Jesse Warn
After coming up with the idea for Nemesis Game, his first feature film, Jesse Warn ended up making it in Canada with a multi-national cast, and being nominated for best picture at the 2003 NZ Film Awards. He went on to direct a run of commercials, and episodes of Spartacus. Since then Warn has spent time in the US directing a range of high profile series, including True Blood, Arrow and Supergirl.
Sam Neill
One of New Zealand's best known screen actors, Sam Neill possesses a blend of everyman ordinariness, charm and good looks that have made him an international leading man. His resume of television and 70+ feature films includes leading roles in landmark New Zealand movies, from a man alone on the run in breakout feature Sleeping Dogs to the repressed settler in The Piano.
Owen Hughes
Owen Hughes segued directly from university to a job at independent production company Pacific Films. Since establishing his own company Frame Up Films in 1977, Hughes has gone on to produce 40 plus documentaries and many dramas. Along the way he has nurtured the talents of a number of directors early in their careers, including Niki Caro, Fiona Samuel and Jessica Hobbs.
Ric Salizzo
After time as a sports reporter for both radio and TVNZ, Ric Salizzo spent time as media liaison officer for the All Blacks, and formed his own production company on the back of light-hearted rugby tour documentaries The Good, the Bad and the Rugby, and Blood, Sweat and Touring. In 1996 he created and co-hosted the long-running sports entertainment show SportsCafe.
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!).
Manu Bennett
Manu Bennett’s acting career has seen him battling Roman gladiators, teaching salsa on acclaimed movie Lantana, and creeping out both superheroes and the staff of Shortland Street.
Grant Bowler
Grant Bowler cemented his place in Kiwi television history by playing charismatic Outrageous Fortune bad boy Wolf West. Long based out of Australia, the self-described 'Aussiwi' has become increasingly visible on American screens since 2008, backing movie work with roles in shows Ugly Betty, True Blood and Lost.
Antony Starr
Antony Starr has won multiple awards for being sly and idiotic at the same time, playing twin brothers on TV's Outrageous Fortune: gormless Van and cynical lawyer Jethro. The roles are distant cousins to an earlier part on Mercy Peak. A starring turn as a sheriff with a secret in Alan (True Blood) Ball’s US TV series Banshee, followed big-screen roles in drama After the Waterfall and Australian thriller Wish You Were Here.
Bryan Bruce
Since the late 1980s Bryan Bruce has been a prolific documentary maker and presenter. Over more than 30 documentaries, plus three seasons of The Investigator, he has cast fresh eyes on some of the most famous crimes in New Zealand’s history, and asked tough questions about the country’s economic and social trajectory.
Bob Allen
Starting with the National Film Unit in 1943, Bob Allen’s career as a motion picture sound recordist covered six decades. Based in the UK from 1953, he worked with well-known directors including Fred Zinnemann (Allen's work on The Day of the Jackal was BAFTA-nominated). He returned to his homeland to share his knowledge and experience as New Zealand feature filmmaking blossomed; and later to retire.