You might expect Cantona Stewart − who was named for football legend
Eric Cantona – to come from a family of football fanatics. “No actually they’re not,”
he laughs, explaining that the code his family follows is league. “I’m the youngest-of-seven,
so I think by then they were just like ‘We’ll just name him after this guy’.”
His father Sam Stewart was a rugby league player who toured the UK with the Kiwis in the ‘80s and ‘90s and played for the Newcastle Knights.
“Once he finished league in New Zealand, he came to Australia and played in Newcastle and then, once he finished his career here, he went to England in the mid-90s and I just happened to be born over there,” says Stewart.
The young actor (Tainui, Ngāti Hau) can be seen in Home And Away as new character Perri Hayes. Tane (Ethan Browne) takes Perri under his wing through his youth mentoring programme.
“He’s been faced with so much adversity and so many challenges in his teenage years and he kind of wants to do a 180 on his life, so he wants to better himself,” says Stewart of his character.
But despite Tane’s efforts to nurture Perri, the relationship between the two young men isn’t always easy.
“It’s quite rocky, to be honest. With Perri being so vulnerable, he has these trust issues. He’s kind of like a lost puppy dog, in a sense. He’s just kind of edging his nose towards the water bowl, trying to figure out his surroundings and see where he can fit in.”
Part of Tane’s approach to helping Perri is teaching him about te ao Māori. Growing up Māori in Australia, Perri feels disconnected from his heritage.
“He didn’t have the upbringing that Tane had back in New Zealand, so when they create this friendship and this bond, Tane also takes him on this cultural journey and he introduces him to things like the taiaha.”
Stewart says he recalls his uncles and cousins having “a little bit of a tutu on the taiaha” – a traditional Māori weapon – but it’s something he’d never experienced himself.
The Surviving Summer star believes that seeing Perri learning about Māori culture and customs is something that will resonate with many viewers.
“People who are like myself – who grew up in Australia and didn’t have that opportunity to have the cultural groundings embedded in them from day one.
“I didn’t get the opportunity to grow up in New Zealand. Spent a lot of time there, spent a lot of time around the cuzzies and on the marae doing heaps of dishes.”
Like Perri, Stewart understands what it’s like to feel you are missing a part of “home”, as he calls Aotearoa.
“Perri finds this new love and this new soul, for what I think he has been missing out on a little bit. Because he hasn’t had that, it’s almost been a void in his life.”
Stewart says the big brother/little brother relationship between Tane and Perri spilled over into real life.
“I can’t speak more highly of him,” he says of his co-star.
“He’s very disciplined, he’s dedicated, humble and he’s someone that you want in your corner. To be able to walk on the set every day and shake his hand, give him a cuddle − it’s insane.”
Stewart was inspired to become an actor after appearing in a school production of The Lion King at the age of seven. He has appeared in a number of short films and also worked as a stand-in on blockbuster Aquaman. He’s also a keen script writer who hopes to produce his own work someday.
While he’s yet to work on a New Zealand production, he says it’s something he’d love to do, although he jokingly admits his Kiwi accent might need a little work. He is taking on a new language challenge however, as he is heading to Norway to be with long-term partner Emily.
“Yeah I’ve been practising Norwegian for a long time now.”
Coming from a rugby league family, Stewart enjoys watching the game. But given that he lives in Australia, who does he support in the NRL?.
Stewart pretends to nervously um and ah, before asking, “How many Kiwis read this?”
Hearing the reply (a lot), he quickly responds with a laugh, “Up The Wahs”.
