Bernard Kearns
The distinctive deep voice of Bernard Kearns was heard in living rooms and cinemas for at least a quarter century. He acted in 70s classics The God Boy and Sleeping Dogs — playing the Prime Minister — and was the presenter of early archive history series The Years Back. Kearns passed away on 21 March 2017.
Keith Bracey
The late Keith Bracey's impeccable diction, dashing goatee and impish sense of humour made him a household name as presenter of Town and Around in Auckland. His interview with musician Acker Bilk (where he dressed identically) left a lasting impression on viewers. Bracey fronted the crime fighting show Police 5 from 1976 until 1986, when his familiar face and voice disappeared from television screens.
Erina Tamepo
In a television career spanning more than 25 years, Erina Tamepo has produced a wide variety of shows, many from her time as an in-house producer for Māori Television. Among Tamepo’s credits is popular Friday night karaoke competition series Homai Te Pakipaki — which ran for nine years — and Willie Jackson’s Newsbites, which was nominated for a Qantas Award for Best Current Affairs Series in 2010.
Dick Weir
The distinctive deep voice of veteran broadcaster Dick Weir, QSM, is known to generations of Kiwi kids as a longtime Radio New Zealand National presenter (The Dick Weir Sunday Show, Ears). On screen he has narrated everything from election campaigns to Erebus docudramas to Wild South. Weir was also the inaugural presenter of 80s after-school news programme The Video Dispatch.
Karl Urban
Karl Urban's screen career has included dysfunctional family comedies, epic fantasies and offbeat romances — and that's only the Kiwi projects. Urban was award-nominated for films The Price of Milk and The Irrefutable Truth about Demons, and won for Out of the Blue. In recent years he has appeared in a run of Hollywood projects, including The Bourne Supremacy, Star Trek, and as Judge Dredd in Dredd 3D.
Max Cryer
Max Cryer’s career as an entertainer has encompassed singing on stage and screen, time in the United States, and pioneering live talk shows on television (Town Cryer). After a busy decade of TV presenting beginning in the late 60s, Cryer went behind the scenes to produce a clutch of quiz shows — before a late flowering as a prolific, bestselling author, exploring his love of words and Kiwi culture.
Mario Gaoa
The part-Samoan and fairly talented Mario Gaoa has been a writer, director and the voice of God. Part of the team behind comedy troupe the Naked Samoans and animated show bro’ Town, Gaoa supplied a number of voices for the hit series. These days he runs production company Tikilounge, with his partner Lisa Taouma.
Jemaine Clement
Jemaine Clement is the bespectacled half of folk-comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, who achieved international cult status in their own HBO series. Clement's screen career began after he appeared on 90s sketch shows Telly Laughs and Skitz. Following his big screen debut in Tongan Ninja, he starred in misfit romance Eagle vs Shark. In 2014 he co-directed and acted in hit vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows.
Dorothy McKegg
Dorothy McKegg’s acting and singing talent took her from Palmerston North to London, while she was still a teen. Back home, her acting career encompassed memorable screen roles in Carry Me Back, Middle Age Spread and Matrons of Honour, and theatre work at Mercury, Downstage and Circa. McKegg passed away in February 2008.
Paul Yates
Writer, producer and actor Paul Yates is a comedic "everyman". His CV includes sketch shows Facelift and Telly Laughs, pre-teen series Freaky and The Killian Curse, and teen sitcom Girl vs Boy. He’s written for popular sitcoms Willy Nilly and Sunny Skies, and is producer and co-writer for Wellington Paranormal, the hit spin-off from 2014 movie What We Do in the Shadows.