Lucy Lawless
Eight years after her TV debut on sketch show Funny Business, Lucy Lawless won global fame as the star of Xena: Warrior Princess. The series won her a devoted fan following, and invitations to guest star on everything from The Simpsons to bro' Town. Since the end of Xena's six season run, Lawless has acted in New Zealand and the United States, including as bad girl Lucretia in locally-shot series Spartacus.
Kevin Milne
Former Fair Go presenter Kevin Milne ranks as one of New Zealand television's longest-serving reporters. After joining the Fair Go team in 1984, he presented or co-presented the show from 1993 until 2010. Milne has also appeared on TVNZ lifestyle shows Production Line, Then Again, Holiday and Kev Can Do.
Suzy Clarkson (née Aiken)
Suzy Clarkson (formerly Suzy Aiken) presented news and sports for Prime Television from 2004 until 2010. Her varied television appearances include travel shows Getaway and Holiday, reports for American network ABC, and a celebrated cameo on the first episode of Shortland Street. Clarkson now works in corporate affairs.
Jillian Ewart
Jillian Ewart worked in television as a producer and director from 1976 until 1987. She was the originating producer of Pacific Viewpoint, worked on five seasons of Kaleidoscope, and developed the format for the live Benson and Hedges Awards for Fashion Design. Ewart was also the first producer of travel series Holiday. These days Ewart has returned to journalism.
Mark Beesley
With the movie Savage Honeymoon and classic TV show Outrageous Fortune, Mark Beesley established himself as the man to call when dealing with rough and tumble families from West Auckland. Elsewhere the talented director and sometime producer has shown his gift for melding comedy and drama on The Almighty Johnsons, Insiders Guide to Happiness, and Xena: Warrior Princess.
Conon Fraser
As writer and presenter of The World Around Us, and producer of Looking at New Zealand, Conon Fraser was an early television celebrity. He joined the National Film Unit in 1969 and continued to make films documenting his adopted country’s landscape and history, and New Zealanders’ way of life. Fraser died on 17 June 2014, aged 84.
Derek Wright
Dropping in on the Americans at the South Pole for afternoon tea, having driven there by tractor, was one of the most unusual events of Derek Wright's career as a National Film Unit cameraman. In his 40 years with the NFU he filled many other roles, from laboratory assistant to producer: but it is for his filming in the Antarctic that he is particularly remembered.
Rose McIver
After appearing briefly in The Piano at age three, Rose McIver went on to star in big budget fantasy series Maddigan’s Quest while still a teen. Since then she has played one of the passengers in true life train disaster tale Tangiwai - A Love Story, and completed a five season run in American series iZombie, starring as a crime-solving zombie. She is set to co-star in Kiwi movie musical Daffodils.
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.
Dean Cornish
Globetrotting director Dean Cornish's credit reel ranges from Intrepid Journeys to bold buildings, Extreme Tribes to Rachel Hunter, sex trafficking to This Town. Trained at Christchurch's NZ Broadcasting School, Cornish has produced films in more than 90 countries and crafted a reputation as a go-to guy for travel stories. He shared a Best Director gong at the 2011 Aotearoa Film and TV Awards for Making Tracks.