Aroha Awarau
21 January 1976 – 14 January 2026
Aroha Awarau (Māori / Niuean / Samoan) was many things: an award-winning scriptwriter, playwright, journalist, stand-up comedian, film director, and—most memorably—a force of nature.
You usually heard Aroha before you saw him. His laugh was loud, distinctive, and unapologetic, often arriving just ahead of his signature sashay. I was fortunate enough to laugh with him, and from that moment on, Aroha Awarau was forever my “Laughing Queen.”
We also shared our Catholic faith, and it became another quiet bond between us. In his final days, that faith—held close alongside the love of his friends and family—was a great source of strength and comfort for him. It carried him with grace, just as he had carried so many others with his words and laughter.
Aroha was a prolific writer, and we were developing several projects together when friendship quietly slipped in alongside the work. He was the talker; I was the listener. And what stories he told—always with heart, always with humour, always with something to say.
While Aroha hailed from Ngāti Maru and Ngāti Porou, he was immensely proud of his Pacific heritage, carrying both Niuean and Samoan ancestry with deep love and pride. That sense of identity and responsibility ran through everything he created.
He was a contributing writer for TP+ platform and one of his most recent projects was Maisuka, a NZ On Air–funded documentary he wrote and directed for SunPix. The film explored the impact of type 2 diabetes on Pacific Islands youth—a subject Aroha knew all too well as a type 2 diabetic himself. It was classic Aroha: brave, honest, compassionate, and driven by the desire to help others.
Aroha’s creative journey began with a degree in Film and Television from the University of Waikato in 1998, followed by early work on iconic New Zealand films including What Becomes of the Broken Hearted and The Price of Milk. He later earned a journalism degree from Auckland University of Technology in 2004 and went on to build an award-winning media career, contributing to TVNZ, Listener, Whakaata Māori, NZ Woman’s Weekly, Stuff, and National Geographic.
In 2000, Aroha stepped onto the comedy stage, quickly making it to the finals of the Raw Comedy Fest. In 2004, he appeared on So You Think You’re Funny, the world’s first reality TV competition for stand-up comedians. He retired from stand-up in 2005—but, because Aroha never really stayed retired, he returned to the comedy stage last year and began directing a documentary about his comeback with Dmitry Konovalov.
His screen work was wide-ranging and influential. Aroha contributed to the storyline table for the second season of the Emmy Award–winning drama Rūrangi, the TVNZ comedy The Boy, the Queen and Everything in Between, and a mini-series currently in development about trans pioneer Georgina Beyer.
His short film Home (2015), which he wrote and produced, screened at several international festivals. In 2020, he served as screenwriter and associate producer for Disrupt. In 2024, Aroha made his directorial debut with Puti, a deeply moving short film adapted from his award-winning screenplay, which won Best Short Film Script at the 2014 Pikihuia Māori Writers Awards. Puti has since received critical acclaim and screened both nationally and internationally.
Beyond the screen, Aroha was a celebrated playwright, with award-winning works including Where We’d Least Expect (2014), Luncheon (2015), Officer 27 (2016), and Provocation (2019). His writing was fearless, funny, tender, and unapologetically human—much like the man himself.
Aroha Awarau leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, countless stories, and the echo of a laugh that will never quite leave the room. He reminded us that joy could be radical, that storytelling could heal, and that laughter—especially loud, fabulous laughter—was something worth sharing.
Aroha passed away Wednesday 14 January a week shy of his 50th birthday. He will be deeply missed, forever remembered, and always laughing with us.
