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.
Paolo Rotondo was born in Napoli, Italy from a proud Neapolitan father and an Irish Kiwi mother. Paolo spent his first years in Italy moving to New Zealand when he was ten years old. He now lives in the Hawkes Bay with his partner Renee Mark and two young children.
Malcolm Alan Murray is a New Zealand stage and television actor, best known for his role as Dr Alan Dubrovsky in the television soap opera Shortland Street between 1999 and 2001. In 2005 he won the Actor of the Year award at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in Wellington for his portrayal of Dimitri Tsafendas in the Antony Sher play I.D.
The Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards are the main theatre awards in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington.
Hone Kouka is a New Zealand playwright. He has written 13 plays which have been staged in New Zealand and worldwide including Canada, South Africa, New Caledonia and Britain. Kouka's plays have won multiple awards at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards, the 'Oscars' of New Zealand theatre. Kouka has also worked as a theatre director and producer. In September 2009, Kouka was honoured with the Insignia of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to contemporary Māori theatre.
Victor Rodger is a New Zealand journalist, actor and award-winning playwright of Samoan and Pākehā heritage. He has a recurring role as Dr. Henry Mapasua on Shortland Street. Rodger's father is from the village of Iva from Savai'i island in Samoa.
Makerita Urale is a documentary director and a leading figure in contemporary Polynesian theatre in New Zealand. She has produced landmark productions in the performing arts. She is also a playwright. 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. Urale was born on the island of Savai'i in Samoa.The family moved to New Zealand in the 1970s where they lived in Wellington. Urale has two brothers and three sisters, and the siblings also work in the arts and media. Urale's sister Sima Urale is an award winning filmmaker and brother King Kapisi is a hip-hop artist. Another brother, Tati, is a senior news producer with TVNZ's One News.
Briar Grace-Smith is an award-winning writer of scripts, screenplays and short stories from New Zealand. She has worked as an actor and writer with the Maori theatre cooperative Te Ohu Whakaari and Maori theatre company He Ara Hou. Early plays Don't Call Me Bro and Flat Out Brown, were first performed at the Taki Rua Theatre in Wellington in 1996. Waitapu, a play written by Grace-Smith, was devised by He Ara Hou and performed by the group on the Native Earth Performing Arts tour in Canada in 1996.
Ken Duncum is a leading New Zealand playwright and screenwriter. His scripts have won awards in theatre and television. His plays Cherish and Trick of the Light won best new New Zealand play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in 2003 and 2004. His script for television drama series Cover Story won Best Script for Drama at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards and Best Writer - Comedy for Willy Nilly in 2002. Duncum's plays have toured New Zealand as well as internationally. He was awarded New Zealand's most prestigious literary award, the New Zealand Post Katherine Mansfield Prize for 2010. The prize is NZ$100,000 for a writing residency in France.
April Phillips is an actress, writer, singer, director and producer of film and theatre. She was born in Coventry, England, but resides in Wellington, New Zealand. Her production company, Godiva Productions Limited, was named after the Lady Godiva legend of her hometown of Coventry.
Jo Randerson is a New Zealand writer, director and performer. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Barbarian Productions, a Wellington-based theatre production company.
Dr Angie Farrow is a New Zealand academic and writer for theatre and radio. Born in the United Kingdom, Farrow is a senior lecturer at Massey University and in 2011 was awarded Massey University lecturer of the Year. Farrow has published books on the production of physical theatre as well as her own numerous plays for theatre and radio. In April 2015 her series of 10-minute-long sketches Together All Alone was performed at Bats Theatre Wellington.
Sam Brooks is an award-winning New Zealand playwright and dramatist. Brooks' works have appeared on stage in Auckland and throughout New Zealand, often produced through his company, Smoke Labours Productions. Brooks' work has twice earned him the Playmarket B4 25 New Zealand Young Playwright award. He has also been nominated for the Chapman Tripp award for Outstanding New Playwright and was highly commended for the Adam New Zealand New Play of the year award. In 2014, Metro Magazine named Brooks "Auckland's Most Exciting Playwright".
Sarah Delahunty is a New Zealand writer and director who was born in Wellington. An award-winning playwright, Delahunty has written over 30 plays, often focussing on works for youth.
Stuart Hoar is a New Zealand playwright, teacher, novelist, radio dramatist and librettist. Hoar was born in New Plymouth and he was educated at James Cook High School, Manurewa and University of Auckland. He worked in the film industry as a sound recordist. In 1987, Squatter was chosen for Playmarket's National Playwrights Workshop and the following year Hoar was Writer in Residence at Mercury Theatre and recipient of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. In 1993, Hoar received the Robert Burns Fellowship. Since the age of 24 he has written over 30 radio plays which have been broadcast internationally. He has taught playwriting at Canterbury and Auckland universities and currently works for Playmarket as their script advisor.
Dave Armstrong is a New Zealand playwright, screenwriter, trumpet player and columnist for The Dominion Post. His work has featured on stage, radio and television. His television writer credits include Spin Doctors, Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby, Great War Stories, and script editor for bro'Town.
Eli Kent is a New Zealand playwright and actor. Kent holds a Masters in Scriptwriting from Victoria University of Wellington's International Institute of Modern Letters.
Indian Ink Theatre Company is a New Zealand theatre company founded by actor Jacob Rajan and director/writer Justin Lewis. Founded in 1996, Indian Ink's first theatrical production was Krishnan’s Dairy, which went on to win the Chapman Tripp Award for Production of the Year (1997). The following year Krishnan's Dairy presented in the bigger theatre Downstage Theatre and was so popular the season was extended by five shows. Over the years Indian Inks productions have been toured through New Zealand and overseas with presentations including Krishnan's Dairy, The Candlestick Maker, and The Pick King. Their most recent production is Mrs Krishnan's Party (2019).
Albert Belz is an New Zealand actor, theatre and screenwriter.
Emily Duncan is a New Zealand playwright. She is co-founder of Prospect Park Productions, an organization aiming “to create and produce original NZ theatre and collaborative projects that reach into other art forms." Duncan holds the 2019 Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She lives in Dunedin.
