Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand by metro area, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed.
BATS Theatre is a theatre venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Initially founded as the Bats Theatre Company in 1976, then established in its current form in 1989. BATS Theatre has seen the development of many performing arts talents of New Zealand.
Melanie Jayne Lynskey is a New Zealand actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women and her command of American dialects, she works predominantly in independent films. Lynskey is the recipient of two Critics' Choice Awards, a HCA Award, a Gracie, a New Zealand Film Award, a Hollywood Film Award, and a Sundance Special Jury Award, as well as Gotham, Satellite, Saturn, Golden Nymph, Independent Spirit, Screen Actors Guild, and Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Maria Makarena Owen, known professionally as Rena Owen, is a New Zealand actress in theatre, television and film. Owen is best known for her leading role as Beth Heke in Lee Tamahori's Once Were Warriors and as Taun We in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
Taika David Cohen, known professionally as Taika Waititi, is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards. His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film.
Anthony McCarten is a New Zealand writer and filmmaker. He is best known for writing big-budget biopics The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), The Two Popes (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). McCarten has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including twice for Best Adapted Screenplay, for The Theory of Everything and The Two Popes.
Madeleine Nalini Sami is a New Zealand actress, director, comedian and musician. She started her acting career in theatre before moving to television, where she created, wrote, and starred in Super City. She co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the 2018 film The Breaker Upperers, along with Jackie van Beek, which was a New Zealand box office success. Sami co-hosted The Great Kiwi Bake Off.
Frances Rose McIver is a New Zealand actress. She starred as Olivia "Liv" Moore in The CW supernatural comedy-drama series iZombie (2015–2019) and played Summer Landsdown the Yellow Ranger in Power Rangers RPM (2009). She also played the role of Amber Moore in the romantic comedy film A Christmas Prince (2017) and its two sequels The Royal Wedding (2018), and The Royal Baby (2019).
Kimberley Frances Crossman is a New Zealand actress and presenter who is best known for her role as Sophie McKay on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. She is the co-founder of Joyable.
Abby May Erceg is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a defender for Racing Louisville FC in the National Women's Soccer League. She has previously played for Chicago Red Stars and North Carolina Courage in the NWSL, Jena in the German Bundesliga, FC Saitama in the Japanese Nadashiko League and Adelaide United in the Australian W-League. She formerly played for the New Zealand national team, where she became the first player from New Zealand to play 100 international matches.
Nancy Brunning was a New Zealand actress, director, and writer who won awards in film and television and made a major contribution to the growth of Māori in the arts. Brunning was of Māori descent from the tribes of Ngati Raukawa and Ngai Tuhoe. She won the best actress award at the New Zealand Film Awards for her lead role in the film What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999), the sequel to cult classic Once Were Warriors. In 2000, she won the Best Actress in Drama award at the New Zealand Television Awards for her lead role in the television series Nga Tohu. She was the acting coach for the Oscar-nominated short film Two Cars, One Night directed by Taika Waititi. According to friend and frequent collaborator Temuera Morrison, she "paved the way" for Māori actors in New Zealand.
Sara Wiseman is a New Zealand actress, best known for her roles in the television series Mercy Peak as Dr. Nicky Somerville, '’A Place to Call Home as Carolyn Bligh and The Cult as Annabelle Willis.
Rose Catherine Lettitia Matafeo is a New Zealand comedian, actress and TV presenter. She was a writer and performer on the New Zealand late-night comedy sketch show Funny Girls. In 2018, she won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for her show Horndog.
Broods is a New Zealand musical duo from Nelson, composed of Georgia Josiena Nott on lead vocals, with older brother and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Allan Joseph Nott on production and backing vocals. They released the single "Bridges", which went to No. 8 on the New Zealand singles chart, and signed with Capitol and Polydor Records. They released their self-titled debut EP, Broods, on 30 January 2014, which was followed by a full-length album, Evergreen, on 22 August 2014. The band has toured with Ellie Goulding, Haim, Sam Smith, Tove Lo and Taylor Swift. They have won ten New Zealand Music Awards. On 24 June 2016, Broods released their second album, Conscious. They released their third album Don't Feed the Pop Monster on 1 February 2019.
David Breen Seymour is a New Zealand politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Epsom and leader of ACT New Zealand since 2014.
Morgana O'Reilly is a New Zealand film, television and theatre actress. She has appeared in several theatre productions and created the one-woman play The Height of the Eiffel Tower, which she performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014. O'Reilly played Lynn Matthews in the biographical television film Billy and starred as Kylie Bucknell in the horror-comedy Housebound. She has made appearances in Nothing Trivial, Sunny Skies, This is Littleton. O'Reilly played Naomi Canning in Neighbours from 2013 until 2015. She made a guest appearance in 2020. She stars in sitcom Mean Mums and joined the cast of Wentworth as Narelle Stang in 2019.
Jackie van Beek is a New Zealand film and television director, writer and actress.
Brittany Peters is a New Zealand stage, film and television actress, director, stunt performer and acting coach. She is best known for her recurring roles on the soap operas Shortland Street as Pania Stevens (2014–2015) and in Home and Away as Gemma Parata (2020).
Miriama McDowell is a New Zealand actor, director and playwright of Māori descent. She is a graduate of Toi Whakaari.
Samantha Winders, previously known as Samantha Sinclair, is a New Zealand netball international. She represented New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was a prominent member of the New Zealand team that won the 2021 Constellation Cup. She captained New Zealand for the third test against England during the 2021 Taini Jamison Trophy Series. She was subsequently named the 2021 Silver Fern Player of the Year. Between 2014 and 2022, she played for Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, initially in the ANZ Championship and later in the ANZ Premiership. Between 2020 and 2022, she served as Magic captain.
