Riverdale star KJ Apa rants about being mistaken for an Australian… and insists his New Zealand homeland is ‘definitely’ the better country
He’s the New Zealand-born heartthrob who stars as Archie Andrews on the Netflix hit series Riverdale.
And on Monday Keneti James ‘KJ’ Apa revealed that he is sick of people thinking he is Australian.
Appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres show, the 22-year-old said: ‘At least once a day (due to my accent) I get mistaken for being an Australian’.
Over it: Keneti James ‘KJ’ Apa revealed that he is sick of people thinking he is Australian during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres on Monday
‘You sound like your angry at that,’ Ellen jokingly replied, before asking whether he believes New Zealand is a better country than Australia.
‘I do, I do, definitely,’ he nodded.
‘New Zealand is the most beautiful place on earth and there is nothing that can kill you there,’ the hunk joked.
‘New Zealand is the most beautiful place on earth’: KJ explained he ‘definitely’ prefers New Zealand to it’s Down Under neighbour, and joked that Australia has to many dangerous animals
‘In Australia, your wife will tell you (Australian actress Portia De Rossi) there’s a lot of spiders, a lot of poisonous creatures that will kill you but in New Zealand, there is no predators.’
KJ earned his first major acting gig as Kane Jenkins on New Zealand prime-time soap opera Shortland Street from 2013 to 2015.
In 2016, he was cast as leading man Archie Andrews in Riverdale, which is based on the Archie comic books that started in 1941.
Aussie connection: The talk-show host married Australian actress Portia De Rossi (pictured right) in 2008
In September last year, AJ admitted that he didn’t always dream of becoming an actor and that his first passion was music.
‘I never really wanted to be an actor, it was never really something that I actively pursued,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.
‘I have always been super-passionate about music, that is my first love. I love being a part of things that I am super-inspired by at the end of the day.’
Leading man: In 2016, KJ was cast as Archie Andrews in Riverdale (pictured with castmasts from left to right Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart)