Eru Potaka-Dewes
Eru Potaka - Dewes (* 1939 in Ruatoria; † August 7, 2009 in Rotorua ) was a New Zealand Māori actor and activist.
Life
Eru Potaka - Dewes visited the Waiomatatini Native Primary School and Gisborne Boys High. Later he studied at the Otago University history and education. After that he became a priest and lived for several years in Australia.
On his return to New Zealand mid-1980s, he turned to the radical Māori movement and entered as an activist for the interests of the indigenous people of New Zealand.
In the 1990s Potaka - Dewes was an international audience for his roles in the films The Piano and Rapa Nui - known rebellion in paradise.
Potaka - Dewes was dean of the theological faculty of the Maori Anglican Theological College in Rotorua. He taught at various schools in Auckland and Rotorua.