Starring in a critically-acclaimed TV series, as well as tackling a PhD in criminology may seem like two opposing (and extremely time-consuming) worlds, but 28-year-old actor and University of Auckland student Aria Dehar – who is passionate about both – makes it work.
Dehar stars as the “destructive hot mess” Ma in the local Prime series Not Even. It’s a six-part comedy/drama series that centres on a group of young Māori and Pasifika friends navigating life in contemporary Wellington.
She talks to Amberleigh Jack about the importance of highlighting mental health and race issues on-screen, why not being able to “pretend” cry is therapeutic, and why she should never read the comments, but just can’t help herself.
Your Not Even character Ma was described by one reviewer as a “destructive hot mess”. In reality, she is struggling with her mental health. How important is bringing those issues to the screen?
I was just having this conversation – that everybody experiences anxiety and mental health situations differently. The way that someone like Ma experiences is unique to her – sitting in the car eating KFC and crying is unique to her. I read a few comments that people really related to the crying over KFC scene, which is interesting because I didn’t! But she has her processes that she goes through to deal with different situations. I think [seeing that] can be helpful to people.
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How about the issues of racism and identity? Do you think those are relatable and important as well?
I think it’s very important to have those situations be on-screen, so they can be conversation starters [about racism]. It can be just a sly little comment and other people might not think that that’s necessarily racism, but it could be. I think having examples of microaggressions – such as the flashback episode, where a teacher isn’t pronouncing students names right – proves it’s a lot more pervasive than people necessarily may think.
Are there situations with Ma’s mental health you do relate to?
Yeah, definitely. She is a completely different person to me, but I do relate to her. Such as her failing at University, I’ve been through [similar situations]. Such as, where do you go from here? When you skip a few classes and by the end you’ve skipped a whole semester …
As well as acting, you are studying for a PhD. How do you balance the two?
I have always felt like I need a creative outlet. I become a little bit of a different person if I don’t have one. Acting fulfils that for me. To be honest, I feel like my study stuff that I do is a passion and I get fulfilment from it, but my acting stuff is fun. And I like playing a different character – it reminds me of being in high school drama class.
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Watch Aria Dehar in Not Even, screening Sundays, 8.30pm on Prime and streams on Neon.
Do you find acting cathartic when life is full on with study and everything else?
I find it therapeutic. Because, especially with this character, there are a lot of comedic moments, but I also felt like I needed to be really vulnerable. I felt like it was therapeutic in a way, particularly with the crying scenes. My character cries a lot, and I was [actually] crying because I don’t know how to pretend to cry. At the end of it, I was like, that was a good therapy session. I worked through a lot of stuff
What drew you to criminology?
I was a little bit naughty when I was younger and so I was interested in knowing why other people make the decisions that they make. I went into it originally because I thought it was going to be like CSI: New York, but I stayed because I was fascinated by the complexities of why crime is committed. My interest is why do we focus so much on penalising crime and not preventing crime? In the future I would be interested in looking at the ways crime can be prevented.
Does your acting help with things such as your PhD review process?
I have the worst stage fright. I get really anxious, and I do think [the two are] completely different. I think it probably did help, I’m just not sure how at this point.
You said you have been reading comments on stories about Not Even. Is that ever a good idea?
No! Generally, it’s been really positive. So I’m really thankful for that. I think I should stop reading the comments just in case. I don’t want to read something I can’t unsee. I am really sensitive, I don’t know why I’m reading them. I feel like I’m self-sabotaging.
