Antonio Te Maioha

Anatonio Te Maioha is a television and film actor from New Zealand. He first came to international prominence when he played a gladiator named Barca in the television drama "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" and its prequel "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena."

Anatonio Te Maioha started his career as a street performer before gaining a place at the Toi Whakaari Drama School in 1992. He went on to work with a Maori theatre project run by actor Jim Moriarty and was in the cast of "Waiora", touring New Zealand, Hawaii and Britain.

One of Anatonio Te Maioha's first significant television roles was in 1998 playing Boraxis in "Hercules, The Legendary Journeys" followed by several roles in "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Legend of the Seeker", a weekly television series based on The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. He has also appeared in other New Zealand-based television productions, including "Shortland Street" and "The Lost World". Te Maioha has also had roles in several films, including "Te Tangata Whai Rawa O Weneti" and a short film called "Taua" (War Party) and the 2000 film "Feathers of Peace" (Ngati Tama Warrior) directed by Barry Barclay.

Te Maioha has come to international attention through his supporting role as the gladiator Barca in the television drama "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" and its prequel "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena." Nicknamed the "Beast of Carthage", Barca is the bodyguard and hitman of a gladiator owner named Batiatus. Several episodes into the show, he is shown to be in a homosexual relationship with a slave boy named Pietros. He is eventually murdered when Pietros is tricked into revealing damning evidence about Barca.