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NancyBrunning

Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tūhoe
  • Actor
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Nancy Brunning was on the staff of Shortland Street for the first episode in 1992. In 1999 she stole the screen as a young gang girl in Once Were Warriors sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? She won a second NZ screen award for drama Ngā Tohu: Signatures, and played the family matriarch in 2016 film Mahana. Brunning died on 16 November 2019, shortly before winning Aotearoa's top playwriting award. 

Screenography

Reunion
2020 As: Kathy Film
In Memoriam 2019
2019 Subject Short film
Daniel
2019 As: Sister Short film
In Dark Places
2018 As Auntie Terry Television

Biography

Nancy Brunning was an actor of mana. Starting young, she proved herself in the cauldron of five day a week soap Shortland Street, then displayed both grit and sensitivity in the sequel to Once Were Warriors. By the time she played the family matriarch in 2016 movie Mahana, Brunning had amassed an impressive CV on both stage and screen. She'd also made her mark as a playwright, and was helping a new generation of Māori actors learn their craft. The same weekend she died, she took away Aotearoa's premiere theatre writing award, and was up for a fourth screen acting award, for Teina Pora TV movie In Dark Places.

Awards

2019 Huawei Mate30 Pro New Zealand Television Awards
Nominated for Best Actress: for In Dark Places

2017 International Festival of Antipodian Cinema (France)
Best Actress: for Mahana

“She is an actress whose personal integrity shows through in her work. She’s a very strong, very honest actor. ”

— What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? director Ian Mune