Press archive » Pavement magazine (January 2005)

Tom Hern

There's quite a lot of John Travolta about Tom Hern. It's not just a physical resemblance, although both have the same wide, thick-lipped grin that crinkles up intense eyes, husky voice, shaggy hair and prominent chin. The similarity is more in the easy charm that you suspect hides an aptitude for getting into trouble. Hern showed up for his interview sporting a black eye and swollen lip, courtesy of what he insists was an unprovoked attack from a group of loiterers on Auckland's Ponsonby Road. I don't doubt he didn't start the fight but it's hard not to think that if it came to provocation, Hern, like Travolta's famously chilled-out hitman Vincent Vega, could give as good as he got.

And he certainly doesn't mind comparisons to the Hollywood stalwart. "I've always looked up to Travolta," he grins. "He just seems like a rad guy. He enjoys the good things in life: his music, dancing, food. He's got one of the best chefs in America as his private chef. And he just seems like the kind of guy you can relate to. He gets a bit overweight sometimes, then goes, 'Ah shit, I gotta get back to the gym, I guess.' And I like his films. I know he's made some crap ones but he's the kind of leading actor I like."

At just 20 years old, Hern has already laid solid foundations for his career in the acting world. His first television job was at the precocious age of 13 while a student at Papanui High School in west Christchurch, after he saw an ad in the paper looking for junior reporters for the kids' show What now? "I wrote a letter to them that said, 'Yo, I'm the man for the job, so give me a chance,'" he recalls. "I went and met the producer, Tony Palmer; a really good dude. He's got a sports journo background, so we clicked on that level and I started off mainly doing sports reporting for them." After two years working after school for the show, Hern decided formal education wasn't for him and hit Palmer up for a fulltime job. Palmer sorted one out for him in Wellington and before his 16th birthday, Hern moved out of home.

"I just got a little flat by myself," he shrugs. "It didn't freak me out because I didn't know that it should freak me out. I was kind of just naïve, thinking, 'I'll just move into my own place and sort everything out,' and it all just flowed." Hern's parents entrusted him to the care of his older brother, who kept a rather less watchful eye on him than their parents had probably hoped for, but he worked hard at his television job and started to discover a love of acting.

"After a couple of years, I kind of found my strength was in all the little skits, as opposed to the journalism side, so I decided to get an agent. The first audition I got was for The Tribe and I ended up getting that part, which was cool."

Most New Zealanders are only vaguely aware of The Tribe, a five-series production shot in Wellington, set in a post-apocalyptic world where war-painted rival gangs of teenagers battle for supremacy. The show screened here in a dubious time slot and failed to gain a strong following. However, it was a hit in America and Europe, particularly in Germany and Scandinavia. Hern, who has several internet fan sites dedicated to him, played Ram, a psychotic paraplegic with three wives. "It was quite fun playing the villain," he laughs. "The cool thing about that show was that because everyone was under 25, you got to play really grunty roles. I probably won't get put up for roles like that again til I'm 35 or 40; those villain, leading men kind of roles."

The part on The Tribe took him on publicity tours through Europe, where he admits he was astonished by the fervour of the fans. "It was fuckin' out there, man! Without being rude at all, it's the type of show that appeals to kids who don't really know where they fit in socially or who are searching a little bit," he explains. "It's quite an uplifting show; good always wins out in the end. So we had a pretty out-there cross section of people who dug the show, from 70-year-old grandmothers who watched it with their grandchildren, to trippy cats."

After The Tribe, Hern won a role in a completely different show - as a time-travelling do-gooder in a UK/US cable series called Revelations. "Basically, post-September 11, it was an idea to make a moral-boosting, feel-good, almost Little House on the Prairie series," he explains. "I was the only on-going character. I would breeze into town, help people solve their problems, then go into a new time zone next week. It was like a cross between Touched By An Angel and Quantum Leap."

Since then, Hern has slotted in a six-month part on the Japanese kids' series Power Rangers Dino Thunder, and continued to emulate Travolta by recording and album, due to be released early 2005. "I'm an MC," he nods. "I've got the first single just about ready for release, called She's the Money. It's got a little bit of a comedy spin. I thought I'd better not come out too serious with the first track!"

He has also just returned from a reconnaissance mission to Los Angeles, where he met with potential managers and agents, including The Sopranos' James Gandolfini's agent, and checked out the scene in preparation for his return in January, when he hopes to pick up auditions during the American pilot season.

His options here [in New Zealand], however, don't seem limited. "I just auditioned for a massive American Gulf War film this week that's being directed by Sam Mendes, who did American Beauty," he says. "There are only a couple of dudes from New Zealand who got a crack at it. The film's called Jarhead. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Fox are both cast and now they're looking for an unknown for the third lead." And although he's looking forward to testing the waters in LA, his current aspirations lie close to home. "Ideally, I'd like to work on a really strong Kiwi film. I think we've shown over the last 10 years, with three or four films that have created breakthrough artists, that [a local film] can be your 'in' just as much as a guest role on a big blockbuster. And so much more credibility goes with that as well. Something like Whale Rider, that's the cliché everyone busts out. But it's such an awesome film."

Source of this article: Pavement magazine, January 2005
Date of this item added: 2006-03-31