Film in TBI TV & Audio

Internationally successful Kiwi film producer Finola Dwyer began her career as an editor at the National Film Unit and then moved onto editing and producing at TVNZ. Dwyer migrated over to the film industry and worked as an editor and producer. Read More »

Actor Theresa Healey first appeared on screen entertaining a generation of kids on Play School. She became a household name playing the popular character Carmen on Shortland Street for five years. Since then she has been in a range of New Zealand TV dramas including Marlin Bay, Mercy Peak and Go Girls. She has starred in the films Jubilee and Savage Honeymoon. Read More »

Actor Jim Moriarty cut his teeth on the early dramas Pukemanu and Close to Home, then went on to appear in a number of other TV projects such as Inside Straight and City Life. As well as acting, Moriarty has directed in television and theatre, and works with at risk Maori youth. Read More »

Kate Elliott began her life on screen after attending an audition at school. Since winning that role in House of Sticks – Elliott has starred in many of New Zealand’s major television productions including Street Legal, The Insiders Guide to Love, The Cult and Shortland Street. Read More »

Tom Finlayson is a producer, director and writer who has an impressive track record in New Zealand television. He began his TV career as a reporter on Town and Around, but quickly moved on to news producing, and eventually TV drama production. Read More »

Will Hall fell into a screen career by accident after hanging out with filmmakers at Lincoln University – an unlikely scenario given his study towards a commerce degree. Since then, Hall has forged a career both in front of and behind the camera. Read More »

Peter Meteherangi Tikao Burger (Ngai Tahu, Rangitane) can thank a childhood lisp for his busy career as a screen director today. Having been sent to speech lessons, he found himself in the wrong class, and discovered the joys of performance in a drama class at a young and impressionable age. Read More »

More than a decade ago Robbie Magasiva gave himself two choices – rugby or acting. Since then, Magasiva has made audiences laugh in Skitz, The Semisis and Sione’s Wedding, and has starred in numerous screen dramas including Shortland Street, Cover Story, Jackson’s Wharf, Doves of War and The Tattooist. Read More »

Actor Paul Gittins is best known for his portrayal of Dr Michael McKenna, the original clinic director, on the long-running soap opera Shortland Street. He has also acted in a number of feature films, including Other Halves, The End of the Golden Weather, and The Whole of the Moon. Read More »

Tandi Wright spent some of her childhood in the dressing room at Avalon TV Studios – waiting for her actor parents to finish work on Close to Home. But rather than encouraging her to follow suit, Wright insists they were always “realistic about how nearly impossible it is to make a career out of acting”. She agrees – but seems to have pulled off the “impossible” anyway. Read More »

Marcia Russell is an award-winning journalist and TV writer/producer with a long career in New Zealand media. Her first television role was as host of the 1970s talk show Speakeasy. Russell moved on to news and current affairs roles with TVNZ, and helped set up the fledgling TV3 News department in the late 1980s. Read More »

Acclaimed Director of Photography Leon Narbey has had a hand in many of New Zealand’s best known films. He directed the feature film, Illustrious Energy, in 1987, and has been the DOP on other major film projects such as Desperate Remedies; The Price of Milk; and the smash hit Whale Rider. Read More »

Actor Phillip Gordon began his television acting career playing bad boy Hugh Clifford on the long-running soap Close to Home. He then played small roles in many New Zealand films, before winning the lead role in the TV series Inside Straight. Read More »

Joanna Paul‘s screen career has seen her both in front of and behind the camera, and undertaking some of the most challenging Maori screen projects in New Zealand, including Aroha, the country’s first TV series in Te Reo, and the launch of Maori Television. Read More »

Award-winning documentary maker John Bates is a Scotsman who has lived in New Zealand for more than 40 years.

In this ScreenTalk interview Bates talks about his documentaries, abstract art and the making of 50 Years of New Zealand Television. Read More »

To celebrate The Big Idea's visual art focus this month, NZ On Screen has selected ten clips from across our history of visual arts on screen. Painters, sculptors, photographers, public parks and controversial Te Papa exhibits all feature. Read More »

Costume designer Barbara Darragh is the creator of Xena’s iconic outfit, Billy T James’ look as the Tainuia Kid in Came a Hot Friday, and has won awards for her work on the feature films The End of the Golden Weather and River Queen. Read More »

Temuera Morrison is best known for one of New Zealand’s most graphic film performances: Jake Heke in Once Were Warriors.  Before the Warriors films, Morrison played Dr Hone Ropata in Shortland Street. He has appeared in a range of TV productions and Hollywood films including the Star Wars franchise. His latest film Tracker was released in 2011. Read More »

Geoff Murphy is the trumpet-player who got New Zealand yelling in the movie aisles. After boning up on filmmaking on the Blerta bus, Murphy turned out a triple punch of local classics: 1981 blockbuster Goodbye Pork Pie, historical epic Utu and last man on earth tale The Quiet Earth. Read More »

Rachel Jean has produced and directed more than 40 documentaries, made award-winning drama and film, and set up and run production company Isola Productions. Jean has recently moved from producing and directing to the role of Head of Drama and Comedy at TV3 and C4. Read More »

Don Blakeney, former Executive Director of the New Zealand Film Commission, talks about the early days of NZ Film in this special ScreenTalk interview with veteran producer and industry colleague John Barnett. Read More »

Director David Blyth has created some of New Zealand’s most graphic and challenging movies dealing with horror, sexuality, and the sub-conscious mind. His career began as an assistant director on the film Solo, but it was his first feature Angel Mine which showed his interests in pushing the boundaries of film making. Read More »

Aussie import Gavin Strawhan is a screen writer who has had a hand in many of our recent TV drama successes. After assisting with the set up of Shortland Street, Strawhan then teamed with writing colleague Rachel Lang to create the drama series Jackson’s Wharf, Mercy Peak, Lawless, and This is Not My Life. Read More »

Life 2.0 is one of the films featured in 'On the Edge' - a new section of programming at this year’s Documentary Edge Festival that includes a selection of daring, provocative and sometimes controversial documentaries that are on the cusp of filmmaking.

The Festival is on in Auckland (February 17– March 6) and Wellington (March 10 – 27). Read More »

Jodie Rimmer grew up in a sporty family whose dinner time conversations were more likely to be about the latest rugby or netball news than the finer aspects of television performance or character arc. Read More »

Film and television writer/director Michael Bennett has been involved with some of New Zealand’s favourite TV dramas, including Street Legal, Mercy Peak and Outrageous Fortune. He has written and directed two acclaimed short films – Cow and Kerosene Creek, and penned the feature film Jubilee.
Read More »

Katie Wolfe made her small screen acting debut fresh from drama school in the early 90s playing Ginni Galloway in Marlin Bay, alongside Andy Anderson, Kevin Smith and Ilona Rodgers. Many acting roles later, Wolfe moved into television and film directing.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Wolfe reveals:

• What it was like acting in Marlin Bay in the 90s Read More »

Rachel Gardner has worked in the media since 1991, and at the forefront of NZ television production for the past decade.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Gardner talks about how she started out in the film and TV industry. Read More »

Actor and writer Tim Balme has played an integral part in the NZ film and television scene for longer than he chooses to remember - and has portrayed good guys, bad guys, the guy next door, dopey guys, clever guys and almost every other guy in between.

Lately, Balme has diversified his portfolio and is currently Head of Development at South Pacific Pictures. Read More »

Some of Antony Starr’s first roles in front of the camera were on Shortland Street, where he played three different characters. But in contrast to playing brothers Van and Jethro West in Outrageous Fortune, these first roles were played one at a time not all at once. In the intervening years, Starr has breathed life into scripts from many of NZ’s most popular film and television productions. Read More »

Though not a household name himself, Tony Williams has directed some of the most iconic TV commercials in New Zealand. These include: The Great Crunchie Train Robbery, Dear John, SPOT and the infamous Bugger commercials. Read More »

Actor Joel Tobeck has played a range of ‘off-centre’ roles from a drug addict to a ‘bastard in a wheelchair’.

He has appeared in many TV shows including Shortland Street, Lawless, Mercy Peak, Hercules, Xena and This is Not My Life. Tobeck’s film credits include Topless Women Talk About Their Lives, Little Fish and Eagle vs Shark. Read More »

Ian Mune is a multi-talented and award-winning veteran of the New Zealand film and TV industry. He has been involved in a huge range of projects as an actor, writer and director. Three of the five films Mune has directed have won awards for New Zealand film of the year. Read More »

Award-winning singer and actor Annie Whittle has tried most things in the entertainment business and has been successful at all of them. Read More »

Jason Stutter – director of Ronald Hugh Morrieson adaptation Predicament – has a talent for going for the jugular, yet doing it in style.

In Stutter’s movies, the camera plunges headfirst into haunted hospitals, dodgy smalltown dealings, and fight scenes with Pacific Island Ninjas whose parents were unexpectedly half-gobbled by fish. Read More »

Producer Grahame McLean was one of the pioneers of the New Zealand feature film industry. In his long career, he was worked in many roles – props manager, assistant director, production manager, line producer, director, scriptwriter and producer. Read More »

Funny man actor Peter Rowley is best known for his appearances in a slew of TV comedy shows including A Week of It, McPhail and Gadsby, The Billy T James Show, the self-titled Pete and Pio, with Pio Terei, and Letter to Blanchy.
Read More »

From appearing alongside Lucy Lawless and baby ‘Stanley’ in the 90s ASB Bank ads, to headlining the hit Aussie drama Packed to the Rafters, actor Erik Thomson has built a solid career and a loyal fan base. Read More »

Actor Roy Billing has become “an overnight sensation in my early 60s” playing ‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole in the hit Australasian TV drama Underbelly.

But before that he had a successful 30 year acting career in both Australia (Rabbit Proof Fence, The Dish and Siam Sunset) and New Zealand (Under the Mountain, Inside Straight, Gliding On and Skin and Bone). Read More »

From reporting to scriptwriting and acting, Keith Aberdein has been a part of some of New Zealand’s biggest television and film moments. His screen career began as a journalist on Town and Around and Compass. Aberdein has scripted major TV shows such as Pukemanu, Section 7, Moynihan, Close to Home, and the colonial epic The Governor. Read More »

George Henare is acting royalty in New Zealand with a huge body of work in theatre, television and movies spanning more than three decades. Read More »

Despite starring in Kiwi classic Goodbye Pork Pie, playing “a good true blue basic Kiwi joker” in new film Home by Christmas, and playing a former All Black, Tony Barry marks a rare Australian entry in the ScreenTalk canon. Read More »

Although New Zealand actor Martin Henderson made his screen debut more than two decades ago, new film Home by Christmas marks his first movie shot on Kiwi soil.

Directed by Gaylene Preston and based on the wartime experiences of her parents, Home by Christmas sees Henderson playing a young soldier who leaves his wife behind to serve overseas.
Read More »

Danielle Cormack began acting on stage, but in her mid-teens won a coveted role in the popular 80s soap Gloss. Growing up on screen led her to a one-year stint on Shortland Street, playing sweet and innocent nurse Alison Rayner. Read More »

Actor, acting teacher, and artist Grant Tilly has played cow cockies, assassins, missionaries, and German villains in funny hats. And that’s not even counting his long-running stage career, which has included a run of classic Kiwi plays, one of which became acclaimed movie Middle Age Spread. Read More »

The star of TV One’s The Investigator, Bryan Bruce has made programmes on everything from Kiwi humour to mass murderers.

In this ScreenTalk interview, the director, writer and presenter talks about: Read More »

In this ScreenTalk video interview actress Geraldine Brophy talks about the connections people make with a character and how it can manifest in extraordinary ways.

“You have to be really responsible with that, as an actress. That’s a precious thing. An audience, and their belief in you, is something that you must honour.” Read More »

Cinematographer Warrick ‘Waka’ Attewell is something of a legend in the Kiwi film industry.

From the landmark 70s TV series Tangata Whenua he has gone on to climb mountains with Sir Ed, shoot commercials, shorts and features and direct the Ian Mune doco In the Shadow of King Lear. Read More »

In this ScreenTalk interview Craig Parker talks about his acting career and his latest work, including the soon to be released TV series Spartacus. Read More »

When not riding the motorcycles he loves, Craig Hall performs in a wide variety of theatrical, film and TV roles.

Watch the NZ On Screen video interview. Read More »

Lisa Chappell began her screen career playing spoilt rich kid Chelsea Redfern in the 80s glamour soap Gloss.  In 2009 Chappell returned to NZ television playing gun-toting villain Sophie in the TV2 drama The Cult.
Read More »

The Cult star Sara Wiseman first got the acting bug while volunteering on the set of Peter Jackson’s feature film Heavenly Creatures. She began her career as a stuntwoman alongside Zoe Bell, but gained her first big acting break in the drama series Street Legal. Her best known role is Dr Nicky Sommerville on Mercy Peak.
Read More »

Hori Ahipene is well known for playing both male and female characters in TV comedies and dramas - including Outrageous Fortune.

Watch the video interview with Ahipene.
Read More »

Ilona Rodgers has starred in a huge array of theatre, film and TV roles in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.

Probably best known for playing Maxine Redfern in Gloss, some of Rodgers’ other screen credits include The Billy T James Show, Marlin Bay and the film Utu. Read More »

Director Gaylene Preston has been stretching NZ film in new directions since her early short films and her first feature, the genre and gender-bending Mr Wrong (1985).

Long devoted to 'communicating local stories to local audiences', Preston features in Deborah Shepard’s newly-released book Her Life’s Work: Conversations with Five New Zealand Women. Read More »

Taika Waititi (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui) discovered drama at secondary school. Having previously had aspirations for careers in deep sea diving, painting and hospitality, the lure of the entertainment industry lead him towards acting and a high school drama teacher - who he admits “changed my life”.

In this ScreenTalk interview he talks about his journey through film and TV since then. Read More »

John Leigh is a familiar face on the NZ stage and screen and has performed dozens of gritty character roles.

In this ScreenTalk interview he talks about his early beginnings in the Wellington theatre scene, his first major TV role as core cast member Lionel Skeggins on Shortland Street, and the thrill of playing Sparky on Outrageous Fortune. Read More »

“I like the idea that he can just go at any minute.”

Tom Scott made his name for his portraits - both written and drawn - of politics and politicians, and for getting thrown out of the occasional press conference by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon. Scott has also had a diverse career in the screen industry.
Read More »

Miranda Harcourt got her screen break playing the bitchy Gemma on iconic 80s soap Gloss. Since then the versatile Harcourt has hardly taken a break - directing, teaching, plus acting in prisons, tele-movie Clare, and feature film For Good, among many other titles.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Miranda Harcourt talks about: Read More »

Scriptwriter, playwright and columnist James Griffin has been writing for most of his life. Since becoming a scriptwriter in the 1980s Griffin has written many of New Zealand’s most well known and best loved TV shows, including Outrageous Fortune. In this ScreenTalk interview, James Griffin gets serious about Kiwi comedy. Read More »

Grip Annie Frear trained in television production at the ABC in Australia, and then returned to New Zealand and forged a distinguished film career working on such titles as E Tipu E Rea, Desperate Remedies, The Piano, Hinekaro Goes on a Picnic and Blows up Another Obelisk, and Peach. Read More »

Vanessa Alexander wrote stage plays before turning her hand to writing, directing and producing for film and television.  She is best known for her feature film Magik and Rose, for producing innovative children’s drama series Being Eve, and as a director on popular westie TV show Outrageous Fortune. Read More »

Jennifer Ward-Lealand talks to NZ On Screen about her wide experience in theatre (including with innovative eighties theatre company, Theatre Corporate), comedy (with Harry Sinclair and Don McGlashan in The Front Lawn and in Aussie sketch comedy series Full Frontal), to feature films including Leon Narbey’s The Footstep Man and Larry Parr’s Fracture. Read More »

Courtesy of NZ On Screen

Producer Pat Cox instigated Kiwiana classic Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tale and has produced some of New Zealand’s most iconic commercials including the long-running Speights 'onya mate', Mainland Cheese 'these things take time' and the 100% Pure NZ tourism campaigns. Read More »

Courtesy of NZ On Screen

Director Tony Hiles talks about more than 30 years of film-making, from making television and documenting local history and artists, to his involvement in feature films. Read More »

Courtesy of NZ On Screen Read More »

Second-Hand Wedding - interview