Dayna Pomare Pai (Ngā Puhi)
Hūnua, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Skill as a rider won Dayna Pomare Pai her first stunt-double role at 17. Since then, she has doubled for stars including Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Tilda Swinton and Lucy Lawless. In 2020, she played one of the Amazons in Wonder Woman 1984. Dayna is the owner of New Zealand Stunt School. When she’s not teaching, choreographing or stunting, Dayna and her tutors teach kids to fly at Disability Sport Auckland.
In 2024 she founded a charity called NZ Action Film Foundation, which encourages people from underprivileged and at-risk communities into film work. Dayna trains horses to do stunts for film and television, and she enjoys the challenge of finding each new horse’s talent. She often asks her dad for help with the hōiho at her place, and benefits from his years of experience.
I could ride before I could walk. My dad made a contraption out of leather strapping that would hold me in the saddle, and I would fall asleep up there, walking and trotting along beside him on his hōiho
during long cattle drives in Te Rohe Pōtae the King Country. It wasn’t too long before I could ride without being tied on. I remember getting around on big ponies as well as small ones, and even taking my dog along for a few treks across the property. There wasn’t much I was afraid to do. Horseback was my second home.
My father is Jim Pomare. When I was young, he was a horse trainer and rodeo manager. His twin brother, my uncle Bill Pomare, was the first Māori owner-trainer of an Auckland Cup winner. Riding is definitely in my DNA, but I pursued a life with horses myself. I loved living up close with hōiho whenever I stayed at my dad’s. His house — which combined shelter for humans and horses — was my kind of heaven.
Now, my family and I live in one house and Dad lives in the other. We share one block of land, with our horses all around us — as well as my pet sheep, Cookie, and my mule, Jack. It’s like a little girl’s dream
come true. Dad is just next door, always on hand to help with my hōiho, by putting shoes on, fixing their backs or just giving me advice on how I might approach a training session.
My pāpā has always been a gutsy, capable rider and horseman. Back in the day, he was also a champion arm wrestler. When I was a kid, he was my role model for how to be tough and resilient, and he taught me how to take the knocks and make my own luck. I used his example in my young life, getting along to pony club on the problem ponies that other kids couldn’t do much with, and sitting some dirty bucks because I wanted the ride.
I’ve needed that resilience in my adult life, too. I’ve had quite a few injuries on film sets, like a dagger that went through my cheek in a fight scene for Legend of the Seeker, and multiple nose-breaks and neck injuries from falls, staged and otherwise. I love the adrenaline rush, the world travel,
the artistry of stunt work, and the joy of working with the film industry’s best actors and being able to enhance their performances. I also love teaching people who are keen to get into this business, because it is a great one, particularly for rangatahi who are driven, athletic and intuitive.
Doubling for an actor is exciting and challenging. It involves taking notice of details and being part of a team. If you pay a lot of attention while your actor is rehearsing and working in front of the camera, you can learn to mimic her gestures and her way of walking and moving. Being able to recreate the actor’s style helps to make the stunt scenes believable and merge into the film or programme as a whole.
I have ADHD (attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder). But I only found this out once I became an adult. I didn’t do well at school because I found it hard to concentrate during lessons and to keep up with my homework. The teachers probably got frustrated with me because they thought I didn’t put in the mahi. I remember being told that I’d never make anything of myself. I don’t hold it against them: no one really knew about ADHD or neurodiversity then, but it was a pretty harsh thing to say to a kid, and it has obviously stuck with me. I certainly wouldn’t want any young person to be told that today.
Luckily, I knew I was good at some things: gym and dancing — and, most of all, my work with horses. People were always praising my riding, and Dad had given me difficult horses to train since I was eight. Those things made me feel special. When I look back now, I believe that the hyperfocus you get with ADHD — where you concentrate really intently on the things that you are passionate about — is what made me successful. I would practise and practise until I could do tricks, and I enjoyed that repetition. It wasn’t a chore. I’ve never lost my drive to train horses or to do stunts, and they’ve both brought me massive satisfaction in my career.
I have the same attitude to horses as I have to people: find what they are good at, and it will become their superpower. I have a new little mare who loves to roll. I’m not going to tell her off for that; she will be my lie-down horse — as soon as I can manage to get my command in before she drops! The same goes for rearing horses. The ones who do it naturally carry out the rear as a kind of joyous thing when you ask them. Horses who are made to do it when it’s not a natural movement for them will show the strain in their body language. It is so much easier to allow the horses to tell you what their talents are. Like humans, they will let you know sooner or later.
I was 17 and working in a café in Tāmaki Makaurau when someone suggested that I should try out for the stunt-double role in the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. Although I had no idea what that would involve, I went along, and I got the job based on how I could ride. The work just kept coming in after that, so I was lucky — my life with horses and my dedication to them had made me ready for the
opportunities that lay ahead.
To have contributed to huge productions like Mad Max: Fury Road, Snow White and the Huntsman, Hercules, Wonder Woman 1984 and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a massive source of pride. I also feel really satisfied when I think about the people I’m mentoring at New Zealand Stunt School, and the tamariki and rangatahi we help when we visit Disability Sport Auckland, because just as much as I enjoy using my skills on screen, I get equal pleasure from sharing and passing them on — doing what my pāpā did for me.
