Fiona Samuel
Fiona Samuel, MNZM, has worked prolifically across so many fields that she defies labels: aside from acting on stage and screen, she is a playwright (The Wedding Party), director (TV movies Bliss and Piece of My Heart), scriptwriter (Consent, Outrageous Fortune) and singer (musical revue Babes in the Mood).
Tracey Collins
Tracey Collins is a multi award-winning production and costume designer, who specialises in television and film work. Her career spans drama series (Maddigan's Quest), telemovies (Bliss) feature films (White Lies) and commercials, plus hundreds of original theatre works.
Michele Fantl
Michele Fantl has been producing acclaimed documentaries, telemovies and features since the 1990s, often through her production company MF Films. Along the way she has worked extensively with writer/directors Stewart Main (50 Ways of Saying Fabulous), Garth Maxwell (When Love Comes) and Fiona Samuel (Bliss).
Steve La Hood
A New Zealander of Lebanese descent, Steve La Hood joined TVNZ in the early 70s. He went on to direct on everything from Close to Home and Shortland Street, to an acclaimed documentary on Bruno Lawrence. He also produced The Marching Girls (1987), one of the first dramas to highlight contemporary women characters on NZ television. La Hood now creates museum exhibitions at company Story Inc.
Rachel Lang
Writer Rachel Lang, MNZM, has played a major hand in a host of New Zealand television dramas, including Outrageous Fortune, the iconic saga of a West Auckland family trying to go straight. Her CV also includes the long-running Go Girls, small town dramas Jackson's Wharf and Mercy Peak, plus Westside, The Almighty Johnsons, This is Not My Life, Filthy Rich and The Blue Rose.
Melanie Rodriga (née Read)
Australian-raised Melanie Rodriga (née Read) moved to New Zealand in 1977, and worked as an editor. After adapting Keri Hulme story Hooks and Feelers, she wrote and directed feminist thriller Trial Run in 1983. In 1988 Rodriga was a best director finalist for pioneering TV drama The Marching Girls. Rodriga now lectures in film at Perth’s Murdoch University and continues to make and develop films.
John McRae
As a head of drama in New Zealand television, John McRae spearheaded a run of shows that were both local and export successes. McRae's four-decade television career saw him working in three countries, and winning two Emmy awards.
Dorothy McKegg
Dorothy McKegg’s acting and singing talent took her from Palmerston North to London while she was still a teen. Back home, her acting career encompassed theatre work at Mercury, Downstage and Circa, and memorable screen roles in Carry Me Back, Middle Age Spread and Matrons of Honour.
Robert Sarkies
Robert Sarkies made his first film at age 10. His feature debut was 1999 hit Scarfies, followed by Out of the Blue, an acclaimed dramatisation of the Aramoana murders. Sarkies followed it with TV's This is Not My Life and black comedy Two Little Boys, based on a novel by his brother Duncan. Since then he has directed Moa-nominated TV movie Consent, and multi award-winning Jean Batten biopic Jean.
Carol Smith
Since graduating from Toi Whakaari in 1989, Carol Smith has acted on stage, radio and screen, winning a Chapman Tripp award for play The Country along the way. Her CV includes short films, sketch show Away Laughing, and playing Margaret Pope on David Lange docudrama Fallout. In 1995 Fiona Samuel picked Smith for an extended solo turn as a conflicted hippie, in Samuel's directorial debut Face Value - A Real Dog.