Born November 4, 1955 in Auckland, New Zealand, Lani John Tupu is a New Zealand actor and director of Samoan descent, internationally best known for his roles in Farscape (1999). In 1976 he debuted on TV in the mini-series Epidemic (1976) and two years later he graduated New Zealand Drama School. In 1985 he left New Zealand and moved to Australia. 1988 marked his film debut in Send a Gorilla (1988). Tupu got considerable acclaim for his 1996 short movie Talk of the Town (1996) in which he also starred. Starting from 1999 he appeared in Farscape (1999) in two roles: playing captain Crais and voicing the character of Pilot, who was actually a puppet. After the show was canceled in 2003, he came back to play Pilot in Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004). Since 2007 Tupu has been narrating SBS promos. Throughout his career he's been billed as Lani Tupu, Larney Tupu, John Tupu and Lani John Tupu.