Peter Elliott
Peter Elliott has been a fixture on New Zealand television for over three decades. Award-nominated as the scheming Rex Thorne on 80s soap Gloss, he would go on to win for tele-movie Until Proven Innocent, and spend four years on Shortland Street. Elliott has also guided viewers through New Zealand's history as host and narrator of shows Explorers, Captain's Log, and Frontier of Dreams.
Reuben Collier
Rūātoki-raised Reuben Collier cut his screen teeth reporting on Waka Huia. In 2001 he founded Maui TV Productions in Rotorua. Collier's producing and directing credits include Marae, Matatini coverage, award-winning documentary Sciascia, and long-running food show Kai Time on the Road. in 2017 Collier was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the television industry and Māori.
Steven Orsbourn
Producer Steven Orsbourn has 30+ years of screen industry experience. As a cameraman, he shot everything from travel to sport (he was embedded with the All Blacks and David Tua), and was nominated for four NZ TV Awards. After producing high profile rugby films (including Qantas Media award-winner The Test), he shifted platforms to digital, leading content production at the NZ Herald online and Culture.
Blair Strang
During six years playing an ambulance driver on Shortland Street, Blair Strang’s character Rangi Heremaia thought he was romancing his own sister, and spent periods lovelorn, paraplegic, on the run, and missing in action. Since then Strang has risen from the dead, to finish a law degree and run his own real-life Auckland law firm in Auckland. He has also found time to act on TV series Go Girls, Greg McGee thriller Doves of War (as an arrogant ex-soldier) and hit show Nothing Trivial — he did three seasons as quiz-mad “bloke’s bloke” Brian King.
Ingrid Park
Actor Ingrid Park has played evil (as a violent psychiatrist on Shortland Street), legal (as the feisty lawyer girlfriend to Jay Laga'aia's character, on Street Legal) and quirky (helping bury the body, on dead husband series Burying Brian). Raised in Palmerston North, Park studied engineering before getting her Shortland Street break in 1998. Playing dodgy doctor Mackenzie Choat, her plotlines included adultery, a problem with prescription drugs, and blowing up the clinic. In 2009 Park began five seasons on Go Girls, playing real estate agent Fran McMann. She also appeared in TV's Agent Anna.
Josephine Davison
Josephine Davison was still a teenager when she got a role on new show Shortland Street. After three years as wacky cafeteria owner-turned-soap star Gina Rossi, she has gone on to play Cleopatra (in Xena) a dodgy Triad wife (in the early days of Outrageous Fortune), and a betrayed girlfriend (Topless Women Talk About Their Lives). In 1994 she co-starred opposite Marton Csokas in early digital feature Vulcan Lane.
Robert Bruce
Marriage brought Scottish-born Robert Bruce down under, where he wrestled on hit show On the Mat, and acted and did stunts for movies. The Robert Bruce Ugly Agency was born in 1978, representing both actors and stuntpeople. The agency's stable of actors would expand to include Cliff Curtis, Joel Tobeck and Temuera Morrison. Bruce died on 2nd March 2009, after a short illness.
Josh Thomson
Tongan-Kiwi comedian Josh Thomson won attention after starring in 48 Hour short films Only Son and Brown Peril. Along with acting (Hounds) and appearances on comedy show 7 Days, Thomson is also an editor and director. In 2017 he starred in movie Gary of the Pacific, as a hapless real estate agent turned Pacific Island chief. The same year, he joined Three's prime time news show The Project.