Tom Scott
Catapulted to fame after tousles with Prime Minister Robert Muldoon, Tom Scott originally trained to be a vet. He ended up helping Murray Ball turn Footrot Flats into a hit movie. The celebrated humourist and cartoonist has also told the story of Kiwi legends Edmund Hillary and David Lange, in both TV documentaries and dramas. Scott also co-wrote Rage, a TV movie about the 1981 Springbok tour.
Antony Starr
Antony Starr has won multiple awards for being sly and idiotic at the same time, playing twin brothers on TV's Outrageous Fortune: gormless Van and cynical lawyer Jethro. The roles are distant cousins to an earlier part on Mercy Peak. A starring turn as a sheriff with a secret in Alan (True Blood) Ball’s US TV series Banshee, followed big-screen roles in drama After the Waterfall and Australian thriller Wish You Were Here.
Pat Cox
Pat Cox has been bringing television commercials to the screen since the 1970s. As a producer, he was instrumental in turning longrunning comic strip Footrot Flats into an animated feature. Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tale went on to become the most successful New Zealand feature of the 1980s.
Taika Waititi
Sometime actor Taika Waititi has clearly sunk his teeth into directing. His 2005 short film Two Cars, One Night was Oscar-nominated. Second feature Boy (2010) became the most successful Kiwi film released on its home soil — at least until the arrival of Waititi's fourth movie, Barry Crump inspired adventure comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople. In 2017 Marvel movie Thor: Ragnarok became an international hit.
Ian Taylor
Former Spot On presenter Ian Taylor, CNZM, is the founder of computer graphics company Animation Research Limited. ARL made its name providing real-time sports graphics at the 1992 America's Cup, and has gone on to apply their technology to golf, cricket, tennis and Formula One car-racing around the globe.
Dean Parker
2013 Arts Foundation Laureate Dean Parker has written extensively for stage, television, radio and print. Alongside his own projects, he has shown himself as a skilled adaptor of everyone from Nicky Hager (The Hollow Men) to Ronald Hugh Morrieson (movie classic Came a Hot Friday).
John Fellet
Sky Television chief John Fellet began a long tenure in pay television after abandoning hopes of becoming a professional baseballer, and realising accountancy was “a terrible career choice”. Arizona-raised Fellet joined the pay television company as Chief Operating Officer in 1991, and has been Sky’s Chief Executive since 2001. Fellet is set to leave Sky in late 2018.
Murray Newey
Murray Newey produced New Zealand's first horror film - Death Warmed Up, and went on to win international investment in four Kiwi-made features: Moonrise, Never Say Die, teen tale Bonjour Timothy and award-winner The Whole of the Moon.
John McBeth
John McBeth's commentating career began after injuries put paid to his senior rugby playing days. He became Radio New Zealand's lead rugby commentator in 1985 and took that position at TVNZ in 1992. With his trademark sense of humour never far away, he has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games and America's Cup yachting along with many other sports.
Lana Coc-Kroft
Presenter Lana Coc-Kroft has fronted a run of adventure shows, survived a near fatal infection on a Pacific Island, and been a longtime staple on hit show SportsCafe. The ex Miss Universe New Zealand began her screen career modelling on Sale of the Century and co-hosting Wheel of Fortune, before presenting On the Edge. She has also been a 91ZM radio host and World Vision spokeperson.