Oliver Driver
Oliver Driver's career has seen him fronting arts programmes and breakfast show Sunrise, and portraying everyone from villainous alien Mr Wilberforce to a sensitive sperm donor and a wacky nurse. The ex-Auckland Theatre Company artistic director has also done time with music station Alt TV, co-starred in chalk and cheese comedy Sunny Skies and directed many episodes of Shortland Street.
James Coleman
James Coleman has done time as a DJ (from Channel Z to Radio Live), TV presenter and actor (including parodying himself on award-winning comedy series The Jaquie Brown Diaries). His presenting work includes TV3 breakfast show Sunrise, and souping up barbecues and letterboxes for popular science show Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger. Coleman's extended radio CV includes three years doing drivetime at Channel Z — named New Aotearoa's Best Non-Breakfast Music Personality in 2001, he was twice nominated for the top local award for radio hosts. He has also done ScreenTalk interviews for NZ On Screen.
Ingrid Hipkiss
After time as a print journalist, Ingrid Hipkiss began on television in 2002 as a political reporter for 3 News. Following two years overseas, she did stints presenting on Nightline, reporting on Campbell Live and reading the news on Sunrise, before becoming 3 News’ weather presenter in 2013. Following the 2016 resignation of news anchor Hilary Barry, Hipkiss took over her morning role on The Paul Henry Show.
Linda Clark
The screen career of award-winning broadcaster Linda Clark spans seven years as TVNZ’s political editor in the 90s, nine elections, and hosting several current affairs shows (Crossfire, Face the Nation, The Vote). She has also fronted RNZ’s Nine to Noon, and edited Grace magazine. In 2006 Clark retrained as a lawyer. Clark continues to be a political commentator, while working for law firm Kensington Swan.
Janine Morrell-Gunn
Janine Morrell-Gunn is one of New Zealand's leading children's television producers. She began her TV career in 1985 as a trainee director and producer at TVNZ, working on programmes such as Spot On and Fast Forward. Morrell-Gunn spent seven years as executive producer of TVNZ's Children's Unit. In the late 1990s she formed Whitebait Productions (now Whitebait Media) with her husband Jason Gunn.
John Knowles
John Knowles has held many leadership roles in broadcasting, and worked around the world. Ask Knowles to name his highlight and he’s very clear — being TVNZ's Head of Sport at precisely the right time. In 1979 he was one of the only television reporters to visit Antartica, to report on the Mount Erebus disaster.
Virginie Le Brun
Virginie Le Brun began her screen career with six years as a presenter on music channel Juice TV, before moving to What Now?. From 2008 she did two year-long stints on Shortland Street, as doctor Gabrielle Jacobs. Her portrayal of the head of surgery who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome won praise from the show’s fans, and organisation Autism New Zealand. Le Brun is daughter of winemakers Adele and Daniel Le Brun.
Charlotte Dawson
Kiwi-born Charlotte Dawson began her TV career after a decade modelling in Europe and the US. In Australia she worked as a fashion correspondent across networks. During five years back in NZ, Dawson presented for chat show How's Life, travel series Getaway, and appeared in adoption doco Charlotte's Webb. She returned to Sydney as a judge on Australia's Next Top Model. Dawson died on 22 February 2014, aged 47.
Zara Potts
Zara Potts' first foray into broadcasting didn't take a stock standard route — she was an impersonator on radio in Christchurch, copying the voices of famous people. Her first television gig came in 1997, reporting for Southern TV in Dunedin, before moving back to her hometown of Christchurch to report and produce for Breakfast. Potts went on to report for One News until roughly 2004 when she moved into public relations. She has continued to work in the media, researching and writing for documentary New Zealand Stories, and producing for TV3 and Radio NZ. These days Potts is the publicist for NZ On Screen.
Alistair Wilkinson
Alistair Wilkinson, Sky TV's local head of news, started in 1996 as a TV3 reporter. After three years at Australian public broadcaster SBS, he began a nine-year stint back at TV3. Working variously as reporter, newsreader and producer, he did time on 60 Minutes and co-presented breaking coverage of the Christchurch quakes. In 2011 he became NZ News Director for Sky News, a job which also sees him presenting Prime News.