Mike Hosking
Mike Hosking is one of Aotearoa's most polarising media figures. The longtime Newstalk ZB radio host began his television career in 1997, hosting Breakfast for six years. From 2014 he did another four as co-presenter of high profile five-nights-a-week TV show Seven Sharp, with Toni Street. The pair resigned in December 2017.
Philip Smith
Television producer Philip Smith made his name with a stable of internationally-successful sports programmes. These days, as head of production company Great Southern Film and Television, he has been expanding from comic shows like Eating Media Lunch into other fields — including reality shows (Rescue 1), Moa-nominated telemovie The Kick and 2008 movie Apron Strings.
Ally Xue
An optometrist by training, Ally Xue won public attention through her work as an actor. In 2010 she appeared in Gibson Group disaster tale Eruption, before joining forces with fellow actors Perlina Lau and JJ Fong — along with director Roseanne Liang — to create web series Flat3. The comical series is based around the occupants of an Auckland flat, with Xue playing the more reserved flatmate. After three seasons they followed up with Friday Night Bites — a collection of one-off stories based around the same characters. Xue's acting CV also includes short film Sugar Hit and TV's Harry and Runaway Millionaires.
Tony Holden
Tony Holden's producing and directing career spans generations of classic Kiwi comedy, from A Week of It, Gliding On, The Billy T James Show, to Spin Doctors. CEO of production company Comedia Pictures since 1985, Holden has also spent four years as TVNZ's manager of commissioning and production.
Alexander Behse
German-raised Alexander Behse has produced a run of documentaries exploring Māori subjects, from ta moko to te reo Shakespeare, to acclaimed Tūhoe HQ story Ever the Land. Behse got an MA in production from UTS Sydney, and has many TV credits as an editor. He made his directing debut with 2012 TV documentary Nazi Hunter, and was at the helm of award-winning TV series Radar Across the Pacific.
Mark Ferguson
Australian-born, but long based in New Zealand, Mark Ferguson won a loyal following as dastardly Darryl Neilson, whose Shortland Street escapades included abduction, assault and all-round unreliability. Ferguson’s varied screen work includes fantasy (Xena: Warrior Princess), satire (Spin Doctors) and a run of narrating and presenting gigs (faux reality show Living the Dream, improvisational series Scared Scriptless).
Tony Manson
Tony Manson has worked in television as a director, producer and commissioner of programmes. His specialty is factual programming - including directing for the popular Open Home and producing a wide range of documentaries.
Miranda Harcourt
Miranda Harcourt's career has seen many notable excursions into screen work — from finding early fame on beloved soap Gloss to ambitious big screen drama For Good, which she acted in and helped produce. In 2017 she made fantasy The Changeover, with her husband Stuart McKenzie. As an acting coach, Harcourt has worked with everyone from Melanie Lynskey to Nicole Kidman.
Caroline Girdlestone
Fed up with seeing animals unintentionally mishandled on set, former farm girl Caroline Girdlestone decided to do something about it. Now one of the most respected animal trainers in Australasia, she’s worked with almost any animal imaginable across more than 500 projects – ranging from the cute barnyard animals of Racing Stripes to the horrifying ovine creatures in Black Sheep.