David de Lautour is engaged to actress Hannah Marshall. Photo / Supplied
David de Lautour is engaged to actress Hannah Marshall. Photo / Supplied
Art is imitating life with All Black World Cup hero Stephen Donald - and the actor who played him on the tele-movie celebrating his Rugby World Cup heroics - both getting engaged.
Donald popped the question to long-time girlfriend Alex Anderson two weeks ago during a spot of fishing off the coast of Waiuku, south of Auckland, where the former All Black grew up.
But David de Lautour, the Kiwi actor who played him in the 2014 New Zealand made-for-television movie on the World Cup victory, The Kick, beat him to it as he is already engaged to his girlfriend actress Hannah Marshall.
"Beaver" and long-time girlfriend Alex Anderson became engaged around the same time as David de Lautour, the actor who played Stephen Donald in The Kick. Photo / Facebook.
Donald, nicknamed "Beaver", is understood to have proposed at Kariotahi Beach. The engagement was under wraps until British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland - a former coach of Donald's - announced it at a press conference last Sunday.
Gatland told reporters Donald, 33, was out whitebaiting when he offered the ring to Anderson "at the back of the ute".
Donald and his fiancée, a nurse and equestrian horse rider, did not respond to interview requests, but his father Brett Donald confirmed the engagement.
"It is true, not the way Gatland said it. He didn't have it quite right," he said.
"If you know anything about whitebaiting, the season hasn't opened yet so it couldn't have been whitebaiting.
"The rest of it's pretty accurate but just the wrong venue."
Former All Black Stephen Donald and Alex Anderson are engaged. Photo / Facebook.
A message on the Taupo Fishing Club's Facebook page on Wednesday confirmed the news and location of the big question.
"Congratulations to Stephen Donald and our very own beautiful local girl Alex Anderson on their engagement," the message read.
"Lions Coach, Warren Gatland suggested they were whitebaiting but TFC can confirm in fact they were fishing off the West Coast at Waiuku with a contiki... [sic] it is important to get the fishing details right. Stephen knows a keeper when he sees one."
The woman who wrote the post, Shirley Fraser, said she knew Anderson's parents and had permission to write the congratulatory message but wouldn't say any more.
Donald's agent Simon Porter said Donald would not be interested in speaking publicly about his engagement.
Donald went from zero to hero in Kiwi rugby fans' eyes in the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, when he booted over a penalty which eventually kept New Zealand ahead of their arch rivals France to win the match and tournament 8-7.
Kiwi actor David de Lautour in the role of former All Black Stephen Donald in The Kick. Photo / File.
Beaver's reputation was restored after he had been blamed for costing the All Blacks the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong the year before.
By then he had already met Anderson, as depicted in The Kick by de Lautour and actress Rachel Blampied, who played the horse-loving Taupo woman.
De Lautour, 34, is also known for his role as the safe-cracking petty crim Ted West in the Outrageous Fortune spin-off Westside. The third season is due to screen this year.
Marshall appeared in season two of Westside as Joanne and the couple live together in Los Angeles.
De Lautour remained coy about his engagement but said if anyone was to play him in a movie about his life it should be Donald.
"I would say Stephen Donald should play me because I played him and he should have the chance to have his revenge."
In LA de Lautour has directed Kiwi singer Gin Wigmore's music videos.
He and Marshall have been together several years and attended fellow Kiwi actor Dean O'Gorman's wedding early last year.
The pair also worked together on Sitting Room Only; a series talking to well-known New Zealanders doing well in Los Angeles, which ran in the Herald. Marshall produced and directed the series, with de Lautour shooting and editing it.
Marshall posted on Instagram for de Lautour's birthday in November last year saying: "Hey New Zealand. If you see this man's face today please give it a kiss because I can't and it's my favourite face and it's his birthday. Ok thanks."
