Lani Tupu

Lani Tupu: When I get time to paint, I like doing oil painting. It just gives you time out on your own. If you're an actor you're always working in a creative environment, with a whole lot of other people, so doing your own stuff, or creating your own music, is good because it gives you another creative outlet.

Lani Tupu: I prefer to play the bad guys, but I look at it from a role-to-role point of view, because there are some characters I don't think I would want to play. I'm not [into] the horror genre. I run away from it. There are other genres I would really like to be working on.

Lani Tupu: When I was offered the role of Captain Crais (on Farscape), I thought it was just one episode, having lost out to Anthony. Then I was offered the bible to read, the outline of all the characters, and I discovered who Captain Crais was and thought, "This person? You bet I want to be part of it!" So that's how it happened.

Lani Tupu: (about why he likes going to conventions) When I'm invited by the organizers. For example this summer, I started in San Diego for Comic Con and here, and it's been a great opportunity to see America, and I think I've seen more of America than most Americans over the years doing conventions. It's a great opportunity to reconnect with the fans, and to see America.

Lani Tupu: What I love about Science Fiction is the world of imagination, thing that impresses me about the Sci Fi culture, is the ability to just imagine things way beyond the envelope, the possibilities of other worlds, that is so far away from Earth bound conventions and that's not too bad.

Lani Tupu: (About getting his roles on Farscape) I tested like every body else over 2 1/2 months, and I was testing for D'Argo at the same time, that was the role I was going for, and when Anthony Simcoe got D'Argo, I was asked a few days later to play this character called Crais. And after I landed Crais, they asked me to test for Pilot, so I was blessed to have two roles.

(in a 2001 TV Zone interview, on Farscape) Lani Tupu: I would like to think that Farscape will be remembered as a show that made a difference in terms of sci-fi and in terms of story and the characters. I'd like it to make that kind of stamp, and I think it has all the hallmarks of that. I'd also like to think that the work I'm doing as Crais and Pilot is some of the best work I've ever done.

Lani Tupu: You have to have the claws of an eagle, hide of a rhino, the heart of a lion, and the grace of a dove to be an actor.

(in a January 2003 SCI FI Weekly interview, on the question what his ideal role would be) Lani Tupu: In terms of dramatic roles, well, I've yet to do Othello. I think, as an actor, there are certain roles in your lifetime which are like the Olympic Games or climbing the Himalayan mountains. One of them, for me, is Othello.

(about leaving New Zealand) Lani Tupu: If I hadn't left New Zealand, I wouldn't be flying around in space with a wacky and wonderful bunch of misfits, such as the Farscape crew, and even more so, meeting an equally wild and wacky bunch of sci-fi fans. My world has certainly expanded; it really is a long way from Kansas, Toto!

(in a 2006 interview on the question how much of Lani Tupu is in Captain Crais, and what is different) Lani Tupu: Lani Tupu or Captain Crais? The difference? Some days it was hard to tell who was crankier!

(on the question if he believes that there might be life beyond the planet earth) Lani Tupu: Aw, heck yes. It would be arrogant to think that there is only human civilization. I definitely believe that there's a power and a force out there in the universe.

(on the question if he ever wanted to do anything besides act) Lani Tupu: If I could sing, I'd like that. I wouldn't mind singing for five minutes. If I could be a tenor, that's what I'd be.

Lani Tupu: I'm a sci-fi baby... it's not a genre that I'm particularly familiar with. But being part of Farscape now, I'm looking at sci-fi shows from a completely different light. What I love about them is the imagination that takes you beyond the conventional, everyday story.