John Laing
After working at the National Film Unit, the BBC and Canada's National Film Board, John Laing made his feature film debut as a director with Arthur Allan Thomas drama Beyond Reasonable Doubt (1980). Since then he has directed another six features, and many television shows and tele-movies. Laing has also produced for both Outrageous Fortune and Mercy Peak.
John Barnett
Since the 1970s John Barnett has brought a host of uniquely Kiwi stories to local and international screens, from Fred Dagg and Footrot Flats, to Whale Rider, Sione's Wedding and Outrageous Fortune. As boss of production company South Pacific Pictures for 24 years, he was a driving force behind some of our landmark television dramas and feature films.
Ian Watkin
Ian Watkin's long acting career saw him playing mad doctors, priests, axe-wielding stepfathers, and American presidents. Part of the legendary Blerta troupe which toured Australasia in the 1970s, Watkin went on to appearances in everything from Beyond Reasonable Doubt and an iconic Crunchie bar commercial, to presenting Miss Universe New Zealand. He passed away in May 2016.
Peter Hayden
Peter Hayden’s long storytelling career spans fact, fiction, feather and fur. Hayden has worked extensively behind the scenes on a run of nature documentaries, made for company NHNZ. His acting career includes roles in classic goldmining drama Illustrious Energy and Maurice Gee series The Fire-Raiser. In 2017 Hayden was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film and television.
Grant Tilly
Actor Grant Tilly, who died in April 2012, displayed his gifts for understated comedy in movies Middle Age Spread and Carry Me Back. The versatile Tilly had done it all — from acclaimed theatre performances (often in Roger Hall plays) to screen roles that took in everything from adventure movies and landmark historical dramas (The Governor), to children's TV, sitcoms (Gliding On), and many voice-overs.
Alun Bollinger
Alun Bollinger, MNZM, has been crafting the slanting southern light onto film and other formats, for almost 40 years. He is arguably New Zealand's premier cinematographer; images framed by Bollinger's camera include some of the most indelible memories to come from iconic films like Goodbye Pork Pie, Vigil and Heavenly Creatures.
Grahame McLean
Veteran producer and production designer Grahame McLean helped organise the shoots of a run of landmark Kiwi productions, from The Games Affair to Sleeping Dogs. Later he brought TV success Worzel Gummidge down under, and became the first — and will likely long remain one of the few — New Zealanders to direct two feature films back to back.
Murray Newey
Murray Newey produced New Zealand's first horror film - Death Warmed Up, and went on to win international investment in four Kiwi-made features: Moonrise, Never Say Die, teen tale Bonjour Timothy and award-winner The Whole of the Moon.
Noel Appleby
Council drainlayer Noel Appleby first won fame after starring in an 80s Winstone commercial, pushing a wheelbarrow. After a bit part in Beyond Reasonable Doubt, he was picked to play one of the time-travellers in acclaimed Vincent Ward fantasy The Navigator, adding to the film’s impressive awards tally in the process. Later he hunted vampires in Moonrise, and was a taxi-driver in Old Bastards. Appleby died in May 2007.
Lesley Vanderwalt
Kiwi hair and makeup artist Lesley Vanderwalt won an Oscar and a Bafta for her work on Mad Max: Fury Road. She also collaborated with director George Miller on Babe 2, Nicole Kidman mini-series Bangkok Hilton and the second Mad Max movie. The onetime Wellington hairdresser had makeup duties on early Kiwi classics The Governor, Skin Deep and Bad Blood, before a slew of Australian credits (Shine, Moulin Rouge!).