Antonio Te Maioha | |
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| Born | 1 February 1970 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1998–present |
Antonio Te Maioha (born 1 February 1970) is a television and film actor from New Zealand. He came to international prominence playing a gladiator Barca, the Beast of Carthage, in the television drama Spartacus: Blood and Sand and its prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena . [1]
Te Maioha was born in Auckland on 1 February 1970, and was raised in Hastings in the Hawke's Bay Region of the North Island of New Zealand. [1] He was educated at Havelock North High School. [2] His father was of Māori descent through both the Ngāpuhi tribe, the largest in New Zealand, and the Waikato tribe, also known as the "Tainui" or "Waikato-Tainui." [1]
Maioha started his career as a street performer before gaining a place at the Toi Whakaari Drama School in 1992. He graduated with a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting) in 2005. [3] He went on to work with a Māori theatre project run by actor Jim Moriarty and was in the cast of Waiora , touring New Zealand, Hawaii and Britain. [4]
One of Te Maioha's first significant television roles was in 1998 playing Boraxis in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys followed by guest roles in Xena: Warrior Princess and Legend of the Seeker , a weekly television series based on The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind." He has also appeared in other New Zealand-based television productions, including Shortland Street and The Lost World . Te Maioha has also had roles in several films, including Te Tangata Whai Rawa O Weneti and a short film called Taua (War Party)" [1] and the 2000 film Feathers of Peace (Ngati Tama Warrior) directed by Barry Barclay. [5]
Te Maioha has come to international attention through his supporting role as the gladiator Barca in the television drama Spartacus: Blood and Sand [4] and its prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena . [5] Nicknamed the "Beast of Carthage", Barca is the bodyguard and hitman of a dominus owner named Batiatus. [6] Several episodes into the show, he is shown to be in a homosexual relationship with a slave boy named Pietros. [7] He is eventually murdered when Pietros is tricked into revealing damning evidence about Barca.
In 2016, he was cast in a minor role of a Māori Warrior in Zoolander 2 . He also appears in the 2023 film The Convert .
Te Maioha is married and lives in the town of Raglan on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.
Active in local environmentalism, he has hosted a Sustainable Futures Forum in Waikato that brought around 80 people to discuss a variety of environmental issues. [8] He has also publicly discussed his personal involvement and Raglan's leadership in recycling, citing the accomplishments of a local organization called Xtreme Waste. [9] Te Maioha is uncomfortable with being labeled as a "greenie," saying that he is just doing "stuff everybody could" and that being given such a label means that other people will "write you off...instead of actually listening to what’s being said or applying changes in their own lives." [8]
| Authority control databases: Artists |
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