James Rolleston

Last updated

James Rolleston
Born (1997-06-08) 8 June 1997 (age 25)
New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealander
Education Ōpōtiki College
OccupationActor
Years active2010-present
Notable work

James Rolleston (born 8 June 1997) [1] is a New Zealand actor known for the films Boy [2] and The Dark Horse . [3] [4] The latter was released in October 2014 [5] and had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 4 September. [6]

Contents

Film career

Rolleston made his screen debut in the Taika Waititi film Boy , playing the main role of the child who idolises his father. Boy became the most successful local film released in New Zealand to date. In 2014 he took roles in two further films: critically acclaimed drama The Dark Horse , in which he co-starred opposite Cliff Curtis as a teenager who is set to be initiated into a gang, and action movie The Dead Lands , in which he plays a young Maori warrior seeking vengeance for the massacre of his family. Rolleston also starred in Pork Pie , the 2017 remake of the New Zealand classic Goodbye Pork Pie .

Rolleston has frequently appeared in Vodafone New Zealand television commercials. [7]

Filmography

YearFilmRoleNotes
2010 Boy Alamein ("Boy")
2010Frosty Man and the BMX KidBMX KidShort film
2014ManEliShort film
2014 The Dark Horse Mana
2014 The Dead Lands Hongi
2016 The Rehearsal [8] Stanley
2016AmuaTeinaShort film
2017 Pork Pie Luke
2018 The Breaker Upperers Jordan
2022 Whina Gabriel

Personal life

Rolleston is from Ōpōtiki. [9]

On 26 July 2016, Rolleston was charged with dangerous driving while driving with close friend Kaleb Maxwell, when the vehicle they were in crashed into a bridge in Ōpōtiki. Rolleston was seriously injured in the crash with injuries to his lower body and brain. In November, 2016, he made his first public appearance, presenting the Supreme Award at the Attitude Awards. He has spoken about his ongoing recovery, revealing he required rehabilitation to learn how to walk, speak, and use basic motor skills again. [10] [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aotearoa Music Awards</span> New Zealand music recording award

The Aotearoa Music Awards, conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that a group or artist can receive in New Zealand music, and have been presented annually since 1965. The awards show is presented by Recorded Music NZ. A range of award sponsors and media partners support the event each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoff Murphy</span> New Zealand filmmaker

Geoffrey Peter Murphy was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His second feature Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) was the first New Zealand film to win major commercial success on its own soil. Murphy directed several Hollywood features during the 1990s, before returning to New Zealand as second-unit director on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Murphy was also at different times a scriptwriter, special effects technician, schoolteacher and trumpet player. He was married to Merata Mita, also a film director, actor, writer.

<i>Goodbye Pork Pie</i> 1981 film by Geoff Murphy

Goodbye Pork Pie is a 1981 New Zealand comedy film directed by Geoff Murphy, co-produced by Murphy and Nigel Hutchinson, and written by Geoff Murphy and Ian Mune. The film was New Zealand's first large-scale local hit. One book described it as Easy Rider meets the Keystone Cops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ōpōtiki</span> Town in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Ōpōtiki is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. It houses the headquarters of the Ōpōtiki District Council, the mayor of Ōpōtiki and comes under the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruno Lawrence</span>

David Charles Lawrence known as Bruno Lawrence was an English-born musician and actor, who was active in the industry in New Zealand and Australia.

Warren Lee Tamahori is a New Zealand filmmaker best known for directing the 1994 film Once Were Warriors, the 2001 film Along Came a Spider, and 2002's James Bond film Die Another Day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff Curtis</span> New Zealand Māori actor (born 1968)

Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis is a New Zealand actor. His film credits include Once Were Warriors (1994), Three Kings (1999), Training Day (2001), Whale Rider (2002), Collateral Damage (2002), Sunshine, Live Free or Die Hard, The Dark Horse (2014), for which he won the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor, Doctor Sleep (2019), and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). Curtis had television series roles on NBC's Trauma and ABC's Body of Proof and Missing. From 2015 to 2017, he portrayed Travis Manawa on the AMC horror drama series Fear the Walking Dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Napier Robertson</span>

James William Napier Robertson is a New Zealand writer, film director, actor and producer, who wrote and directed 2009 film I'm Not Harry Jenson, and 2014 film The Dark Horse, for which he won Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film at the 2014 New Zealand Film Awards, and which was declared by New Zealand critics "One of the greatest New Zealand films ever made".

Thomas Hern is a New Zealand actor and independent film producer. He is known for producing NZ feature films The Dark Horse, Everything We Loved, and Pork Pie. Hern also produced the action-comedy Guns Akimbo, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving and TIFF Midnight Madness award-winner Shadow in the Cloud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ōpōtiki College</span> School in New Zealand

Ōpōtiki College is a state secondary school located in Ōpōtiki, in the Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand.

Tony Barry was an Australian actor and activist best known for his television and film roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean O'Gorman</span> New Zealand actor

Dean Lance O'Gorman is a New Zealand actor, artist, and photographer. He played the dwarf Fíli in the Hobbit trilogy and the Norse God Bragi/Anders Johnson in the fantasy series The Almighty Johnsons. He also portrayed Kirk Douglas in Trumbo (2015).

<i>Boy</i> (2010 film) 2010 New Zealand film

Boy is a 2010 New Zealand comedy-drama film, written and directed by Taika Waititi. The film stars James Rolleston, Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu, and Waititi. It is produced by Cliff Curtis, Ainsley Gardiner and Emanuel Michael and financed by the New Zealand Film Commission. In New Zealand, the film eclipsed previous records for a first week's box office takings for local production. Boy went on to become the highest-grossing New Zealand film at the local box office. The soundtrack to Boy features New Zealand artists such as The Phoenix Foundation, who previously provided music for Waititi's film Eagle vs Shark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashleigh Cummings</span> Australian actress

Ashleigh Cummings is an Australian actress. She became known for her role as Robyn Mathers in Tomorrow, When the War Began. The film, based on the book of the same name, earned Cummings a nomination for Best Young Actor at the 2010 Australian Film Institute Awards. Cummings is also known for her roles as Dorothy Williams in ABC1's Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, as Debbie Vickers in Puberty Blues, as Vic McQueen in NOS4A2, and as Abby Conroy in the Prime Video sci fi action series Citadel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel House (actress)</span> New Zealand actress and director

Rachel Jessica Te Ao Maarama House is a New Zealand actress, comedian, director and acting coach. She is best known for her starring in the films Whale Rider (2002), Boy (2010), White Lies (2013), Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Moana (2016), and Soul (2020). She is currently a series regular on the 2022 reboot of Heartbreak High in the role of Principal Stacy "Woodsy" Woods and recurring in the New Zealand Dark comedy-drama Creamerie in the role of Doc Harvey. House is also a regular fixture of New Zealand theatre.

<i>The Dark Horse</i> (2014 film) 2014 New Zealand film

The Dark Horse is a 2014 New Zealand drama film written and directed by James Napier Robertson and starring Cliff Curtis and James Rolleston. It won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Score at the 2014 New Zealand Film Awards, Best Film at the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), 2015 San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) and 2015 Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR), was New York Times Critics' Pick and Time Magazine Critics' Pick, and was labeled by leading New Zealand critics as "One of the greatest New Zealand films ever made". It premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and was created by production company Four Knights Film. The film was released theatrically in the U.S. by Broad Green Pictures on 1 April 2016.

<i>The Dead Lands</i> 2014 film

The Dead Lands is a 2014 New Zealand action film directed by Toa Fraser. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival where it had its world premier on 4 September 2014. It was selected as the New Zealand entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

The 2014 Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards was the third presentation of the New Zealand Film Awards, a New Zealand film industry award. The 2014 ceremony took place in Shed 10 on Queen's Wharf in Auckland on Friday 12 December 2014. It was webcast live on the nzherald.co.nz website, and later broadcast on the Rialto Channel.

<i>Pork Pie</i> (film) 2017 New Zealand film

Pork Pie is a 2017 New Zealand road comedy film written and directed by New Zealander Matt Murphy and produced by Tom Hern. The film is a remake of the 1981 movie Goodbye Pork Pie, the first New Zealand film to win a substantial local audience. The remake stars Dean O'Gorman, James Rolleston and Ashleigh Cummings as a trio of accidental outlaws who travel the length of New Zealand in a stolen orange New Mini. The film was scored by Jonathan Crayford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benedict Wall</span>

Benedict Wall is a New Zealand film, theatre and television actor. From 2011, Wall played Owen Sutherland in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. He has also appeared in Outrageous Fortune, Underbelly: Badness, Breaker Morant: The Retrial and Pirates of the Airwaves. Wall co-wrote and directed the short film Best Mates. In 2016, he took over the role of Duncan Stewart in the Australian soap opera Home and Away. He also appeared in the Network Ten miniseries Brock.

References

  1. "Chess, martial arts and school work". Opotiki News. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  2. Schulz, Chris (28 September 2011). "Whatever happened to Boy?". The New Zealand Herald. APN New Zealand. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  3. "New Film Starring Cliff Curtis and "Boy" Actor". Scoop Culture. Scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  4. "James Rolleston".
  5. Corry, Dominic (19 January 2014). "Dominic Corry: A glimpse into The Dead Lands". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  6. Farrier, David (5 September 2014). "The Dead Lands premieres in Toronto". 3 News . Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  7. "'Boy' star James Rolleston returns in new TV spots for Vodafone's SuperNet via DraftFCB NZ". Campaign Brief. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  8. "Rolleston, Curry star in Eleanor Catton movie". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  9. Jenkin, Lydia (17 July 2014). "The Dark Horse: This Boy's life". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  10. "James Rolleston speaks about life after car crash". Stuff. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  11. Tait, Morgan. "Young actor James Rolleston tells of crash that almost claimed his life". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 29 December 2016.