EXCLUSIVE: How Tai Hara and Fely Irvine’s daughter is already following in their showbusiness footsteps

Tai Hara has a pretty big role as ASIC investigator Vincent in Underbelly: Vanishing Act, but his part was supposed to be bigger.

“Unfortunately, before my last week of shooting, I was deemed a close contact,” Tai tells TV WEEK.

“So that meant some things had to be rewritten, and I had to isolate from the cast and crew. But that’s just the nature of the world at the moment.”

The 32-year-old actor is used to COVID changing his plans. Before the pandemic hit, he and his wife, singer Fely Irvine, had been splitting their time between Australia and the States.

He’d scored roles in shows such as Madam Secretary, where he played David Akua, the de facto president of Nauru.

“Madam Secretary was a blast,” he says. “I got to go to New York for that, and to work alongside Téa Leoni on such a well-established set was just a phenomenal experience.”

Tai and Fely haven’t been able to travel back to the States for the past two years. But they’ve experienced a lot of joy in that time, with the arrival of their daughter Chi in 2020.

“That’s been one of the most magical things, becoming a father,” Tai says.

“She’s just the most beautiful baby girl. She brings so much happiness to my and Fely’s life.”

Tai says Fely, 33, who he met at an audition for kids’ musical group Hi-5, is “incredible” with Chi.

“Seeing her step into her role as a mother, and just the love and affection that she has for Chi, it makes me so happy.”

With Fely having spent three years as a member of Hi-5, and Tai being a singer and guitarist, Chi is growing up in a “pretty musical” household.

Tai says Chi loves dancing and music, and also loves seeing her mum perform on screen.

“We’ve certainly been introducing Chi to all of her old Hi-5 episodes and I can say she is a very big fan.

She doesn’t mind The Wiggles as well – there’s a bit of competition going around – but she certainly loves seeing Mum rocking it in Hi-5.”

As for Tai, he has nothing but good memories of the series that launched his career, Home And Away.

“I still see so many of my castmates from the time when I was on – Lincoln [Younes], Alec [Snow], Pip [Northeast], Charlie [Clausen],” he says.

“We went through such a beautiful period. We were quite young, and we grew up and learnt a lot together – and forged friendships for life.”

He doesn’t rule out a return to Summer Bay for his character. “I don’t know where Andy Barrett is these days.

“I don’t know if he’s still in Australia or if he escaped off to somewhere else. I never say never with Home And Away, I love everyone there like a family.”

Despite COVID, Tai has been busy over the past two years. He co-produced the web series Colour Blind – which he wrote, directed and starred in – based on his personal experiences with film and TV casting. He’s happy that it sparked discussions about diversity.

“The conversation online was definitely spicy,” he says.

Following that, Tai put in some solid preparation for his Underbelly role.

“I did a huge amount of research into the ins and outs of how ASIC investigates white-collar crimes such as this. That was incredibly interesting and also quite revealing.”

More recently, Tai has been working on Colin From Accounts, the new Binge comedy series written by and starring Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer.

“They’re both very, very funny and talented individuals, so that’s just been a complete shift in roles and so much fun.”

With travel restrictions lifted, Tai is now looking to go wherever the good roles are.

“You never know where things are going to take you,” he says.