bro'Town is a New Zealand adult animated comedy television series and sitcom that ran from 2004 to 2009. It starred David Fane, Mario Gaoa, Shimpal Lelisi and Oscar Kightley.
New Zealand humour bears some similarities to the body of humour of many other English-speaking countries. There are, however, several regional differences.
Lani Tupu, billed variously as Larney Tupu, John Tupu and Lani John Tupu, is a New Zealand-born actor of Samoan and English descent. Also known as Lani Tupu Jr.
Nathaniel Lees is a New Zealand theatre actor and director and film actor of Samoan descent, best known for film roles in The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and for starring in Young Hercules as Chiron the centaur.
Pua Magasiva was a New Zealand actor of Samoan descent, best known for his roles as Shane Clarke, the Red Ranger from Power Rangers Ninja Storm, and Vinnie Kruse in the soap opera Shortland Street, both co-starring with Sally Martin. He was also one of the co-hosts of radio station Flava.
Oscar Vai To'elau Kightley is a Samoan-New Zealander actor, television presenter, writer, journalist, director, and comedian. He acted in and co-wrote the successful 2006 film Sione's Wedding.
Albert Tuaopepe Wendt is a Samoan poet and writer who lives in New Zealand. He is one of the most influential writers in Oceania. His notable works include Sons for the Return Home, published in 1973, and Leaves of the Banyan Tree, published in 1979. As an academic he has taught at universities in Samoa, Fiji, Hawaii and New Zealand, and from 1988 to 2008 was the professor of New Zealand literature at the University of Auckland.
Robbie Joseph Magasiva is a Samoan-New Zealander actor who has starred in several films and as a member of the Naked Samoans comedy troupe. He has also appeared on television and in theatre, and was the co-presenter of New Zealand's Tagata Pasifika with famed athlete, Beatrice Faumuina. Magasiva is also known for his role on Shortland Street as Dr. Maxwell Avia, which he played from June 2009 to July 2012, and for his role as Will Jackson on the prison drama series, Wentworth. Magasiva is the only male actor to appear in all 8 seasons; he appeared in all 100 episodes of the show.
The Naked Samoans is a New Zealand comedy group made up of Polynesian entertainers, most of whom are Samoan. The group performs social humour and satire that attracts a broad audience, especially among white New Zealanders, without sacrificing the group's Pacific Island identity. The group has gained success in both television and film projects as well as in theatre, which remains their primary base in entertainment. The members of this group are David Fane, Mario Gaoa, Shimpal Lelisi, Oscar Kightley, Robbie Magasiva and Iaheto Ah Hi.
Shimpal Lelisi is a New Zealand actor and TV presenter, best known as one of the members of the Naked Samoans.
David Rodney Fane is a New Zealand actor of Samoan descent.
John Alexander Kneubuhl was an American Samoan screenwriter, playwright and Polynesian historian. He wrote for American television series such as The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, The Wild Wild West, Star Trek, The Invaders and Hawaii Five-O. The son of a Samoan mother and an American father, Kneubuhl's multicultural heritage produced a distinctive artistic vision that formed the basis of his most powerful dramatic work.
Victor John Rodger is a New Zealand journalist, actor and award-winning playwright of Samoan and Pākehā heritage. Rodger's play Sons won acclaim at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards (1998) and received the Best New Writer and Most Outstanding New New Zealand Play awards. In 2001, he won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Other plays include Ranterstantrum (2002) and My Name is Gary Cooper (2007), produced and staged by Auckland Theatre Company and starred a Samoan cast including Robbie Magasiva, Anapela Polataivao, Goretti Chadwick and Kiwi actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand.
Vaosa ole Tagaloa Makerita Urale is a documentary director and playwright, and a leading figure in contemporary Polynesian theatre in New Zealand. She has produced landmark productions in the performing arts. She is the writer of the play Frangipani Perfume, the first Pacific play written by a woman for an all-female cast. Working in different art mediums, Urale also works in film and television. She is the director of the political documentary Children of the Revolution that won the Qantas Award (2008) for Best Māori Programme.
Sione's 2: Unfinished Business is a 2012 New Zealand comedy film and the sequel to the hugely successful 2006 film Sione's Wedding. It was produced by John Barnett and Paul Davis, directed by Simon Bennett, co-produced by South Pacific Pictures and New Zealand Film Commission with music by Don McGlashan and written by Oscar Kightley and James Griffin. The film stars Oscar Kightley, Shimpal Lelisi, Robbie Magasiva, Iaheto Ah Hi, Dave Fane, Teuila Blakely, Madeleine Sami, Pua Magasiva, Mario Gaoa, Nathaniel Lees, David Van Horn, Ayşe Tezel, Dimitri Baveas, Kirk Torrance and Te Kohe Tuhaka. Sione's 2: Unfinished Business was filmed at Auckland, New Zealand. The film was theatrically released on 19 January 2012, by Sony Pictures and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 13 June 2012, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $723,000 in New Zealand. This was Pua Magasiva's final film appearance seven years before his death on 11 May 2019.
The 2006 Air New Zealand Screen Awards were held on Thursday 24 August 2006 at SkyCity Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. Previously known as the New Zealand Screen Awards, the awards were renamed when airline Air New Zealand became the naming-rights sponsor, signing for five years of sponsorship.
Lisa-Jane Taouma is a Samoan New Zealand writer, film and television director, and producer.
Goretti Chadwick is a Samoan-New Zealand stage and television actress, writer, director and tutor.
Pacific Underground is a New Zealand performing arts collective, founded in 1993 in Christchurch, New Zealand, to produce contemporary performing art that reflects the group's Pacific Island heritage. In 2016 they received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pacific Music Awards. They are the longest running Pacific contemporary performing arts organisation in New Zealand.
We Are Still Here is an Australian-New Zealand anthology film released in 2022. Created as a response to the 250th anniversary of the second voyage of James Cook to Australia in 1772, the project consists of ten linked short films by each of ten Indigenous Australian and Māori filmmakers about the impact of settler colonialism on the region's indigenous cultures.
