’ll come in from the hallway!” KJ Apa,
dressed in silk Versace pyjamas,
emerges from the bedroom before
turning, pausing and sprinting back
through the doorway. He leaps,
Superman-style across the bed, as the
room lights up with a trio of flashes. “Great!”
shouts the photographer. Next up: pants off.
It’s just gone midday and we’re at a home
in the Hollywood Hills. Soon, Apa will hit
the shower while clothed in Louis Vuitton, and
then the pool, but right now, we’re capturing him
mid-flight. “I usually feel pretty uncomfortable
doing photo shoots,” he says, now wearing
underwear and a mesh top. “But today is
going really well!”
Were they here to see it, millions of teenage
girls – and no small number of boys – would
probably agree. At 20, KJ Apa has transformed
from a little-known New Zealand soap actor
into the beloved star of Riverdale, one of TV’s
biggest surprise hits of 2017. And it’s not hard to
see why. Apa might be from Auckland, but he
makes a convincing all-American heart-throb.
He’s like a Ken Doll for the Instagram
generation. The kind of boy you could bring home
to mum, but whose torso also happens to be a set
of vacuum-packed abs. He’s goofy and charming,
handsome but not in an intimidating way.
“Once, a girl tried to get a photo with me and
all she wanted to do was touch my eyebrows,”
he says. “I politely declined and she had a little
meltdown. It makes you really uncomfortable
sometimes, but it’s all good.”
Apa’s journey from unknown actor to the kind of
person whose eyebrows might cause minor personal
crises has been rapid. Born Keneti James Apa, his
father is a Samoan chief – a fact celebrated with
a Samoan tattoo on his right shoulder.
He was a gifted athlete and played rugby
throughout high school. “Not being cocky, but
I’ve always been in pretty good shape,” he says.
“I really love working out – I go to the gym every day.”
At 16, he moved from sport to screen, landing his first acting gig
as Kane on long-running New Zealand soap opera, Shortland Street.
He stayed there for a year and a half, before moving to LA and
being cast in the film A Dog’s Purpose, starring Dennis Quaid and
directed by Lasse Hallström, of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape fame.
“I’ve been really lucky,” he says. “It’s not like the classic acting story,
where people are grinding for ages until they get something.”
Despite the New York Times calling it “a string of nonthreatening
clichés”, the film was a box-office success when it hit cinemas in
January, pulling in an impressive $246m worldwide on a budget
of just under $28m.
For now, the big screen will have to wait. When we speak,
Apa’s seven episodes into filming the second season of Riverdale
in Vancouver – which means he’s another 15 left. And, ratings
permitting, many more after that.
“We’re all locked in for six years, which is crazy,”
he says. “But it’s going to be a great ride. When
I first started, I almost couldn’t comprehend that
I was going to be working for 10 months straight.
But after the first season, the show blew up.”
The filming means long hours on set, often
shooting well into the night. In September Apa
fell asleep at the wheel while driving back from
a 16-hour day of filming. He was OK, but
the incident made headlines and reportedly
spurred protests about safety precautions –
and the studio’s duty of care towards actors as
well as the production team.
“It’s pretty brutal,” he says of the long days.
“But I don’t care what anyone says, no one works as
hard as the crew does. Sometimes, I’ll have a whole
day off or I’ll only go in for one scene – they are
working every day, from the start to the finish.”
First airing on Netflix in January this year,
Riverdale is loosely based on the characters in
the Archie Comics series and has a Gossip Girl
does Twi n Peak s vibe. It revolves around the
murder of Jason Blossom, the son of a wealthy
family, whose murder hangs over the town.
Apa stars as Archie Andrews and is joined by
co-stars Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes and
former Disney child star, Cole Sprouse.
“When I first got the role, I wondered how
Americans were going to find a New Zealander
playing an all-American character that’s been
going for the past 75 years,” he says. “So it’s
a real privilege to be doing this – and
a massive responsibility.”
Besides ensuring Apa’s hair remains a cartoonish
copper colour, the role has made him famous,
almost overnight. He currently has 4 million
Instagram followers and a quick glance at his
accounts reveal pledges of undying love –
as well as slightly more explicit proposals.
“Um. Yeah...” he laughs, trailing off.
Given the number of stars who’ve been caught
out sharing risqué photos with fans, Apa says
he’s not likely to take them up on their offers.
“If you’re someone who has a big following on social media, it’s
never a good idea to do that shit – whether it’s on a private platform
or to your mates or whatever. As soon as you upload it or give it to
someone else, you never know who can grab it. So maybe just...
don’t take nudes?”
Sound advice. For the record, Apa is “not officially” seeing
anyone, whatever that means. But it’s not like he has much time
for relationships, anyway – he finishes shooting in April, after which
he has another project already lined up, though he’s keeping tight-
lipped on what that is. Then, fingers crossed, he gets a little down
time before season three kicks off.
“That’s always a battle – do I go home and hang out with my
family, or do I keep going?” he says. “But it’s important to keep that
momentum up and it’s good to keep working. So for the next five
or six years, I just want to keep grinding.” nI
MEN OF THE YEAR 2017 GQ.COM.AU 153