Kiwi actor Martin Henderson back for a summer in Aotearoa

Back home to film the TVNZ series My Life is Murder over the summer, Martin Henderson will soon head away to make the seventh series of his hit Netflix show Virgin River.

The former Shortland Street star spoke to Jim Mora about getting caught up in a "horrific" catfishing scam, his late friend Heath Ledger's generosity and his two biggest loves - acting and sailing.

At a time when so many television shows are risque or dark and twisted, Virgin River's simplicity seems to have just caught on with a lot of people, Henderson says.

"I'm a bit surprised we're going back for season seven but very grateful, and it's a wonderful feeling to still be making something that means so much to a lot of people."

In the US, Henderson says he was often cast as the "straight leading man" like his Virgin River character Jack Sheridan - a bartender and former US marine.

In NZ and Australia, he seems to get more opportunities to play roguish characters such as the smooth-talking Will Crowe in My Life is Murder' or the sleazy adult entertainment producer Wayne Gilroy in the 2022 horror movie X, a performance he's very proud of.

Henderson's first-ever screen role was as Stuart Neilson in Shortland Street. After leaving the show in 1995 he moved to Sydney for three years.

"As a child, I always wanted to know what was around that next corner. We lived in Birkenhead and I'd go walking through the bush for hours exploring.

"It was part of who I am, in a way, to sort of give it a go and see what it would be like."

After Australia, Henderson lived in New York for a while before moving to Los Angeles where he was shown the ropes by the late Australian actor Heath Ledger who'd moved there a year earlier and became like a brother to the young Kiwi.

Ledger hated BS, Henderson says, and had a great radar for it.

"He actually loved playing with people about it. He had this way of humouring people to a point where they realised they were being made fun of if he felt that someone was full of shit and trying to use them in any way.

"Having a real friend like that as an introduction to the town was really valuable."

Not long after Henderson first arrived in LA, and was rapidly running out of money, Ledger came home for Christmas from the set of The Patriot and as he was about to leave handed his friend a bunch of little envelopes.

"Each one was his weekly per diem that the production had given him and he had saved them all to give to me."

Another time Henderson's dad was set to visit LA while his car was getting a service - something he must have mentioned in passing to Ledger - and the day before his arrival, a rental car showed up.

"This guy from Enterprise Rentals handed me a pair of keys… when I went to sign the paperwork I saw his name.

"He was that kind of a guy. He really understood how to listen to people and what they needed, and he was very generous, and he was a lot of fun. He was really naughty, too. Awesome fun."

When he's back in Aotearoa Henderson misses some close friends and colleagues in LA (where he's been based for over 30 years now) but there's also a lot to enjoy.

"As any New Zealander knows growing up here, there's just something so unique, so beautiful, and it gets into your soul in a way.

"Being able to be back here more and feeling those feelings, those familiar sights and sounds and even the smells… it's just very nourishing and nurturing for me to be here more."

Planning to "cruise around the region and get fit and enjoy the scenery" Henderson brought his bike back to New Zealand for the summer, but found the roads too unsafe for any riding.

In late January, he turned up at a rally supporting the construction of a coastal trail in the Matakana region.

"If the plan goes ahead, I think it'll be an amazing opportunity for not just the Rodney region, but the Auckland region, for people to come away with their families and have really beautiful cycling experiences but be safe."

Henderson didn't miss out on his very favourite outdoor sport while in New Zealand this summer, though - sailing a boat.

"Sailing is something my dad took me doing when I was in nappies, and it's, for me, it's, it's the most, the deepest feeling of sort of freedom and being detached from, I guess, society, but so connected to the natural world through the elements. It just soothes me in a way that it's almost like a drug. I just love it."

Henderson has needed a bit of soothing recently since becoming embroiled in a "horrific" catfishing scam in which countless people have been contacted by someone who claims to be him, including an American woman who lost thousands of dollars and even flew to NZ.

Having his likeness manipulated in a way that caused harm to another person and left Henderson feeling really angry and used.

Becoming public property is something you eventually make peace with as an actor, he says, but you don't ever think that decision will hurt somebody else.

Because the scam is so sophisticated, complex and well-organised, Henderson says, fake Martin Hendersons are still reaching out to people.

Now in what feels like a full-time job, he has to regularly go on Instagram to field messages from people asking if he'd got in touch with them on other platforms.

"You're now reaching out personally and then in a weird way, you're actually bringing about the very thing that they believe has been set up by the scammers."

While fame comes with certain advantages, Henderson says that as a New Zealander he "doesn't go in for the bullshit".

When he was first trying to make it in LA there was an element of needing to make himself visible by going to parties with fancy people but to him, it felt false and transactional.

"That's not who I am. I don't feel comfortable. I won't do it. I don't feel comfortable around people who are doing it."

Henderson says he tries to ignore the 'fame' aspect of his life and career and focus on his relationships, health and work.

"I love what I do, I just love it. I loved it as a kid, and I feel very grateful that I get to keep doing it."

Asked by Sunday Morning to choose his favourite song ever, Henderson found it difficult as someone who loves everything from Brahms to Kendrick Lamar.

He settled on a song that reminds him of sailing - 'Into the Mystic' by Van Morrison.

"There's some overt references to sailing in it but there's something about the melody and the lyrics and just the feeling I get from that song is very synonymous with the feeling I get when I'm actually on the water. It lifts me up and it gives me a feeling that is just so good."

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.