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National | Arts

Actor Rob Kipa-Williams to feature in American film for Hallmark channel

He's an actor you may recognise from the Australian-New Zealand comedy series 800 words, or from Nothing Trivial II. Rob Kipa-Williams is now filming an American movie, Pearl in Paradise alongside Amercian actors Jill Wagner and Kristopher Polaha that will air for the U.S channel Hallmark.

Speaking from the Warwick Fiji Resort, Rob describes his character saying, "He's a bit of a comedic character the guy in this movie so it's pretty cool."

Kipa-Williams plays a New Zealander named Malakai in the movie who had moved to Fiji to open a hiking and outdoor store when he offers his services to take a young couple up into the mountains to search for a mythical ancient blue pearl.

"The idea of the blue pearl is that people come from all around the world to Fiji, couples that are engaged or want to be married and if they find the blue pearl then they will fall in love forever."

Directed by Gary Yates, the movie is being shot over 15 days with almost half of the 200-strong crew being locals. The most challenging acting role he says, however, has been playing Assistant Commander Clint Rickards in the movie Consent: The Louise Nicholas Story.

"Even my aunties messaged me after they watched it were like 'I didn't like that character you played, we don't wanna watch that' so it was a pretty tough role to get into, but I think what happened from that role is people see me as a nice guy and they saw that from an acting perspective, I think maybe I gained a bit of credibility from people that didn't think I could play a not so desirable character," says Kipa-Williams.

Pearl in Paradise is being shot in Pacific Harbor near Navua with a budget just of over $5million.