800 Words: profiles


Hannah played by Cian Elyse White

A gun surfer, [Gun: a big surfboard for riding big waves] Hannah also works a multitude of different jobs in and around town — waiting tables at the boat club and shop assistant at the surf shop. She dates guys but gets bored with them very quickly. She doesn't date surfers because they get threatened as she's better at riding waves than they are.

Cian Elyse White describes her character as fearless, staunch and outspoken.

"When we first meet Hannah she's a bit stand-offish and she's a little bit short with George, but what I love about her is that's not who she is at all," she says.

"Her interest gets a lot deeper, she wants to help George and his family. I really enjoy being able to show the depths of Hannah and the wonderful, colourful rainbow of a lady she is." She has a contemporary family tree — her father is Zac and her half brothers are Ike and Billy. She doesn't really get on with her mother who left town a few years ago.

Cian Elyse White

Originally from Rotorua in New Zealand's North Island, Cian Elyse White studied at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School.

In 2015 she appeared in South Pacific Pictures and Touchpaper TV's coproduction Tatau, a thriller series on BBC3 and BBC America. Her other television credits include Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud and a guest role on contemporary noir series The Blue Rose.

Cian is part of a cooperative that in 2015 opened New Zealand's first indigenous theatre space. Her theatre credits include Mo & Jess Kill Susie for which she was nominated for the Chapman Tripp — Best Female Newcomer Award; Awatea (Auckland Theatre Company); Te Awarua (Smackbang); The Prophet (Tawata Productions) and most recently the Auckland Theatre Company season of Kings of the Gym. A career highlight for Cian was touring Birds with Sky Mirrors (Mau Theatre Company) to Taipei, Rome and Athens in 2012.