SnapChat: Shortland Street's Jarod Rawiri on Jonah Lomu: 'I was starstruck'

Jarod Rawiri performs in Silo Theatre's Cellfish from June 13. Photo / supplied

My first job was... Delivering the Eastern Courier paper in Glen Innes.

It taught me… some people really care about getting the paper delivered on time. I remember people waiting at the mail box to get the paper.

My big break came… I think so far, it's been many little bits. I've done bits of theatre, bits of TV, bits of film, bits of everything really. I used to proudly call myself "The hardest working actor you've never heard of".

The last job I quit was… I'm not really a quitter but I once had a job selling timeshare over the phone when I was 15. I felt terrible when people were angry about me calling on a Sunday night during dinner. Luckily I was let go after two weeks.

The most famous person I've ever met is… I've been lucky to meet lots of cool people from all walks, but I was pretty starstruck meeting Jonah Lomu the first time. We did a class at Ludus Magnus gym together.

He was... very humble and cheeky too. He would sneak rests when our trainer Joe Naufahu wasn't looking. At one point he was encouraging me while doing pull ups. I definitely pushed a bit harder having an All Black hero cheering me on.

The best time I've had on stage was… I've had so many moments. Being on set with Taika, playing Stanley Kowalski at a festival in Provincetown USA, performing George Nepia in Nuhaka and Tikitiki, and playing Hone Heke alongside George Henare and Rawiri Paratene, filming in the Red Zone in Christchurch. I've been really blessed.

But the worst was… I did a play called The Prophet and I had to play basketball on stage. I was meant to shoot the ball and get it in for a scene and one night I missed everything. The ball even went into the audience. Fortunately, that only happened once.

My dream role would be… That's easy to answer because the dream role is the next role I'm fortunate to get. I don't want to take anything for granted because I do love this job.

• Jarod Rawiri performs in Silo Theatre's Cellfish, playing 13 – 24 June at Q Theatre.