until 2005, and formerly Cinépix Film Properties until 1998) is a Canadian-American film production and distribution company founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on June 15, 1962. It was owned by Lionsga ...

announced he would appear in a military based drama ''West Pointer''. 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 horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

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 Wale ...

and indie genres. It gained some attention on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

and

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

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 cit ...

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. In May 2021, Apa announced that he and French model Clara Berry were expecting their first child, who 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 criticised Australian rugby player

Israel Folau Israel ‘Isileli Folau (; born 3 April 1989) is a professional dual-code rugby player who plays as a fullback for Japan Rugby League One club Urayasu D-Rocks. Born in Australia, he represents Tonga at international level after qualifying ...

for claiming that it was God's plan to send gay people to Hell, describing Folau's comments as "disappointing". In September 2022, he was awarded the matai title of ''Savae'' by his native village Moata'a in Samoa.

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 21st-century New Zealand folk musicians 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 Male actors from Auckland Samoan chiefs