Rene Naufahu

Who is Rene Naufahu?

Rene Naufahu is a New Zealand-born actor, screen writer and director of Tongan and Samoan heritage. He is perhaps best known for being an original cast member of the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street, playing paramedic Sam Aleni for the show's first four years.

In 2006, at the Air New Zealand Screen Awards, he won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role! As Erasmus, in Toa Fraser film No.2. The film won the Audience Award, World Cinema - Dramatic, after sellout screenings at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

In 2005 he co-wrote television drama The Market with Brett Ihaka, and Matthew Grainger. He was also one of the show's directors, alongside Damon Fepulea'i, and Geoff Cawthorn.

He attended the Amsterdam-based Binger Institute's Script Development program in 2003.

Naufahu's first feature film as director is crime thriller The Last Saint, which began filming in September 2013.