When actress Awa Puna led a large transgender rights march in Auckland last year, the Shortland Street star looked at the thousands of supporters around her and tears of pride streamed down her face.
With her loving partner Mark Chayanat Whittet by her side, she was protesting British anti-trans activist Posie Parker, who’d arrived to tour New Zealand. As the group played musical instruments and banged pots together to make noise, Awa smiled, not anticipating the violence about to unfold.
“The reality hit when we saw a group of around 1000 Destiny Church members who didn’t want us there,” recalls Awa, 24, who stars in the new TVNZ+ series The Boy, The Queen And Everything In Between.
“Someone stood on my shoe and it came off, so I went to pick it up and a man pulled me by my hair, which sent me to the ground. Then I started being hit. Later that day, a lady with a pram left the child’s side to run up to us and spit right in my face! It felt pretty dangerous, but I knew it was important to be there to show that myself and others like me matter.”
The event was confusing for Awa, who’d experienced transphobia in the past but never on that scale. She kept to herself, feeling depressed at home, for two weeks afterwards.
“I was in a dark space, and it affected my self-esteem because I realised there are so many people who think the same thing about people like me and make a conscious effort to scratch out our existence,” she shares. “I was quite scared of the world, but luckily I have supportive friends and family, and a partner who cares.”
When Awa met her boyfriend of two years in 2018, she was in her first year of drama at Wellington’s Toi Whakaari. The actress, who played trans doctor Gia Te Atakura on the soap, had a “fling” with Mark, 25, before moving to Auckland.
“I remember we had wine on the top of Mt Victoria in Wellington and looked over the city, but I was very deflective about being in a relationship because I didn’t think it was possible,” says Awa. “I had a horrible perception of myself. But then I returned home during the lockdowns and we reconnected. I was more confident.”
Awa now lives with fellow actor/writer/director Mark in Auckland and says he makes her laugh every day.
“It took me a while to realise I might be someone who deserved to be loved because of being trans, but it’s been a really lovely journey of falling in love,” she smiles. “My family love him, and he’s funny and creative. It’s awesome.”
Awa is now working on a short film called The Nephilim, about a young, Christian Māori boy who goes undercover to infiltrate the queer ballroom community, and another of her short films, Tūī, is playing next month at the Māoriland Film Festival on the Kāpiti Coast, where it all began for the passionate actress.
“Tūī is about a young trans girl discovering her identity while dealing with the loss of her mother, who she feels is the only person who would’ve accepted her.
“It was inspired by a dream I had about my nan, who passed away when I was seven, before I came out. In the dream, I went up to her and asked if she accepts me the way I am. She said, ‘Of course I do. You’re my mokopuna – I’ve always known.'”
But Awa’s favourite project to date has been working on The Boy, The Queen And Everything In Between, in which a man is released from prison and struggles to find work until his father, a famous drag queen, gets him work at his gay club.
“To have the right voices behind and in front of the screen meant a lot to me as a trans person, as well as the chance to work with people who’ve carved the pathway for those like me. It’s really special.”
The Boy, The Queen And Everything In Between is now streaming on TVNZ+.
