Inside NCIS: Hawaii Star Alex Tarrant's Personal Life

If "NCIS: Hawaii" star Alex Tarrant looks familiar to you, it might be because you have seen the Kiwi actor in some of the projects he's filmed in his native New Zealand. In the TVNZ 2 soap "Shortland Street," he played a hard-partying doctor who showed a lot of skin in his memorable first episode (but the camera didn't pan down when he dropped his towel in a locker room). And Tarrant credits his role in the series "Filthy Rich" for making it a little more difficult for him to go incognito in public, telling Stuff in 2018 that it was "the only show where people would call out my character name."

Of course, that's bound to change now that Tarrant has joined one of television's most popular franchises — other "NCIS" spinoff stars like Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J haven't had to worry about finding work for years thanks to their series' success. In 2015, Tarrant told the NZ Herald he was "pretty chuffed" about gaining "around 50 new Instagram followers" overnight whenever his Aussie series "800 Words" aired, but that's small potatoes compared to the level of fame he's experiencing now. In addition to landing a lead role in "NCIS: Hawaii," he has scored a part in Amazon's "The Lord Of The Rings" series, per Deadline. So, we imagine you will be hearing a lot more about him in the future.

We've established that Tarrant's career is flourishing, but what is his life like behind the scenes?

Alex Tarrant's "NCIS: Hawaii" character, Kai Holman, is a former Marine who is living the bachelor life on the show after heading back home to Hawaii. Tarrant and Kai both love dogs — the actor has an English bulldog named Winston, while his character's canine companion is a German Shepherd named Inoki. However, their family lives look much different. Unlike Kai, Tarrant has a child and a significant other.

Tarrant found love long before he found success on the small screen. According to Woman's Day, he and fellow actor Luci Hare first laid eyes on each other when they were attending Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School in 2010. Their acting careers both took off, with Hare landing a role in the comedy series "Auckward Love" in 2015 and Tarrant starring in the miniseries "Tatau" that same year. Tarrant has guest-starred on "Auckward Love," and Hare also got to work with him on "800 Words." However, her role was behind the scenes as a makeup artist. "I'm lucky to have her as my partner in crime and best friend," Tarrant gushed during a 2016 interview with the NZ Herald. "I am so happy we are on this creative journey together."

Some couples find that working together just doesn't work, but that wasn't the case for Tarrant and Hare. In 2020, they teamed up again for the web series "Loner." By that time, they had gotten engaged and welcomed their first child.

Alex Tarrant proposed to Luci Hare on New Year's Eve in 2017, and their son Beaumont was born about two months later. Hare told Woman's Day that the little boy's name "came to her in a dream," and being a dad has been a dream come true for Tarrant, who serenades his son in Māori. The actor's ancestors have Māori, Niuean, and Samoan roots, per Deadline, but he was initially hesitant to embrace his heritage by learning the Māori language. Beaumont changed that, as Tarrant wanted the tot to learn it along with him. "It makes me quite teary, I really like hearing him sing to [Beaumont] in Māori and walking around the house saying phrases," Hare told Stuff in 2018.

Beaumont often appears on Tarrant's Instagram page, where the actor can be seen teaching his son how to tumble and introducing him to many different sports, including football, basketball, and boxing. Hare told Woman's Day she's convinced "it was one of Alex's callings to be a dad."

However, Tarrant realizes that fatherhood wouldn't be the same without Hare in his life. Speaking to ZM in 2018, he gushed, "Luci has been amazing. Not only is she an amazing mother to our son, an actor and all-round human, she keeps me on track, helps me with lines and even brings Beau out to set sometimes to visit when I have a long day — I couldn't do it without her."