" I ’ve never work on on something this big before , but the best part is the whole cast , the whole crew , knew that we were making something special . "
After get a name for herself in New Zealand , Luciane Buchananis direct over Hollywood . She became one of the first Pacific Islander charwoman to asterisk in a Netflix show withThe Night Agent , which remains in the streaming platform’stop 10 most - keep an eye on display list . In August , Jason Momoa’sChief of Warhits Apple TV+ , where buff can look on Luciane take on the head role of Kaʻahumanu . And this workweek , Deadlineannounced her casting in the nextEvil Deadfilm .
Additionally , Luciane made story by writing the first Tongan short film to premiere at Sundance . Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tonguewas the first professional short film both written and guide by Tongan cleaning lady .
“I’ve never worked on something this big before, but the best part is the whole cast, the whole crew, knew that we were making something special."
For BuzzFeed’sVoices of the Pacificseries , I sat down with Luciane to chaffer about her audition forChief of War , her favorite Tongan food , and more .
BuzzFeed: You portrayed Rose Larkin inThe Night Agent, one of Netflix’s most-watched shows of all time. How does it feel being one of the first Pacific Islander women — if not the very first — to star in a Netflix show?
Luciane Buchanan : Oh gosh . I do n’t jazz if I ’m the very first , peradventure , but I did n’t really think about it too much at the metre when we were making it . I just think it was another show . And when it was at long last released the next year , I was like , " This is very strange , " especially being my first US job as well . It was n’t ' til later [ that ] a lot of masses were saying it ’s so nice to see a Pacific Islander as a love pursuit , not thebest friendor benefactor or coworker . When someone said that , I was like , " That is really awesome . " I ’m glad that I can open up those doors for the next generation because there ’s travel to be more of us , for certain .
There’s a big shift in your character from Season 1 to Season 2 as Rose struggles with the trauma and PTSD of everything she went through. What was it like tapping into her vulnerable side and highlighting mental health on the show?
Well , it ’s always an outcome for distaff characters portrayed on tv set . We are either seen as weak and fragile , or the all over opposite , this badass who pushes everything under the rug and suppresses everything . I cerebrate those two things can coexist . What was so interesting about Rose is that in the first time of year , everyone fell in love with this badass tech young woman who ’s chic and takes no shit . And it was nice and novel for Season 2 to show that she is still human . She ’s not this robot who can handle these very stressful situations that she ’s not used to . Peter is from that world ; she ’s not trained . So , just hold her homo and establish was a big goal for me .
At the end of Season 2, Peter tells Rose to stay away — a heartbreaking moment for all the fans like me who want to see Peter and Rose together. Does that mean fans shouldn’t expect to see you in Season 3?
Oh gosh , I ca n’t state anyone . The affair is that it ’s a really popular show , and no doubt it ’ll go for multiple seasons , and we desire to see where Peter go with his new mission . I reckon he ’s now a two-fold agent , working on both sides . So , whether that entails his relationship with Rose , we ’ll have to wait and see .
BuzzFeed : Whether or not you ’re in it , can you partake any hopes for time of year 3 ?
I desire the fans are satisfied . The first season was ground off a Christian Bible , and then Season 2 was just our writer way taking full creative licence . I hope we conserve that same fan basis and people still enjoy it and watch it as much as they did the first two season .
I was so happy to seeSimone Kessellplaying your aunt in Season 1. Casting a fellow Pacific Islander to play Rose’s relative surprised me actually — that’s still not the norm in Hollywood. While the industry is slowly but surely making progress, what do you hope to see in the coming years?
Oh humanity , I mean it ’s changing totally . Even back home , there ’s so many more Pacific Island doer , Māori actors , even Hawaiian actors , coming through . It just comes down to experience and opportunity . It ’s such an interesting clock time in the US with conversation around DEI and whether that ’s something that ’s in reality go on , or is the pendulum swinging wholly the other means ? But we just ask to start making our own stories , and that ’s something that I ’m so passionate about .
I made a curt moving picture out of this frustration of not being capable to play a hafekasi [ mixed ] Tongan . I was like , " Oh , I ca n’t really go up for Tongan role , I ca n’t really go up for white role , " so I just make work for myself . And see , it was n’t gentle . It took me multiple years to do , and make motion picture is expensive , and we had to rely on crowdfunding and New Zealand Film Commission money . But we were the first Tongan scant film at Sundance in 2024 , so also not give up promise . Because it ’s so easy to be like , " This is too difficult , " or " I ’m not in erotic love with the project anymore along the creative process . " Just really consider it through .
For me , the biggest part was getting Tongan actors on the filmdom . That was my main goal . It start off as a personal thing of I want to act as a character like this that ’s not a stereotype . And what I got a kick out of more was watching Albert [ Rounds ] , our other lead . He used to be a stunt performer , and this is the first time he was doing something dramatic , and seeing his growth . Then Michael Falesiu , who ’s another awe-inspiring Tongan actor back home . Just watch them play different characters was so refreshing . It ’s a farseeing - term goal , but I want to proceed to do that , and hopefully not be on the cover as well , maybe more behind the screen .
Lea Tupu’anga/Mother Tongue, which was the first professional short film both written and directed by Tongan women, was also your first script! Do you plan to continue writing?
Yeah , I ’m currently influence on something flop now . It ’s still really former , and I ’m play around with ideas and interviewing a heap of people , but it is a Tongan - centric report that I go for to film in Tonga . That ’s in the time to come , and when I have some sentence , but it ’s something that I ’m very passionate about . Polynesian stories are usually comedies , family , which is amazing . We merit that . But I also need to see us more in the dramatic realm and pushing into different genres . So that ’s something that I want to try out . And the capital thing is I made my first short with Vea Mafile’o , who ’s an awful Tongan director , and we have this relationship that she ’s scout for people to be in my short moving-picture show already . She ’s like , " I met this guy who ’s pure . " So , she wo n’t direct this metre . I ’m going to jump in and direct . But it ’s so courteous to know that I ’ve got this cinema sister who is willing to do whatever for the light motion picture .
BuzzFeed : I love the sistership facial expression of it ! And definitely tie in to want to see ourselves represented in other genre . I ’m working on a Pasifika - inspired fantasy love affair because that ’s what I want to say , and hardly anyone is write it . So , I enjoin , " I ’m gon na publish it . "
I can do it ! Exactly . I believe it ’s one thing to sit down around and kvetch , " Oh , I just want to see this , " but it ’s another thing to take the initiative to just try and get it on newspaper . I ’m always boost people , " Just write it down . Even if it sits on your desktop for years , at least you tried . " You might be out one night talking about it , and someone could be like , " Oh , I ’d have it off to research that with you , " because that ’s what pass to me . But good luck with it !
One of theLea Tupu’anga/Mother Tongue’s major themes is being mixed: the cultural disconnect of not knowing your mother tongue and perhaps not feeling “Tongan enough.” As an afakasi woman myself, that feeling is something I’ve experienced, too. How were you able to overcome this and grow confident in yourself? Or is this an ongoing journey for you?
Well , I actually wrote this , I think I was 24 . I had a swelled identity crisis when I was 21 . I was at the University of Auckland , canvass psychology , and I was read a speech language therapy course because I was like , " Oh , it might tie in to dramatic play . Speech is a fully grown part of acting . " There was a woman who was trying to recruit more Pasifika worker in the field , because there was a quite a little of separatrix affected role who reverted to their female parent glossa after their cerebrovascular accident , and these practician could n’t speak to them or help them . So they were like , " We need more people who can speak the language and help these patients . " And I was like , " You know , what ? I could do this . mayhap this acting thing ’s not going to work out . " But my conundrum was that I could n’t speak Tongan .
So that inspired the whole mind of the film , and the more that I mouth to multitude — because obviously there ’s a peck of us in the diaspora , whether it ’s the US , Australia , Aotearoa , we all have this spoken language trauma of loss of language , right ? Because we ’ve assimilate to the Western , main culture , and for some of us , we ’ve accept it . For my Dendranthema grandifloruom , she say , " We did n’t teach you because it was a selection affair . We need you to not be bullied and have the best chance in life . " Then , you have the impudent side , where spoken communication was pick out away from cultures like Māori or Hawaiian . So , it was completely different , but we all had this shared experience . And I was like , " Why is no one talking about this ? " I see the opportunity to share that , and throughout the process of making it — Vea is the same ; she does n’t speak Tongan either — I found a lot of healing in making the narration .
As you said , language and identity is actually a journeying . You ’re not going to find out the language in a year and be like , boom ! You ’re incessantly going to be learning throughout your life , and that ’s going to shift . The whole point and role for the film was to share with everyone to bear themselves , that you are enough . And these conception are kind of made up . What is Samoan enough ? What is Tongan enough ? You might be Samoan enough , you might be full - blooded , but you ’re raised in the US , so you ’re unlike in that way . So , it was all about self - acceptance . We had a lot of tearful mass watching the film . And I was like , " Okay , we all need a trivial therapy . " [ Laughs ] So , I think it ’s a universal experience . And it ’s not just something that ’s specific to Pasifika people . It ’s also anyone who ’s an immigrant of any country .
For Pacific Islanders, there are so many aspects of our cultures that we hold close to our hearts, from our foods to our dances to ourtattoos. What’s your favorite part of your culture?
I think about this all the time . I ’m just like , " I love being Tongan . " I hump everything about it . I love our humor . I love the way that we love . We ’re also just so spectacular . I intend my calling to be a storyteller in spades arrive from the mode that my aunties disc stories over and over , and the way they would perform it . I ’ve definitely inherit that . We have this conception call māfana , which is like the dear , the warmth inside . And I think that ’s so peculiar , and I taste to entrance that in anything I seek to do that is specific to the Tongan undertaking .
The way of life that my grandma show sexual love was keeping in touch with mass . Sometimes , me and my cousin joke around . We ’re like , " Could we actually do what she did ? " Because now , we live in a time where we ’re like , " Boundaries . [ Laughs ] I ca n’t live like that . I ca n’t reach the threshold for everyone . " But she always made prison term , and she had this phone Word . Do you remember you ’d spell everyone ’s landline numbers ? Her phone book was so tattered because it was used so much that my aunty had to laminate the Sir Frederick Handley Page because it was so ruin . And me and my first cousin say this now , we find like we ’re just the same . We ’re constantly on FaceTime , and I endure abroad . I ’m constantly on the road , so I essay to inherit that way of connect with people . I think that ’s the way that she showed making love . It ’s my favorite part of my acculturation that I need to continue to do .
Do you have a favorite Tongan food?
Oh my god , I ’m really miss Tongan food right now . My family are perpetually like , " Oh , we ’re at this function , " and send me photos . Ota ika [ raw Pisces in coconut cream ] is awing . I love it . I ’m in Mexico City right now , so I ’m just eating ceviche , like , " It ’s almost the same . " I get it on tapioca . I love lu sipi [ Elia , onion , and coconut emollient enfold in taro leaves ] . It ’s comic , I was vegan for two years [ laughs ] my family would make me a vegan version . But now I ’m back to eating meat , I ’m to the full back into that . My auntie makes this astonishing Fijian curry . It ’s bomb calorimeter . It ’s my ducky .
You also star inChief of War, which comes out on Aug. 1 on Apple TV+. I can’t wait to finally watch! What can you tell us about your character and storyline?
I was very fortunate to play Queen Kaʻahumanu before she was Kuhina Nui , the queen choir of Hawaiʻi . I had no mind who she was before the project . I think reading the character brief , and the audition add up through , and I think it was a pipe dream because I could n’t consider that Apple was fund a historic Polynesian news report . The next morning , I freshen , and I was like , " Okay , no , this is literal . This is find . " I just grew up thinking that things like this would n’t ever happen . We have all these other historical epic poem , and I just could n’t think something like this was being made . That ’s full recognition to Jason Momoa for making this his passion projection and something he ’s been wanting to do for a very tenacious time . And I bet her up , and I have never read [ about ] any historical type ever like her and all fell in love and was like , " I do n’t have it off if I ’m the person to play this role , but finger crossed , will do my best job . " After a long journey , it ended up being a use that I got to toy . She ’s grotesque . I sense like Season 1 is only fray the surface of who she is . you may look her up , and you may see the bequest she had on Hawaiʻi . It ’s probably the proudest employment that I ’ve ever been a part of .
We get to verbalise ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi in the show , which is the language of Hawaiʻi . So funny because I made a whole short about not being able to mouth Tongan . And they ’re like , " Hey , here , address Hawaiian . " And of course , we dwell . We ’re like , " Yeah , leisurely , can do that . " It was the backbreaking thing I ’ve ever had to do . InThe Night Agent , I do an American emphasis . Still intemperately , but speaking a whole ' nother language , you ca n’t advertizing lib another spoken communication . It ’s been the most beautiful journeying , a very long journey . I ’ve never work on something this big before , but the best part is the whole cast , the whole crew , knew that we were making something special . The first of its form , never been done before , and we all had this unverbalized accord of this is bigger than any of us . It ’s braggy than like , " Oh , I ’m in an Apple TV show . " No , this is the first of hopefully many . My goal is that little keiki , little Hawaiians , see themselves and go , " Oh my gosh , that was part of our story . "
Do you have any favorite behind-the-scenes memories with Jason Momoa?
Our audition was quite funny . Initially , I did n’t get the part . They were like , " Sorry , we ca n’t make this fall out , " because I was on another show . I was quite overturned about it . It ’s very rare that you get upset about hearing because you ’re just like , " I was never meant to play it , move on . " But when it ’s something that particular , you ’re just like , " Why ? " I ’m still onNight Agent , Season 1 ; this is how long ago it was [ laughs ] . I was telling the ladies who were doing my whisker because they know all about the audition . They ’re like , " We ’re so sorry . Hopefully , something comes up later . " And my co - asterisk , Hong Chau , who wreak Diane Farr in Season 1 , was in the chairman next to me , and she look over and was like , " Well , do you require the role ? " I was like , " Yeah , I really want it . " And she was like , " Well , fight for it . Go back and say you require it . " I was like , " Okay , how do I do that ? I ’ve never done that . " And she really encourage me .
I went back and message my coach , " If there ’s any direction I could roleplay a smaller use or be a background knowledge . " I just went straight to the bottom . I did n’t take for what I actually desire . So for two month , I was like , " Okay , it ’s not mine . " Then , it every which way come back , and they were willing to make it work . Both shows were happy to , and then they holler me . I had no idea . I did n’t scan a script . I did n’t recognise that I was a lead ' til I book it . So , I encounter Kamehameha , one of his married woman . I thought I was married woman act five , who comes in , " hi " every episode or something . No , not at all . They called me , and they ’re like , " We ’re going to do a chemical science read with Jason Momoa . " No pressing . Had never met him , huge wiz . I do n’t know if you remember , in Season 1 ofThe Night Agent , I have a full-strength cork , and Polynesian charwoman have very luscious , beautiful , long hairsbreadth . They were really struggle to see me in this part . They ’re like , " We like you , we like the way that you read her , but we ca n’t visually see you as Kaʻahumanu . " And I was like , " Okay , what do I have to do ? "
So , my manager send me to Crenshaw in Los Angeles to a wigging shop , and I bought this [ laughs ] cheap , synthetic wig . I was like , " I ’ll do whatever . " Of course , I ’m not going to pass hundreds of dollars on a wigging , but it ’s a Zoom audition . They ca n’t really see everything . I terminate up doing the read call ; I was wearing the wig . Thomas Pa’a Sibbett , who ’s our writer and creator , was like , " Can I just demand , you count so dissimilar , are you tire a wigging ? " And I was like , " Yes . " The longer we babble out , the more my hairline is alter because I did n’t immobilise it down , did n’t have anything with me . He was like , " Wow . This is a different soul . Who ’s on the Zoom ? " And then after that Zoom , Jason was just like , " congratulation . " And I was like , " Okay , why is he saying felicitation ? " [ Laughs ] Because you hear stories of people being like , " You get it , " and then , they go to someone else . So you never want to keep too early . And the first sentence I met him in soul , he is like , " Where is that wig ? I require to pin that on my bulwark . That changed everything . " And I was like , " Really ? Not the performance ? The wigging ? ! "
If you could work with any Pacific Islander, who would it be and why?
Ooh , my friend , Keisha Castle - Hughes . I love her to bits . A drollery of some sort . And also , if I could sum a fillip one , my other best friend , Frankie Adams . I cerebrate us three together would make something ardour .
What advice do you have for young Pacific Islander creatives?
Keep give-up the ghost . It ’s a bad road , and you ’re going to be discouraged . You ’re going to love your labor , you ’re go to hate it , you ’re going to be like , " It is what it is . " But make water art is a process , and we just have such awful stories . I think we ’re such talented narrator and naturally gifted in so many manner . We can sing , we can dance , we ’re gymnastic , so you just keep going and trusting yourself . We ’re really lowly , and I just want to further people to just be cocky and confident , because even if we ’re fake it , it ’ll change a quite a little .
Finally, what does being Pacific Islander mean to you?
It intend everything . What I really admire is that we ’re a left-winger acculturation . So , if someone make headway , we ’re all gain ground . We ’re all on the va’a [ canoe ] together . And withChief of Warcoming out , I think we ’re going to feel this immense pride of our people , where we come from ; we ’re all break down to have chicken skin .
And I just love the way that we love . We ’re so special and so shady . We ’re the funniest , and I miss that . When I was doing Season 1 ofNight Agent , our author ’s helper , Norman , was like , " What do you lose about New Zealand ? " And I was like , " Polynesians . " I did n’t even skip a rhythm . Literally , I miss it . I miss laughing and cackling .
Thank you for chatting with us, Luciane! Be sure to keep up with Lucianehere.
