RADIO STAR HARRISON 'I OWE IT ALL TO MY PARENTS'

The Edge host and former Shorty star reveals how his folks made him famous

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The past two years have been a whirlwind for radio star Harrison Keefe - he's gone from polishing glasses in a restaurant to landing roles on Wellington Paranormal and Shortland Street, going viral dancing in a shed and being invited to hang out with Keith Urban. "It's just been insane," grins the Edge Arvos host. "I'm stupidly grateful to have got to this point." Like most great stories of "overnight success", the 25-year-old Hawke's Bay lad's rise was years in the making and only possible thanks to the solid support of his parents, Nicky and Tom, both 54.

As the youngest of three, Harrison was “such a vibrant, happy, fun-loving child”, shares his mum. “He'd spend hours making up dance shows, doing magic tricks and playing dress-ups. He just loved being the one to make everyone laugh. His dream was – and probably still is - to become a Wiggle.”

The TikTok superstar first found his groove at age five, when he swapped his rugby boots for dance shoes.

Nicky laughs, “When we saw him teaching his friend in the team dance moves on the field instead of chasing the ball, that was our sign!”

Harrison recalls, “My whole life was dance. Tap, jazz, contemporary, musical theatre... You name it, I did it. My parents poured so much into getting me to classes and taking me to shows.”

However, after his last year of college, when he applied to drama school, broadcasting school and dance school, he was rejected from all three.

He admits, “I remember just thinking, ‘What the f**k do I do? That's all I know.”

Throwing himself into his hospitality job, he washed dishes in the morning, waited tables at night, then tended the bar and polished glasses until close. Summers were spent packing apples at his dad’s packhouse.