#187 | Luciane Buchanan | Polynesian culture, acting, and playing Queen Ka'ahumanu in Chief of War

Luciane Buchanan is a Tongan actress from New Zealand. She started acting as a young teen in Aotearoa landing roles in some local series, the Netflix series ‘The New Legends of Monkey’, ‘Sweet Tooth’, and Apple TV+’s ‘Mr. Corman’. In 2020, Luciane was a recipient of the Script to Screen 'Fresh Shorts' program for her first short screenplay 'Lea Tupu'anga/ Mother Tongue'. The University of Auckland celebrated her in 2023 on the '40 under 40' list of alumni. 2022 was a breakout year internationally when she was casted in Netflix’s ‘The Night Agent’, playing the lead role of Rose, which went on to break records as Netflix’s most watched series of 2023 and spending 12 weeks in the top 10. In 2023 she became one of IMDB’s Top Stars and now in 2025 she is set to play the lead role of Queen Ka’ahumanu in the Apple TV+ series ‘Chief of War’.In this episode we talk about growing up in New Zealand, getting into acting, her big roles in Night Agent and Chief of War, Polynesian culture, language, playing Queen Ka’ahumanu, and so much more.Find Luciane here: https://www.instagram.com/lucianebuchanan/Buy our merch on:Official website: https://keepitaloha.com/Support us on:Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kamakadiasFollow us on:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keepitalohapod/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keepitalohapodTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@keepitalohapod