RENA OWEN Life after BETH

The acclaimed actress opens up about her rocky road to ming a Kiwi screen icon and how playing Dame Whina Cooper in a new biopic is her most personal role yet.

- JUDY BAILEY

You need guts to play the revered Māori leader Dame Whina Y Cooper in a movie, especially in a country renowned for cutting down its tall poppies.

Rena Owen is a gutsy woman. She has come a long way from the person she was when she first skyrocketed into the nation's consciousness as Beth Heke, wife of Jake the Muss, in what is arguably still the most powerful New Zealand movie of our time.

The Rena of 1994 was still struggling to figure out who she was. Struggling to come to terms with the fame and attention that Once Were Warriors brought her. She now feels ready to bring her passion and pain to a portrayal of Te Whaea o Te Motu, the Mother of the Nation.

"I feel like I can handle the scrutiny now that I have walked through the trenches - through the fires," declares Rena, 59. "I've survived in life, I have faith and gratitude, and I'm here for a reason.

"I've learnt that we all have the good dog and the bad dog inside of us. The dog who wins is the dog you feed the most. If you feed insecurity and fear, you won't succeed. If you feed self-care, eat well, exercise, show up and do good work, then the good dog triumphs. It's the human condition."

Rena is uniquely equipped for the role of Whina. She can trace her ancestry back to Te Ruki Kawiti, one of the first Māori chiefs to sign the Treaty of Waitangi. Kawiti was also one of the last to battle the British in Northland.

"I like to think I have some of him in me," she grins. "I can be short and impatient. It's a character defect, but I'm learning how to soften myself and bite my tongue, learning how to be more of service." Like her famous ancestor, though, she is a fighter.