INTERVIEW Tessa Apa
PHOTOGRAPHY David K Shields
GROOMING Sara Allsop at Dharma Salon for Shark Beauty
KJ wears all PRADA
KJ Apa’s mum Tessa asks the young Kiwi some less than expected questions – “Interviewing someone you have loved since birth is tricky. Sharing that interview with others is trickier. It felt disingenuous to ask the usual worn out questions, especially ones I already know the answer to (or didn’t want to). I know for a fact that KJ loves to write, and that written answers hold more depth and authenticity. And even though I’ve known KJ for 27 years, I learned something new. The questions I have asked have nothing to do with fame or career as an actor. I have asked myself the same questions. Perhaps you have too.”
When was the last time you felt truly alive, fizzing with optimism about your future and in love with life? Do you know where to find this feeling or does it just visit you out of the blue?
The last time I felt this was in the car yesterday as I was dropping my velociraptor (dinosaur) off to Sasha‘s mother‘s house in West Hollywood. I was listening to a song called Leave Your Life (Lonely Hearts Mix). I find this feeling pretty much every day. Music has the power to get me there pretty much immediately. That, in combination with looking at Sasha in the rearview mirror grooving to the sound… Irresistible! Although I feel it every day, there are a few major components to my life that I have to keep in check or I will quickly find myself dancing with the devil in hell itself.
Do you feel like a grown-up? When or why not?
No. I feel like a boy. And I am more than fine with feeling like a boy.
What is your relationship with your phone?
I hate it. And I love it. I always have it, but I never want it. It gives me so much… But it takes more. I think … It helps me tremendously. I try and give myself certain parameters. Like not using it in bed… Not using it when I am spending quality time with friends. Never if I am watching a movie. Never when my son is speaking to me. Always when I’m driving… LOL. Just kidding. But I live in LA. It’s kind of unavoidable.
Describe for us what an ideal normal day looks like for you right now – from beginning to end
Wake up to Sasha
Make coffee /bottle of milk
Write/read
Call Mum
Eat eggs, bacon, toast (eggs poached)
Make lunch for Sasha
School drop off
Go back home, stop at Blue Bottle for an oat milk cappuccino
Receive some kind of good news
Play around with music all day. Excited by what I’m creating. Heart beaming
Get coffee with Kelly (yes that’s my third coffee)
Talk about life, God, goals, purpose, books
Pick up Sasha
Call Mum/Dad
Arrive home, swim, snack, (maybe coffee?)
Make dinner (chicken soup)
Watch TV/bedtime Sasha/read him a book/call Mum and Dad
Return to Music for three hours
Sleep
What does spirituality mean and feel like for you? Can you describe the last time you experienced this?
Spirituality is not dissimilar to the feeling I described earlier in the car with Sasha. Spirituality, to me, is God. And those moments are God. Spirituality means looking inward. Sharing experience with others. Always looking to be better. Spirituality is authenticity. We all have a spirit that is incapable of not being itself, we just have to allow it, unaffected by the outside world. This is where the meaning of my life lies. This is where I find my deep responsibility, my true identity. Dharma. Spirituality is listening to my body. Spirituality urges me to learn from my own experience, not from the experience of someone else.
Can you share one book that changed your life?
12 steps and 12 traditions
Have you ever read a book more than once? which one?
I don’t think I have
Do you have a spirit animal that enthrals everything within you?
MONKEY!!!!
Do you have any tricks to lift your mood?
Remind myself of purpose
Trust in that
Eat
Maybe smoke a cigarette
If your son wanted to be an actor, what advice would you give him?
Make sure to have one other expression you love deeply or even deeper than acting
What does “truth” mean for you?
Love. I believe evil is born out of a lie. And so I believe love & everything Good is born out of truth
Are you a fan of rituals? Do you have any peculiar to you and your work? Things you MUST do before you get to work.
I have to pray before I work. Mostly because I feel less inhibited when I let go of expectation and allow God to move ahead of me. This is the only consistent thing I have done for as long as I can remember
Describe a moment when you knew you had achieved something you had been striving for?
Getting the role of Bradley Nowell in the upcoming Sublime biopic
If you had to go and live on another planet, what 5 things (not people) would you take with you?
Bible
Camera
Journal
Guitar
iPod
(I am thinking about whether or not whatever species is inhabiting this unknown planet have been exposed to … then five things might be, epic stories, music, photos of our planet etc.)
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