Home And Away’s Kiwi star Ethan Browne on chasing the dream: ‘It was a tough time for years.’

“I was obsessed with that one,” he laughs. “We grew up with very little. In Wairoa, the financial socio-demographic is quite poor. We had movies, we had video games and those were my escape. Most of the time I was watching movies. I’d think, ‘Damn, one day I’d love to do something like that.’”

At 16 Browne became a father. The responsibility of parenthood meant he had no time for dreams. While he did indulge his interest in martial arts by taking up taekwondo, he shelved his fanciful movie star aspirations to study civil engineering after high school.

Many years later in Brisbane, he found his 9-5 engineering job was leaving him massively unfulfilled. His thoughts quickly refocused back on his childhood acting dream and it quickly became an obsession. This time, however, he decided to do something about it.

“I found a weekly acting class at night where no one knew me. I could be free and no one had to know I was doing it,” he says, noting that as he was now in his mid-20s he was worried he’d be laughed at or mocked. “In the early stages of following the dream I wanted to keep it quiet. They’re of that mindset that things will never work out, so I had to protect it.”

His drama teacher quickly identified his talent and after his first year of weekly classes encouraged him to take a moonshot and apply for a coveted place at Nida, Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Arts.

“The entry rate for Nida is less than 1 per cent,” Browne says. “A few thousand people around Australia apply each year and they need 24.”

The process sounds awful, with applicants having to perform a monologue not just in front of the selection panel but also their fellow hopefuls, all seated in the theatre awaiting their turn on stage. Browne says he felt relaxed about it. Because the odds were so stacked against him he’d adopted a carefree attitude towards it. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to give it his all.

For his monologue, he chose Shakespeare’s famously rousing speech from Henry V and gave it a multicultural twist. ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends,’ he began, gradually increasing the intensity until erupting into a haka.

“They probably hadn’t seen that before, Shakespeare and Māori culture intersecting like that. It was new and unique and something physical. I think it helped me stand out,” he says. “But it was a gruelling audition process. People got cut right there on the spot, like, ‘Nah, next!’”

He survived two auditions and was at work drawing up plans when he got the call that would literally change his life.

“I got the call from Nida saying I got in. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I’d have been dumb to say no. But I called my acting teacher and he said, ‘You didn’t get in, eh?’ and I was like, ‘Nah, I actually got in,’ and he didn’t believe it. He was like, ‘You’ve got to do this. You can’t not do it.’ I went back to my work desk, sat down and looked at all the paperwork and was like, ‘No more. I’m gone.’”

It was a massive confidence boost but one that brought with it new concerns. Chiefly, that’d be leaving a steady pay cheque and, being a Kiwi, he did not have access to Australian student loans. He worried about making ends meet during the three years of full-time study while also remaining a supportive parent and partner.

“I had to find ways to pay for this thing. It was a tough time for years. I was working at night as a bouncer while doing classes during the day and trying not to fall asleep because I’d get home at 4am and then I’d get up at 7am to go to school. I really had to grind it and I couldn’t have done it without my partner. She carried us for years. But you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do and figure it out.”

He came close to quitting several times but each time his tutors would convince him to stay. It was during his final semester that he landed an audition for Home and Away. He was sent a scene and turned up going for the character of Ari.

“Tane didn’t exist,” he laughs. “I got a callback saying, ‘We want you to read for a new character called Tane, he’s the younger brother of Ari.”

He went in and was instantly intimidated by the number of famous faces around him.

“I’d grown up watching these people, I thought, ‘I’m way out of my league here’.”

Of course, he wasn’t. A few days later he got the news that he’d earned the role. The boy from Wairoa’s big dream had finally come true at the age of 26.

“It still feels surreal. I never thought it would happen. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a lot of things but I always wanted to be in a movie the most. I never thought it would be possible, especially coming from a place like Wairoa,” he says. “It’s my favourite place in the world but because it’s so isolated, it doesn’t feel like any of that’s possible. In life, you get away from your childhood dreams but you can go back to them.”

For many Australians, the Paratas are their first real exposure to Māori culture. It’s a responsibility that Browne takes seriously. He is Māori but doesn’t speak fluent te reo and is not too proud to mahi with the soap’s culture adviser if he’s unsure about something.

“It’s weird, I’ve probably learned more about my culture through Home and Away because I’ve had to,” he muses. “I’ve learnt a few korero, a few prayers. I’m learning a lot about my culture through this platform.”

It was a courageous thing to do, gambling everything on his dream. But he wanted to show his daughter that anything was possible as long as you backed yourself.

“I’ve always been driven and have wanted to be a good role model for my daughter. That always keeps me moving forward. I have an obsessive nature and always had a drive to succeed, I don’t half-ass things. If I decide to do something, I go all in and believe I can do it.”

Of course, his childhood dream was to be in movies and that is still very much on his mind. To that end, he has already starred in two upcoming martial arts films recently shot in Sydney.

“I’ve got other aspirations, bigger aspirations,” he says. “This is only the beginning, a stepping stone. It’s the law of cause and effect. As cliched as it sounds, what you put in is what you get out. If you put in the effort you’ll always get something.”

He may have come to acting late but he says he has absolutely no regrets about putting it off for so long, believing that things happen when they need to happen.

“I had to go through all of that before I realised I needed to do acting,” he says. “I really did think I’d do the civil engineering thing and be happy. And then once I’d been working for seven or eight months, I realised, ‘Nah, I can’t. I just can’t.’ That’s what really took me over to decide I was finally going to pursue acting, which is what I really wanted to do.”

Then, sounding very much like a man whose dreams have come true, Browne says, “You only live once. Go for the happiness.”

Home and Away screens weeknights on TVNZ2 and TVNZ+ on demand.