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Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather, Stanley Wemyss, was a cinematographer. Crowe's recent ancestry includes Welsh (where his paternal grandfather was born, in Wrexham), English, Irish, Scottish, Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, and Maori (one of Crowe's maternal great-grandmothers, Erana Putiputi Hayes Heihi, was Maori).

Crowe's family moved to Australia when he was a small child, settling in Sydney, and Russell got the acting bug early in life. Beginning as a child star on a local Australian TV show, Russell's first big break came with two films ... the first, Romper Stomper (1992), gained him a name throughout the film community in Australia and the neighboring countries. The second, The Sum of Us (1994), helped put him on the American map, so to speak. Sharon Stone heard of him from Romper Stomper (1992) and wanted him for her film, The Quick and the Dead (1995). But filming on The Sum of Us (1994) had already begun. Sharon is reported to have held up shooting until she had her gunslinger-Crowe, for her film. With The Quick and the Dead (1995) under his belt as his first American film, the second was offered to him soon after. Virtuosity (1995), starring Denzel Washington, put Russell in the body of a Virtual Serial Killer, Sid6.7 ... a role unlike any he had played so far. Virtuosity (1995), a Sci-Fi extravaganza, was a fun film and, again, opened the door to even more American offers. L.A. Confidential (1997), Russell's third American film, brought him the US fame and attention that his fans have felt he deserved all along. Missing the Oscar nod this time around, he didn't seem deterred and signed to do his first film with The Walt Disney Company, Mystery, Alaska (1999). He achieved even more success and awards for his performances in Gladiator (2000), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Antony Starr is a New Zealand actor best known for his starring role as Homelander in Amazon Prime Video's original series The Boys, which is based on the comic book series of the same name. In New Zealand, he is best known for his dual role as twins Jethro and Van West in Outrageous Fortune and Billy Newwood in Without a Paddle. He was the lead character, Lucas Hood, in the four-season run of Banshee.

Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Karl Urban now lives in Auckland. Born on June 7, 1972, he is the son of a leather-goods manufacturer (who had hoped that Karl would follow in his footsteps). His first acting role was when he was 8 -- he had a line on a television series. However, he did not act again until after high school. He was offered a role in the NZ soap opera Shortland Street (1992) as he was preparing to attend Victoria University. After appearing on the series for the 1993-1994 season, he attended the university for one year, then left to pursue his acting career. Over the next few years, he landed several theater roles in the Wellington area. Eventually, he moved to Auckland, where a number of guest roles in NZ television followed. One of his first roles was that of a heroin addict in the drama series Shark in the Park (1989). He was in a movie as well, entitled Once in Chunuck Bay (aka Chunuk Bair (1992)). Other television roles followed, including a guest-starring role in the series White Fang (1993). Karl's biggest roles include Éomer in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek (2009), William Cooper in RED (2010) and Judge Dredd in Dredd (2012).

Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Taika has been involved in the film industry for several years, initially as an actor, and now focusing on writing and directing.

Two Cars, One Night is Taika's first professional film-making effort and since its completion in 2003 he has finished another short "Tama Tu" about a group of Maori Soldiers in Italy during World War 2. As a performer and comedian, Taika has been involved in some of the most innovative and successful original productions seen in New Zealand. He regularly does stand-up gigs in and around the country and in 2004 launched his solo production, "Taika's Incredible Show". In 2005 he staged the sequel, "Taika's Incrediblerer Show". As an actor, Taika has been critically acclaimed for both his Comedic and Dramatic abilities. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Actor at the Nokia Film Awards for his role in the Sarkies Brother's film "Scarfies".

Taika is also an experienced painter and photographer, having exhibited both mediums in Wellington and Berlin, and a fashion designer. He attended the Sundance Writers Lab with "Choice", a feature loosely based on "Two Cars, One Night".

Taika became a blockbuster director with his film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and received critical acclaim, and a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, for his film Jojo Rabbit (2019).

Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to actress Miranda Harcourt and director Stuart McKenzie. She is the granddaughter of actress Dame Kate Harcourt and Peter Harcourt. Peter's family founded the real estate company Harcourts International in Wellington. She has an elder brother and a younger sister, actress Davida McKenzie. She completed her secondary education at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in 2018. After a good role in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, she rose to critical prominence with the lead role in Debra Granik's 2018 drama film Leave No Trace. After supporting roles in the 2019 films The King, Jojo Rabbit, and True History of the Kelly Gang, as well as the 2021 thriller Old, she played the lead role as Eloise, a wide-eyed woman from Cornwall in Edgar Wright's psychological horror film Last Night in Soho.

Kerry Fox was born on 30 July 1966 in Wellington, New Zealand. She is an actress and writer, known for Shallow Grave (1994), Bright Star (2009) and Mayhem (2017). She has been married to Alexander Linklater since 2004. They have two children. She was previously married to Jaime Robertson.

Julian Dennison was born on 16 October 2002 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is an actor, known for Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).

Richard Curtis was born on 8 November 1956 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is a writer and producer, known for Love Actually (2003), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and About Time (2013).

Blackthorne's first film role was as Captain Andrew Russell in the Oscar-nominated Bollywood film Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001). He spent six months learning Hindi for the role. He also starred in Mindcrime (2003) and the festival-winning indie feature length film Four Corners of Suburbia (2005), winner of both the Crossroads Film Festival in Best Narrative Feature (2006) and in the category of Best Composer at the Avignon Film Festival, Avignon, France (2006). Additional indie film credits include This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis (1999), and a starring role in the British film The Truth Game (2001). Blackthorne appeared as Jonas Exiler in Special (2006), with Michael Rapaport. Blackthorne's directorial debut This American Journey (2013) was released in 2013. The road trip documentary film follows Blackthorne and Australian photographer Mister Basquali as they travel across America interviewing everyday Americans about how they feel about their country and their hopes for its future. The film was featured at the Hollywood, Carmel, Ojai and Big Bear Film Festivals. It was released through Cinema Libre Studios.

Sala Baker was born on 22 September 1976 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is an actor and producer, known for The Killer (2023), Dangerous Waters (2023) and Shadow Force.

Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early 1980s, attending the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Her first short film, Peel (1982) won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986. Her other short films include A Girl's Own Story (1984), Passionless Moments (1983), After Hours (1985) and the tele-feature 2 Friends (1986), all of which won Australian and international awards. She co-wrote and directed her first feature film, Sweetie (1989), which won the Georges Sadoul prize in 1989 for Best Foreign Film, as well as the LA Film Critics' New Generation Award in 1990, the American Independant Spirit Award for Best Foreign Feature, and the Australian Critics' Award for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress. She followed this with An Angel at My Table (1990), a dramatization based on the autobiographies of Janet Frame which won some seven prizes, including the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1990. It was also awarded prizes at the Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals, again winning the American Independent Spirit Award, and was voted the most popular film at the 1990 Sydney Film Festival. The Piano (1993) won the Palme D'Or at Cannes, making her the first woman ever to win the prestigious award. She also captured an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 1993 Oscars, while also being nominated for Best Director.

Andrew Dominik was born on 7 October 1967 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is a director and writer, known for Chopper (2000), Blonde (2022) and Killing Them Softly (2012).

A grand, well-respected character lead and support of stage, film and television, most people mistakenly think New Zealander Clive Revill is British. A delightfully comic eccentric praised for his sterling work on the musical stage, the blue-eyed, curly, red-haired gent is also highly regarded for his formidable dramatic work in Shakespearean roles.

Clive Selsby Revill was born on April 18, 1930, in Wellington, New Zealand, and educated at Rongotai College and Victoria University (Wellington). Once trained for a career as an accountant, he abruptly switched gears and made his stage debut in Auckland, New Zealand playing Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" in 1950. He then moved to England to study with the Old Vic School in London. While there he appeared at Stratford-on-Avon in mid-1950s presentations of "Hamlet", "Love's Labour's Lost", "The Merchant of Venice", "Julius Caesar" and "The Tempest", among others.

Having made his Broadway debut back in 1952 with "Mr. Pickwick", the man of many skills took a juicy chunk out of the Big Apple upon returning to New York in the 1960s with his critically lauded, Tony Award-nominated work in "Irma La Douce" and as "Fagin" in "Oliver!" He has amused audiences for years with his larger-than-life musical roles, particularly in such Gilbert and Sullivan operettas as "The Mikado" and "The Pirates of Penzance". Others have included "Sherry", "Lolita" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" -- replacing the late George Rose in the last mentioned after that actor's untimely death in 1988.

Making an inauspicious debut in an unbilled role in 1956, his more pronounced movie work includes Kaleidoscope (1966), The Assassination Bureau (1969), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), Avanti! (1972), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, The Legend of Hell House (1973) (a rare lead), Mack the Knife (1989), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995). Quite proficient at ethnic roles (playing everything from Chinese to Russian), Clive's acute sense of comic timing and uncanny use of body language is parallel to none, often engaging audiences as delightfully pompous, even "hissable" gents.

From the 1990s into the millennium, Clive has pretty much settled in the States. His distinctive voice has been greatly utilized in animated features and video games (Dr. Doom, Darth Gravus, Jetfire), plus a few films including Intrepid (2000), Crime and Punishment (2002), Gentlemen Broncos (2009) and The Queen of Spain (2016). Twice divorced, Revill has one daughter, Kate Selsby (aka Kate Selsby Revill), by his second marriage to Suzi Schor-Revill. He makes his home in Los Angeles.

In her 30 years as an actor, Chelsie Preston Crayford has appeared in many productions and won numerous awards, including a Logie for her portrayal of Tilly Devine in UNDERBELLY: RAZOR, and an AACTA for The Code. Most recently she has appeared in THE LUMINARIES, SAVAGE, BABY DONE, PANTHERS, Netflix's global hit THE ROYAL TREATMENT and NUDE TUESDAY.

As a filmmaker, her first short HERE NOW debuted in competition at the 2013 NZIFF, and her second short FALLING UP won Best NZ Short at NZIFF in 2018 and went to film festivals all over the world. Chelsie was a 2018 participant in Script-to-Screen's FilmUp programme under the mentorship of filmmaker So Yong Kim, and attended MIFF Accelerator where Falling Up screened in competition. Her third short IMPOSTER premiered at SF Shorts where she won the Emerging Director Award.

Fran Walsh is a New Zealand writer and wife of New Zealand film director Peter Jackson. She co-wrote The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which is seen by many as Jackson's magnum opus and one of the most significant film series ever made. She also wrote The Hobbit trilogy, a prequel to Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, Mortal Engines, The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures, The Lovely Bones and Meet the Feebles.

Michala Banas is a multi award winning film, television and theatre actor. Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Michala splits her time working between Melbourne and Los Angeles. Michala's career began very early with her first film credit at the age of 5. Since then, she has forged a remarkable career, starring in over 40 film, television and theatre productions. She quickly became the go-to girl for drama in Australia and more recently has been in high demand for comedy after the huge international success of Upper Middle Bogan (Bess of Both Worlds), in which she played the much loved and feisty Amber Wheeler. Michala is also a writer, a founding member and co-artistic director of Green room nominated theatre company, The KIN Collective, and is also story producer on the ground breaking documentary, The Show Must Go On.

Beginning as a commercial artist and photographer, he joined the New Zealand film industry in the late 1970s as a boom operator. He became an assistant director a decade later. Making international award-winning commercials for 10 years, he has also directed several TV series. His first feature film, Once Were Warriors (1994), won the PEN First Book Award.

Antonia has been acting professionally since she was 12. Her debut role was in 1997 playing Mandy McFarlane, one of the leads in the television series, Mirror Mirror - Series 2. This was followed by the role of Jem in William Shatner's A Twist in the Tale. Antonia's next project was the immensely popular series The Tribe in which she played one of the leading roles, Trudy, from 1998 until 2003.

As a young adult, Antonia worked on three separate seasons of Power Rangers and then, in 2005, Antonia began her six season stint playing Loretta West in the award winning series Outrageous Fortune. After filming completed on Outrageous, Antonia went on to have roles in the tele-movies Spies and Lies and The Women's Vote.

In the last few years, she played leading roles in four feature films: Timeslow, The Cure, White Lies - which was selected by New Zealand as its entrant into the 2014 Academy Awards - and Pork Pie in 2016. She also took on two presenting roles, first for the travel show My Kinda Place and next for the tv series that follows the journey of the contestants in the Smokefree Rockquest.

Television-wise, Antonia played leading roles in both The Blue Rose (2012) and in the World War One drama Anzac Girls (2013). She featured as a guest lead on the WGN flagship show, Salem (2014) and in 2016 she joined Rebecca Gibney in the Australian series Winter, playing Detective Alesia. Antonia then returned home to star in the Outrageous Fortune prequel, Westside. In 2017, she filmed the Netflix Original series Sisters, and in 2019 completed filming on Westside, season 6.

Antonia loves to perform in the theatre. Her notable roles include Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer (2009), numerous characters in The Vagina Monologues (2010), Sally Bowles in Cabaret (2010-2011) and Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie (2013).

Antonia has received a number of accolades for her work. In 2018 she was awarded "Best Actress" for her portrayal of Rita West in Westside at the New Zealand TV Awards. She was nominated for the same award in 2017. In 2014, alongside the rest of the cast of Anzac Girls, she won "Best Ensemble" at the Equity Awards in Australia. In 2013, Antonia was awarded the "Best Actress" award at the Women's Institute of Film and Television Showcase in America for her work in White Lies, and received a nomination for the same award at the New Zealand Film Awards that same year. Also that year, Antonia was nominated for "Best Actress" in the Seoul International Drama Awards for The Blue Rose. In 2012, Antonia received a "Best Actress" nomination for her work in The Cure at the NZ Film Awards and Antonia's portrayal of Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was judged the "Best Theatrical Performance of 2013" in Auckland's Best Of Awards. In 2008 she was awarded "Best Supporting Actress" at the NZ Film and Television Awards for Outrageous Fortune, and prior to this win she had received nominations in the same category in 2006 and 2007. She was also nominated for "Best Actress" in the TV Guide Peoples Choice Awards in 2015 for her work on Anzac Girls, in 2014 for her work on The Blue Rose, and in 2005 and 2011 for her work on Outrageous Fortune.

Antonia has completed a two-year acting course studying the Stanford Meisner technique in New Zealand (2005-2007) and has also studied acting with Philippe Gaulier at his school in Paris (2007), and with Ivana Chubbuck at her studio in Los Angeles in 2014-15. She has also completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in English Literature.

Anouska Hempel was born on 13 December 1941 in Wellington, New Zealand. She is an actress, known for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Black Snake (1973) and Space: 1999 (1975). She has been married to Mark Aubrey Weinberg since 24 March 1980. They have one child. She was previously married to Bill Kenwright and Constantin Johannes Hempel.

Leon Wadham was born in 1989 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is an actor and writer, known for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022), Go Girls (2009) and The Bad Seed (2018).

Zoë Robins was born on 19 February 1993 in Wellington, New Zealand. She is an actress, known for The Wheel of Time (2021) and The Shannara Chronicles (2016).

Camille Keenan was born in Wellington, New Zealand. She is known for Design Story (2022), Sunday (2014) and Satisfaction (2007).

Jessica Napier was born on 4 April 1979 in Wellington, New Zealand. She is an actress, known for McLeod's Daughters (2001), Ghost Rider (2007) and Wildside (1997). She has been married to David Adler since 28 November 2009. They have one child.

Niki Caro is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter, born in 1967. Caro was born in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. She was educated first at the Kadimah College in Auckland, and then the Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland. The School is a private girls' school, and ranks among the top-achieving schools in New Zealand.

In the late 1980s, Caro enrolled in the Elam School of Fine Arts to pursue training as a sculptor. However her interest shifted to film studies. She graduated from Elam in 1988, at the age of 21. For post-graduate studies, Caro enrolled at the Swinburne University of Technology, located at Melbourne, Victoria.

Following the completion of her studies, Caro initially directed television commercials. In 1992, she directed and wrote an episode for the anthology television series "Another Country" (1992). In 1998, Caro directed her first feature film "Memory and Desire". It was an adaptation of a short story by Peter Wells (1950-2019), concerning the depression and apparent suicide of a Japanese married man. The film was critically well-received and won a New Zealand film award.

Caro next directed the feature film "Whale Rider" (2002).. It depicts a young Maori girl, Paikea "Pai" Apirana (played by Keisha Castle-Hughes) , who stands as a candidate for the position of tribal chief. The film earned over 41 million dollars at the worldwide box office, becoming one of New Zealand's most commercially successful films. The film also won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2005, Caro directed her first American film, "North Country". The film was loosely based on the legal case "Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.", a class-action sexual harassment lawsuit concerning the treatment of female miners in a Minnesota-based mine. The film earned about 25 million dollars at the worldwide box office, failing to recover its budget expenses. Two of the films actresses (Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand) were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, but neither of them won.

In 2009, Caro directed the romantic drama "A Heavenly Vintage", an adaptation on the fantasy novel "The Vintner's Luck" (1998) by Elizabeth Knox. The film won three awards at the Sedona Film Festival, but was criticized for toning down the homosexual relationship depicted in the novel.

In 2015, Caro directed the sports drama "McFarland, USA". The film is based on the life of track and field coach James White (1941-), and the first victory of the McFarland High School at a cross-country running championship in 1987. The film won about 46 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the commercially most successful film in Caro's career to that point.

In 2017, Caro directed the World War II-themed war film "The Zookeeper's Wife". The film was based on the lives of a married couple, the zoologist Jan Zabinski (1897-1974) and the children's writer Antonina Erdman ( 1908-1971). During the foreign occupation of Poland in World War II, the Zabinskis used the abandoned buildings of the Warsaw Zoo and their privately-owned villa to shelter hundreds of displaced Jews. They managed to rescue about 300 people. Caro won an award at the Heartland Film Festival for her direction in this film.

In 2017, Caro was hired by the Walt Disney Company to direct a live-action remake of "Mulan" (1998). Caro was reportedly the second female film director entrusted by Disney to direct a big-budget film, following Ava DuVernay (1972-). Caro's remake is scheduled for release in 2020.

Bushy-browed, New Zealand-born actor and writer Jonathan Hardy became most familiar to television audiences as the commanding voice of the Jim Henson Creature Shop muppet, Dominar Rygel XVI, the pint-sized , egocentric ruler-in-exile of a galactic empire, in TV's cult series Farscape (1999). His distinctive diction proved ideally suited to lending both humour and personality to the cantankerous, idiosyncratic 26-inch Hynerian.

Jonathan was educated at St. Patrick's College and Victoria University in Wellington, and trained for acting at the New Zealand Player's Drama School. In later years, he became a force in his country's theatrical scene as artistic director of the Auckland Mercury Theatre, from 1980 to 1985. Prior to that, he had studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a scholarship, and subsequently spent ten years gaining valuable experience on British stages -- with the National Theatre, the Bristol Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon Avon. Back in the antipodes, he was especially acclaimed for his performance as Willy Loman in an Auckland Theatre Company production of "Death of a Salesman". With the same organisation, he had another winning role in "Twelve Angry Men". After moving to Australia in 1972, Jonathan was notably featured in the films The Mango Tree (1977) and Mad Max (1979), and had guest spots on popular television shows like Prisoner (1979) and The Flying Doctors (1986). He also made occasional forays into screenwriting. His first, for the controversial Boer war drama Breaker Morant (1980), won him an Oscar nomination (along with Bruce Beresford and David Stevens), and an Australian Film Institute Award. In the cast of the two-act play "Breaker Morant", debuting at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne (February 1978), he played the key role of Major James Francis Thomas, who defended Morant at the infamous court martial.

Jonathan was known in his profession for his work ethic and boundless energy. In fact, he soldiered on for many years after 1988, despite having undergone the trauma of heart transplant surgery. He also had a reputation for a wonderfully wicked sense of humour ...after all, he once described Rygel's most endearing traits on "Farscape" to be "biting people and farting helium"!