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JamesRolleston

Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Arawa, Ngāti Porou, Whakatōhea
  • Actor
James-Rolleston-profile-image.jpg

Cast in the main role just three days before filming began, James Rolleston proved a screen natural as star of box office sensation Boy. Aged only 11 at the time, the Ōpōtiki teen was nominated for a Qantas Best Actor award for his work. Two more starring roles followed in 2014: the son of a Māori chieftain in the Toa Fraser-directed Dead Lands, and an award-winning turn as a troubled teen in acclaimed chess and gangs drama The Dark Horse. Rolleston went on to co-star in a remake of car chase classic Goodbye Pork Pie, then acted in hit film The Breaker Upperers, TV comedy Golden Boy, and an adaptation of Eleanor Catton novel The Rehearsal

Screenography

2023 As: Jamie Waaka Film
When Bob Came
2023 Presenter Television
2022 As: Gabriel Film
Āmua
2020 Actor Short film
2020 As: Freddy Film

Awards

2017 Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards (The Moas)
Nominated for Best Actor: for The Rehearsal

2014 Rialto Channel NZ Film Awards (The Moas)
Best Supporting Actor: for The Dark Horse
Nominated for Best Actor: for The Dead Lands

“He just launched himself into it, he was so enthusiastic about it. ”

Boy director Taika Waititi on James Rolleston, in The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 August 2010