Dan Hennah
Art department veteran Dan Hennah worked on a range of screen projects before becoming an art director and set decorator on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Five times Oscar nominated, he won an Academy Award for his work on The Return of the King. Since then Hennah has graduated to production designing on a number of features, including taking on the job for Peter Jackson's three-parter of The Hobbit.
Mike Single
Natural history and adventure cameraman Mike Single has worked everywhere from Death Valley to Antarctica, and filmed everything from BASE jumping to the birthplace of kung fu. A long association with company NHNZ has scored him a swag of awards, including an International Emmy for his Antarctic film The Crystal Ocean. Single's work has screened on Discovery Channel and National Geographic.
Stephen Lovatt
Stephen Lovatt's acting career has taken him from Arcadia to Takapuna Beach, with stops in Shortland Street, Ramsay Street and ancient Rome. Award-nominated for his starring role in 2002 feature This is Not a Love Story, Lovatt's screen CV includes roles in Spartacus, Being Eve and a five-year-run in Australian export Neighbours. The Toi Whakaari grad is also an acclaimed theatre actor.
Nyree Dawn Porter
From humble beginnings as a stage actor in New Zealand in the 1950s, Nyree Dawn Porter achieved international success via British television. As one of the stars of 1967's The Forsyte Saga, she was seen by over 100 million people worldwide. Following the show’s mammoth success, she was awarded an OBE in 1970 for services to television.
Jamie Selkirk
Jamie Selkirk is the Academy Award-winning editor of Return of the King, the final episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. His working relationship with director Peter Jackson stretches from Jackson's first feature Bad Taste through to the present day. Selkirk helped found special effects company Weta Workshop, and Wellington's Camperdown Studios.
Erik Thomson
Scots-born Erik Thomson moved to New Zealand at age seven. In the mid 90s his career took off, after he began acting in Australia. In 2004 he won an AFI award for feature Somersault, then later starred in Aussie TV hit Packed to the Rafters and NZ drama/comedy We're Here to Help. In 2016 Thomson won a Best Actor Logie for his role in TV series 800 Words, as an Australian widower who moves his family to NZ.
Roy Billing
Veteran actor Roy Billing has acted in so many films, TV shows and plays, his CV runs to more than 10 pages. Often cast as the straight-talking everyman, Billing has also provided award-winning screen portrayals of rugby-playing priests (Old Scores), drug barons (Underbelly), small-town mayors (The Dish) and avuncular judges (Rake).
Andrew Dominik
Kiwi-born but raised largely in Australia, Andrew Dominik began his career directing music videos (including four for Straitjacket Fits). He went on to win acclaim with a trio of films about violent males: Chopper, starring Australia's Eric Bana, and two movies with Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (which made many best of 2007 lists) and American underworld tale Killing Them Softly.
Michael Hurst
Actor and director Michael Hurst is a Kiwi creative institution. Even leaving aside his work as a director and stage actor, Hurst's screen resume runs to 50 roles and counting: including playing everyone from painter Toulouse-Lautrec, to Hercules's sidekick Iolaus, to politician Rodney Hide.
Tim Balme
Tim Balme burst onto the big screen as the hapless young man fighting off zombies with lawnmowers, in Peter Jackson's Braindead. He went on to roles on TV's Mercy Peak, Shortland Street and Maddigan's Quest, alongside gigs as a writer (Outrageous Fortune) and time as Head of Development for South Pacific Pictures.