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.
Mark Hadlow
From an early role as a teen bully in Children of Fire Mountain, Mark Hadlow, ONZM, has gone on to work beside Billy T James, Peter Jackson, talking hedgehogs and mutant huhu grubs. The veteran actor/comedian is fondly remembered for playing a wide-eyed farmer on hit TV series Willy Nilly; in Jackson’s three-part adaptation of The Hobbit, he was grey-bearded Dori the dwarf.
Chris Knox
Low-tech legend Chris Knox is an accomplished musician, animator, writer, cartoonist, and filmmaker. The former punk shaman has brought an energetic eclecticism to his work no matter what medium it forms in, and showcased his gift for DIY-style animation in many of the videos that accompany his music.
Jed Brophy
Alongside a notable theatre resumé, actor Jed Brophy’s wide-ranging screen career has seen him wrangling horses and scaring hobbits for Peter Jackson, undergoing relationship trauma for Gaylene Preston, and playing South African in District 9.
Peter Hambleton
During a long career of acting and directing on stage, Peter Hambleton has won a number of Chapman Tripp Theatre acting awards (Copenhagen, The Letter Writer). En route, the Toi Whakaari graduate has also done time on screen: he's played a sizable cadre of policeman and officials, alongside Prime Ministers (William Massey in War News, Peter Fraser in Spies and Lies), and priests. But his biggest screen role is as a dwarf. Underneath a sizable red beard he was Gloin in Peter Jackson’s three-part adaptation of The Hobbit. in 1995 he won an NZ Film and Television award for his work in WWII era movie The Last Tattoo.
Ngila Dickson
Ngila Dickson, ONZM, has designed costumes for vampires, university professors, fertility cults, and wizards in pointy hats. And that's only counting the work she has done for Kiwi filmmakers. Since sharing an Academy Award and a BAFTA for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dickson has contributed her costume prowess to movies in Japan, Germany, South Africa and Los Angeles.
Jeffrey Thomas
Jeffrey Thomas was born in Wales and graduated with a Master of Literature from Oxford University. Since arriving in Wellington in 1976, his televison credits have ranged from Close To Home and Gloss, to Mercy Peak and cop dramas Shark in the Park and The Gulf. In the 1980s he starred in a Welsh language drama series Bowen. An award-winning playwright, he has also acted on the big screen and the stage.
Philippa Boyens
Philippa Boyens (incredibly) began her screenwriting career with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Before then the long-time Tolkien fan had worked mainly in theatre. Return of the King won Boyens an Oscar, a BAFTA, and many other awards. She next worked with Jackson and Walsh on King Kong, and an adaptation of novel The Lovely Bones. Boyens returned to Middle-earth for The Hobbit.
Faifua Amiga
Faifua Amiga won acclaim with Kingpin - his first film role - at the age of 14. Four years later, he took centre stage in the Samoan feature film Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree.
William Kircher
Since graduating from NZ Drama School, William Kircher has gone on to act in more than 100 plays, and at least 30 screen projects. Often cast as policeman (TV's Shark in the Park and movie Out of the Blue) or villain, Kircher has also worked on the other side of the camera. He was Bifur the dwarf in Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of The Hobbit.