Antonia Prebble
Antonia Prebble played the manipulative Loretta West on Outrageous Fortune over six seasons, before starring in prequel Westside. Prebble began her screen career aged 12 on TV series Mirror, Mirror, and did five seasons on sci-fi hit The Tribe during her school holidays. From 2013 her career got even busier, with starring roles in legal thriller The Blue Rose, Witi Ihimaera film White Lies and bio-thriller The Cure.
Jonathan Hardy
Wellington-born Jonathan Hardy, who died in July 2012, was an actor for more than four decades. Along the way he was on stage in New Zealand, Australia and England, and on screen in Kiwi classic The Scarecrow and a run of Australian projects. Hardy also co-wrote Constance and Aussie classic Breaker Morant, in the process becoming the first New Zealander to be nominated for a scriptwriting Academy Award.
Michelle Scullion
Since studying flute then completing a Bachelor of Music in composition, Michelle Scullion has composed for television, film, radio and stage. Her score for Bad Taste, the debut feature from Peter Jackson, was a vital component in the film’s armoury. Her screen work includes Flying Fox and a Freedom Tree, sci-fi thriller Eternity, and many short films, including four directed by Grant Lahood.
Gillian Ashurst
After completing a philosophy degree at Canterbury University, Gillian Ashurst set off for five years overseas, including a journalism diploma in London. Back in New Zealand, she studied filmmaking. Her second short film, alien on earth tale Venus Blue (1998), was invited to 12 international festivals, including Sundance. Follow-up Sci-Fi Betty won further film fest invites. Ashurst's first, and so far only feature — road movie Snakeskin — won six NZ Film and Television Awards in 2001, including Best Film. She has since written and directed documentaries on scientists Ernest Rutherford and William Pickering.
Scott Flyger
Auckland-raised Scott Flyger got his first big editing break on high profile documentary Rubber Gloves or Green Fingers, and went on to spend 12 years in London, where he cut a range of high profile dramas, comedies and documentaries. Now based in Christchurch, Flyger runs postproduction house Due South Films.
Tom Hern
Tom Hern was a teen reporter on What Now? before winning attention for a show watched in more than 100 countries: on sci fi hit The Tribe, he played "villainous paraplegic polygamist" leader Ram. He followed it with the starring role in short-lived series Revelations - The Initial Journey, and time on Shortland Street. Since then Hern has balanced acting, hip hop and behind the scenes roles — including twin Moa Award nominations for his producing work on acclaimed dramas The Dark Horse and Everything We Loved. In 2016 he produced a high profile remake of classic road movie Goodbye Pork Pie.
Lani Tupu
Lani Tupu, sometimes credited as Larney Tupu or Lani John Tupu, is the first Samoan to have starred in a Kiwi television series; in 1985 he segued from theatre onto the screen, to play doctor David Miller on period TV drama Country GP. The New Zealand-raised Samoan then relocated to Australia, where his many screen roles include Lantana, sci fi success Farscape, and a TV reboot of Mission Impossible.
Peter Hawes
A proud son of the West Coast, Peter Hawes was a fixture on NZ television in the late 70s and early 80s. After writing for A Week of It, he presented Yours for the Asking, giving free rein to his irreverent wit and fondness for wordplay as he sought answers to viewer questions. Hawes has also written extensively for the theatre and authored a number of well-received novels.
Cliff Curtis
Cliff Curtis alternates a busy diet of acting in the United States (where he's forged a reputation as the actor to call on, for roles of varied ethnicity) with smaller scale New Zealand projects — including co-producing Taika Waititi smash Boy. His CV of Kiwi classics includes playing Pai's father in Whale Rider, Uncle Bully on Once Were Warriors, and bipolar chess champion Genesis Potini in The Dark Horse.
Frankie Adams
Starting her screen career on Shortland Street, Samoan-born Frankie Adams was thrown in the deep end with a role as a troubled teenager. After four years she left the street in 2014, and headed overseas. In 2016 she landed a part as an aboriginal teen on Australian drama Wentworth, alongside Danielle Cormack, followed by an ongoing role on American sci-fi show The Expanse, as Polynesian marine Bobbie Draper. She also made her big screen debut, co-starring as Ilisa, a pregnant Samoan woman who returns home in One Thousand Ropes— the second feature from Orator writer/director Tusi Tumasese.