Laurie Clarke
Laurie Clarke began his career in 1983, as an editor for Australia’s ABC. Back home for the birth of TV3, he later spent nine years directing and producing for news show 20/20. Clarke is currently a company director at Top Shelf Productions; his list of credits includes Target, What's Really in Our Food, Making New Zealand, Heritage Rescue, and long-running media commentary show Media Take.
Barry Barclay
Barry Barclay — director of landmark TV series Tangata Whenua and feature film Ngati — was a longtime campaigner for the right of indigenous people to tell their own stories, to their own people. In 2004 he was made an Arts Foundation Laureate, and in 2007 a Member of the NZ Order of Merit. Barclay passed away on 19 February 2008, after publishing his acclaimed book Mana Tuturu.
Florian Habicht
Though most of his films have been documentaries, Florian Habicht's work has often blurred the boundaries between truth and fiction. His CV includes offbeat fairytale Woodenhead, two love letters to New Zealand's far north (Kaikohe Demolition, Land of the Long White Cloud), films on theatre legend Warwick Broadhead and Brit band Pulp, and his award-winning, genre-stretching romance Love Story.
John McCready
With a career spanning half a century, there's not much in the entertainment industry John McCready hasn't seen. From record company A&R to radio management and TV programming McCready built a reputation as a tough competitor with his finger on the pulse of public taste.
Christopher Bourn
From the mid 1960s into the 1980s, Christopher Bourn’s name was synonymous with entertainment on New Zealand television. But the man behind talent shows Studio One and New Faces also played a role in groundbreaking sports broadcasts, including the first All Black test screened on television. Bourn also held senior management roles in both the old NZ Broadcasting Corporation and TVNZ.
Michael Firth
Director Michael Firth was an unheralded figure in the Kiwi film renaissance. His debut movie, ski film Off the Edge, was the first New Zealand feature to be Oscar-nominated. Noted US critic Andrew Sarris praised drama Sylvia, based on teacher Sylvia Ashton-Warner, as one of 1985's best films. Firth's subjects ranged from incest to fishing; his TV series Adrenalize sold to 50 countries. He passed away on 9 October 2016.
Derek Morton
Derek Morton is one of those happily unsung industry all-rounders who has tried a little of everything: from documentaries and children's TV to underground films, doing time as a cameraman, editor, writer, producer and director (from commercials and docos, to trucking drama Roche), as well as running his own production company.
Paul Henry
Paul Henry has run his own radio station, and reported from Bosnia and Iraq. After presenting episodes of TV staples This is Your Life and Close Up, he won both fans and regular controversy during seven straight-talking years co-hosting live show Breakfast. After joining company MediaWorks he began hosting the three-hour long Paul Henry in April 2015. The morning show plays simultaneously on TV3, radio and online.
Nathaniel Lees
Kiwi-born Samoan Nathaniel Lees began acting on stage in 1975, and on screen in 1984. Since then he has become a leading force in the development of Pacific Island theatre in Aotearoa, and brought his distinctive baritone voice to everything from The Billy T James Show to The Matrix.
Louis Sutherland
Two of Louis Sutherland’s short film collaborations with Mark Albiston have been invited to Cannes: 2007 drama Run (which Sutherland also stars in), and The Six Dollar Fifty Man — both won special mentions. Their 2013 feature film Shopping screened at Sundance and Berlin, where it won a Grand Prix. The drama school grad’s acting talents have graced TV's The Insiders Guide to Love and Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby.