Maurice Gee
Maurice Gee, who was named an Arts Foundation icon in 2003, is one of New Zealand's most acclaimed writers. His work for the screen includes creating 80s kidult series The Fire-Raiser and The Champion. Gee's novels have also inspired a number of adaptations, notably classic sci-fi series Under the Mountain and movie In My Father's Den.
Witi Ihimaera
With his 1973 book Tangi, Witi Ihimaera became the first Māori to publish both a novel and a book of short stories. Later his book The Whale Rider inspired a feature film which won international acclaim, and became one of the highest grossing 'foreign' titles released internationally in 2003. Ihimaera's work has also seen a number of television adaptations, including landmark big city tale Big Brother, Little Sister.
Grant Major
After boning up on set design at TVNZ and the BBC, Palmerston North-born Grant Major has gone on to design movies for Peter Jackson and Niki Caro. His work as a production designer on epics Lord of the Rings and King Kong resulted in a run of international accolades, including an Academy Award for Return of the King.
Dean Parker
2013 Arts Foundation Laureate Dean Parker has written extensively for stage, television, radio and print. Alongside his own projects, he has shown himself as a skilled adaptor of everyone from Nicky Hager (The Hollow Men) to Ronald Hugh Morrieson (movie classic Came a Hot Friday).
Roger Hall
Roger Hall began writing and acting on television in the late 60s. In 1976 his debut play Glide Time became a sell out. Later Hall turned this satire of civil servants into Gliding On, arguably New Zealand's most successful sitcom to date. Play Middle Aged Spread became a movie in 1979. Hall went on to write marital comedy Conjugal Rights for England's Granada TV, and further shows in NZ. He remains the country's most successful playwright.
Lisa Harrow
Lisa Harrow's CV marks her out as one of New Zealand's most prodigious acting exports. After starring in Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company at age 25, she got serious about screen acting in the 1980s and worked everywhere from Iceland to Australia, as well as starring in Kiwi films Other Halves and Shaker Run. Alongside her acting, Harrow now campaigns for ecological responsibility on stage and page.
Fran Walsh
Fran Walsh is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, film producer and musician. She has collaborated with her partner Peter Jackson on all his films since Meet the Feebles (1989), and was nominated for her first Oscar after co-writing Heavenly Creatures (1994). In 2004, Walsh shared three Oscar wins for her work on the final episode of the Lord of the Rings.
Ian Cross
Ian Cross trained as a journalist. His 1957 novel The God Boy has been hailed as a classic (and similar status afforded to the 1976 television adaptation). As Listener editor he doubled its circulation and reinvigorated its writing staff. As broadcasting chair and chief executive he had a turbulent relationship with the Muldoon government - and failed to stem what he saw as the over-commercialisation of television.
Janet Frame
Janet Frame (1924 - 2004) is an icon of New Zealand literature and her international reputation rests on an original, "edge of the alphabet" use of language. She was twice rumoured to be short-listed for the Nobel Prize, and was acclaimed as "one of the great writers of our time" (San Francisco Chronicle). Her life and work have notably been translated to screen.
Ginette McDonald
Although Ginette McDonald's career is most associated with the gormless, vowel-mangling girl-from-the-suburbs: Lyn of Tawa, she is a woman of many parts. Alongside an extensive acting and presenting career, her work as producer and director spans three decades, and includes Shark in the Park, Gliding On, and kidult series The Fire-Raiser.