Cool Kiwis
by Djesika | created - 1 month ago | updated - 1 month ago | PublicFrom this list of well known actors and directors from New Zealand, who is your favorite?
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1. Andrew Adamson
Writer | Shrek 2
Andrew Adamson was born on December 1, 1966 in Auckland, New Zealand. He is a producer and writer, known for Shrek 2 (2004), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and Shrek (2001). He has been married to Gyulnara Karaeva since January 16, 2016. He was previously ...
2. K.J. Apa
Actor | Riverdale
K.J. Apa was born on June 16, 1997 in Auckland, New Zealand as Keneti James Fitzgerald Apa. He is an actor, known for Riverdale (2017), The Hate U Give (2018) and The Last Summer (2019).
3. Zoë Bell
Stunts | Grindhouse
As an established and extremely talented stunt double and actress, Zoe Bell has made a name for herself through her unparalleled dedication, skills, and focus.
Zoe Bell was born on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, to Tish, a nurse, and Andrew Bell, a doctor. She has a background in gymnastics and martial...
4. Martin Campbell
Director | Casino Royale
Martin Campbell knows how to entertain an audience when he steps behind the camera. When he directed The Mask of Zorro (1998), the movie earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and launched the international careers of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Next, when he helmed ...
5. Jane Campion
Writer | The Piano
Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early...
6. Niki Caro
Director | Whale Rider
Niki Caro is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter, born in 1967. Caro was born in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. She was educated first at the Kadimah College in Auckland, and then the Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland. The School is a private girls' school, and ranks ...
7. Keisha Castle-Hughes
Actress | Whale Rider
Keisha Castle-Hughes was born on March 24, 1990 in Donnybrook, Western Australia, Australia. She is an actress and producer, known for Whale Rider (2002), The Nativity Story (2006) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). She was previously married to Jonathan Morrison.
8. Jemaine Clement
Actor | Flight of the Conchords
Jemaine Clement was born and raised in Masterton, New Zealand, the oldest of three brothers. His mother is Maori. Clement was educated at Makoura College in Masterton, NZ. He went on to study drama and film at Victoria University of Wellington. Whilst there he met Taika Waititi, and they formed ...
9. Danielle Cormack
Actress | Wentworth
Danielle Cormack is an award-winning actress who has an extensive career in film, theatre and television. After a vast career in New Zealand, she quickly came to prominence in Australia with her powerhouse performances in television series: Wentworth (2013), Rake (2010) and Underbelly (2008): Razor...
10. Russell Crowe
Actor | Les Misérables
Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather, Stanley Wemyss, was a cinematographer. Crowe's recent ancestry includes Welsh (where his paternal grandfather was born, in Wrexham),...
11. Marton Csokas
Actor | Æon Flux
Marton was born in Invercargill, Aotearoa (New Zealand), to Margaret Christine (Rayner), a nurse, and Márton Csókás, a mechanical engineer. His father is Hungarian and his mother is Australian (of English, Irish, and Danish origin). He inherited some of his talents from his father, who was also a ...
12. Cliff Curtis
Actor | Sunshine
Cliff Curtis was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, on July 27, 1968.
He is of New Zealand Maori descent (with Ngati Hauiti and Te Arawa tribal affiliations). He enrolled at the New Zealand Drama School, and then the Teatro Dmitri Scoula in Switzerland.
After returning to New Zealand from Europe, he was ...
13. Richard Curtis
Writer | Love Actually
Richard Curtis was born on November 8, 1956 in Wellington, New Zealand as Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis. He is a writer and producer, known for Love Actually (2003), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and About Time (2013).
14. Alan Dale
Actor | Priest
Alan Dale was born on May 6, 1947 in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand. He is best known for his eight year role as Jim Robinson in the long running Australian soap opera Neighbours (1985), played Caleb in the hit Fox series The O.C. (2003), featured on Lost (2004) and has a long list of recurring...
15. Rhys Darby
Actor | Flight of the Conchords
Rhys Darby was born on March 21, 1974 in New Zealand as Rhys Montague Darby. He is an actor and writer, known for Flight of the Conchords (2007), Yes Man (2008) and Guns Akimbo (2019). He has been married to Rosie Carnahan-Darby since January 25, 2004. They have two children.
16. Nyree Dawn Porter
Actress | The Protectors
Landing the starring role of Irene in the 1967 broadcast of John Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga," Nyree Dawn Porter established herself as a prominent actress for television drama. She was born on the north island of New Zealand and was first a stage actress in New Zealand before setting out for a ...
17. Julian Dennison
Actor | Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Julian Dennison was born in 2002 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is an actor, known for Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Shopping (2013).
18. Kerry Fox
Actress | Shallow Grave
Kerry Fox was born on July 30, 1966 in Wellington, New Zealand. She is an actress and writer, known for Shallow Grave (1994), Bright Star (2009) and An Angel at My Table (1990). She is married to Alexander Linklater. They have two children.
19. Martin Henderson
Actor | Smokin' Aces
Martin Henderson was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He began acting when he was thirteen, appearing in Strangers (1989), a local television production. He attended Westlake Boys High School and Birkenhead Primary. He first became a star in his home country, when he starred in the series, Shortland ...
20. Peter Jackson
Producer | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Peter Jackson was born as an only child in a small coast-side town in New Zealand in 1961. When a friend of his parents bought him a super 8 movie camera (because she saw how much he enjoyed taking photos), the then eight-year-old Peter instantly grabbed the thing to start recording his own movies,...
21. Lucy Lawless
Actress | Xena: Warrior Princess
New Zealand icon Lucy Lawless is most known for her role as "Xena the Warrior Princess". Lucy is married to producer Rob Tapert (Robert Gerard Tapert) and resides in New Zealand. They have two sons, Julius Robert Bay Tapert and Judah Miro Tapert, who were both born in New Zealand. Lucy also has a ...
22. Melanie Lynskey
Actress | Togetherness
At 16 years of age, Melanie Lynskey captivated audiences with her astonishing debut in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (1994). Her portrayal of an outcast teen whose relationship with her best friend (Kate Winslet) spirals dangerously out of control was described as "perfect" by TIME magazine ...
23. Rose McIver
Actress | The Lovely Bones
Rose McIver is an actress from New Zealand. She is the daughter of John George Whitfield "Mac" McIver and Ann "Annie" Coney. Her father is a professional photographer, while her mother is an artist. Rose has an older brother, musician Paul McIver.
When only 2-years-old, McIver started appearing in ...
24. Bret McKenzie
Soundtrack | Flight of the Conchords
Bret McKenzie was born on June 29, 1976 in New Zealand as Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie. He has been married to Hannah Clarke since March 18, 2009.
25. Thomasin McKenzie
Actress | Leave No Trace
Thomasin McKenzie was born on July 26, 2000 in Wellington, New Zealand as Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie. She is an actress, known for Leave No Trace (2018), Jojo Rabbit (2019) and The King (2019).
26. Temuera Morrison
Actor | Once Were Warriors
Morrison was born in the town of Rotorua, in the North Island of New Zealand, the son of Hana (née Stafford) and Laurie Morrison, a musician. He is of Maori, Scottish, and Irish descent. His sister was performer Taini Morrison and his uncle was musician Sir Howard Morrison. His secondary education ...
27. Sam Neill
Actor | Event Horizon
Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New Zealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family moved to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities ...
28. Andrew Niccol
Writer | Gattaca
New Zealand-born screenwriter-director Andrew Niccol began his career in London, successfully directing TV commercials before moving to Los Angeles in order to make films "longer than 60 seconds." He interested high-powered producer Scott Rudin in his The Truman Show (1998) script, but Rudin was not...
29. Dean O'Gorman
Actor | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Dean O'Gorman was born on December 1, 1976 in Auckland, New Zealand. He is an actor, known for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and Trumbo (2015). He has been married to Sarah Wilson since January 8, 2016.
30. Anna Paquin
Actress | The Piano
Anna Paquin is the first millennial to have received an Academy Award nomination for acting, and the first to win.
She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1982, to Mary (Brophy), an English teacher from Wellington, New Zealand, and Brian Paquin, a Canadian phys-ed teacher. Anna moved to her ...
31. Antony Starr
Actor | Outrageous Fortune
Antony Starr was born on October 25, 1975 in New Zealand. He is an actor, known for Outrageous Fortune (2005), Wish You Were Here (2012) and Without a Paddle (2004).
32. Pamela Stephenson
Actress | Superman III
Pamela Stephenson was born on December 4, 1949 in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand as Pamela Helen Stephenson. She is an actress, known for Superman III (1983), History of the World: Part I (1981) and Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979). She has been married to Billy Connolly since December 20, 1989. ...
33. Karl Urban
Actor | Star Trek
Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Karl Urban now lives in Auckland. Born on June 7, 1972, he is the son of a leather-goods manufacturer (who had hoped that Karl would follow in his footsteps). His first acting role was when he was 8 -- he had a line on a television series. However, he did ...
34. Taika Waititi
Writer | What We Do in the Shadows
Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waiti, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Scottish, and ...
35. Vincent Ward
Director | The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey
Vincent Ward has produced, executive produced and/or written and directed feature films including What Dreams May Come (Which won an Oscar and was nominated for 2 Academy Awards), The River Queen (Won best film in Shanghai) and The Last Samurai (4 Academy Award nominations and winner of Best ...
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