Jeremy Wells
Jeremy ‘Newsboy' Wells came to fame as sidekick to Mikey Havoc on a series of joyously silly radio and TV shows. In 2003 Wells began presenting seven seasons of satirical show Eating Media Lunch. He later brought his wry presenting style — dial turned to 'deadpan' — to The Unauthorised History of New Zealand and Birdland. In 2018 he joined Hilary Barry as co-host of primetime show Seven Sharp.
Rodney Bryant
Rodney Bryant was one of the stars of the heyday of regional television news. In the early 70s he became a Canterbury institution fronting The South Tonight with Bryan Allpress, and returned to host The Mainland Touch in the early 80s. He moved on to TV talkback, then children’s current affairs with The Video Dispatch, before leaving TV for a twenty year run in communications for the Dunedin City Council.
Erik Thomson
Scots-born Erik Thomson moved to New Zealand at age seven. In the mid 90s his career took off, after he began acting in Australia. In 2004 he won an AFI award for feature Somersault, then later starred in Aussie TV hit Packed to the Rafters and NZ drama/comedy We're Here to Help. In 2016 Thomson won a Best Actor Logie for his role in TV series 800 Words, as an Australian widower who moves his family to NZ.
Robert Steele
A pioneer of the commercial use of 16mm film in post-war New Zealand, Robert Steele is arguably a lost name in the local screen industry. A portrait photographer who was making amateur films in 1930, he spent several years in his native Australia before returning to NZ for good in 1937. Steele screened his films at workplaces and trade fairs, and was a major producer of commercials in the first decade of Kiwi television.
Mike Hardcastle
One of many talents to emerge from legendary Wellington company Pacific Films in the 1970s, Mike Hardcastle was often behind the camera during the renaissance of Kiwi feature films. Then he took a break and returned to the industry as the man who could not only shoot your project, but edit it too. Hardcastle passed away on 24 August 2016.
Leigh Hart
Since debuting on TV's SportsCafe in 1996 as an Olympic snail trainer, comedian Leigh Hart has donned moustaches, speedos and a variety of serious journalistic expressions. Post SportsCafe, Hart made and presented multiple seasons of Moon TV — two of them nominated for NZ screen awards — plus Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet. He now co-presents web show Late Night Big Breakfast, with Jason Hoyte.
Jason Hoyte
Since scoring Billy T and Chapman Tripp comedy awards as half of duo Sugar & Spice (alongside Jonathan Brugh), Jason Hoyte has applied his talents to comedy, drama and voiceover work. Often cast as the smooth-talking but dodgy man in a suit (Shortland Street, taxman tale We're Here to Help), Hoyte stole the screen in school satire Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby, as dodgy guidance counsellor Steve Mudgeway.
Matt Heath
Matt Heath and his partner in comedic crime Chris Stapp attracted attention with their rough and tumble 2001 series Back of the Y Masterpiece Television. The show sold to MTV UK, and spawned band Deja Voodoo. The pair took their stunts and slapstick mayhem to the big screen with 2007 movie The Devil Dared Me To. Heath is also a Radio Hauraki DJ, who runs company Vinewood Motion Graphics alongside fellow Back of the Y survivor Phil Brough.