Biography
Date of Birth
16 December 1997, Auckland, New Zealand
Birth Name
Keneti James Fitzgerald Apa
Nickname
KJ
Height
5' 11" (1.8 m)
Trivia
He has Samoan, Scottish, and English ancestry.
KJ Apa is Samoan & Kiwi (Kiwi= New Zealander). His father is Samoan & his mother is Kiwi.
When KJ was a kid, he would go play his guitar out on street corners around his house in Auckland. (While he's out on location shooting movies/TV shows KJ has joined other people performing music on the streets by playing guitar with them.*).
He's the youngest of three children in his family. He has two older sisters, Timena & Ari.
In addition to acting, KJ sings, writes songs & plays guitar. He sometimes brings one of his guitars with him while he's off on location shooting movies/TV shows.
At 14 years of age, KJ recorded a solo guitar album.
He's not a natural red head. The actor, whose natural hair colour is a dark brown, admitted that it took 10 hours in the salon to get that perfect shade of orange.
He auditioned for Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War (2016), but walked out on his audition knowing he wouldn't win the role. He also auditioned for Jason Scott/The Red Ranger in Power Rangers (2017), while his future Riverdale (2017) co-star Ross Butler auditioned for Zack Taylor/The Black Ranger. Another Riverdale co-star, Cody Kearsley, appeared in Power Rangers as Hawkeye.
He likes watermelon.
Quotes
[on getting attention from women based on his shirtless social media posts] I haven't had anyone come up to me and ask to lick or touch my abs in person but the thirst is very real, it's kinda narly.
[on whether it is intimidating to be sexualized on screen as Archie] Not intimidating at all. When I do sexual scenes I'm always thinking that I have a lot of family back home watching this. When I read the pilot though, it wasn't difficult for me to see that's the direction they were taking. Every single episode I have my shirt off so inevitably, it's going to be gnarly.
[on being inspired by any celebrity's physical transformation] Zac Efron! He got fully jacked and shredded for the movie Baywatch. It was insane. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I was like holy cow.
