News of New Zealanders via Global Media

JLo Shares Moment She First Spotted Parris Goebel

JLo Shares Moment She First Spotted Parris Goebel

In anticipation of the release of her ninth studio album, Jennifer Lopez recently spoke to the NZ Herald’s Jenni Mortimer, with the singer sharing the moment she first spotted the New Zealand choreographer Parris…

Auckland Home Has Rooms with All the Views

Auckland Home Has Rooms with All the Views

“The design of this newly listed home in Auckland will make your head spin – literally,” Abby Montanez writes for luxury lifestyle magazine, Robb Report. “Dubbed The Lighthouse, the three-bedroom spread positioned along…

Who’s Behind TikTok Megastar Paloma Diamond?

Who’s Behind TikTok Megastar Paloma Diamond?

Julian Sewell, the creative genius responsible for the internet’s favourite imaginary actress spends his days teaching in South Auckland, Sam Brooks writes for The Spinoff. “I can’t fix this! That’s what I’m talking about! You…

Punk Goes Down Under in Comedy Head South

Punk Goes Down Under in Comedy Head South

Punk arrives in New Zealand, a little bit late, in Head South, the new dramedy from New Zealand director Jonathan Ogilvie (Lone Wolf, The Tender Hook) which opened this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam…

Why New Zealand Novelists are Making Waves

Why New Zealand Novelists are Making Waves

When author Emily Perkins decided her next novel would be set in the New Zealand capital, her editors in the UK were pleased. The 53-year-old says this specific detail “seemed to spark interest rather…

NYC-Based Designer Jenny Jiang on What Matters

NYC-Based Designer Jenny Jiang on What Matters

Jenny Jiang is a New Zealand-born CGI designer and motion artist based in New York. Her artwork involves crafting visual worlds that explores aspects of surrealism, joy and storytelling in the form of beautiful…

Thomasin McKenzie Speaks About Eileen Role

Thomasin McKenzie Speaks About Eileen Role

William Oldroyd’s psychological thriller Eileen, based on the 2015 novel by Ottessa Moshfegh, is a challenging movie. But that’s exactly what drew in Thomasin McKenzie and  Anne Hathaway. McKenzie, who plays a withdrawn young…

How Xena Became Sundance’s Hottest Director

How Xena Became Sundance’s Hottest Director

The former Warrior Princess, New Zealander Lucy Lawless, tells Daily Beast’s Obsessed about her unlikely journey to directing the documentary Never Look Away, about fellow New Zealander, intrepid war correspondent, Margaret Moth. Moth spent years…

Anton Thomas Illustrates World Without Borders

Anton Thomas Illustrates World Without Borders

In July 2020, his universe shrunk to a two-bedroom apartment by a rattling train line, New Zealander Anton Thomas pulled out an H pencil and opened a portal to the world, Natasha Frost writes…

Cinematographer Dave Garbett wins Emmy

Cinematographer Dave Garbett wins Emmy

The second annual Children’s and Family Emmys took place in Los Angeles recently, and while Disney+ and Netflix tied with nine wins each, there was one New Zealander who stood out, the NZ Herald…

AGT Act Tape Face Talks About His Inspiration

AGT Act Tape Face Talks About His Inspiration

When mime Tape Face made his first appearance on America’s Got Talent in 2016, judge Simon Cowell called him “clever”, Mel B labelled him “genius” and Howie Mandel called him “brilliant” and predicted that…

Inside Story of Entire Studios’ Celeb-Fuelled Rise

Inside Story of Entire Studios’ Celeb-Fuelled Rise

After forging a relationship last year, the LA-based brand Entire Studios and London-based retailer Selfridges take things to the next level via an exclusive collection and an in-store pop-up. Esquire UK meets one of…

Birnam Wood Gets the Paperback Makeover

Birnam Wood Gets the Paperback Makeover

New Zealand-born author Eleanor Catton’s bestseller Birnam Wood is one of “eight intriguing” paperbacks included in a New York Times piece about book design – “the paperback edition is the second chance, an opportunity…

Baritone Phillip Rhodes Debuts at Opera Australia

Baritone Phillip Rhodes Debuts at Opera Australia

New Zealander Phillip Rhodes (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Kahungunu) “proved to be a safe hand” in his debut role as Giorgio Germont for Opera Australia in Verdi classic, La Traviata. “Listening to his sonorous baritone deployed…

Looking Back at the Lord of the Rings Effect

Looking Back at the Lord of the Rings Effect

“ absolutely put us on the map,” says Jasmine Millet, head of creative industries at Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and an advocate for the region’s filmmaking industry. “People started…

Unveiling a Breathtaking Whangārei Green Roof

Unveiling a Breathtaking Whangārei Green Roof

“During the World Green Infrastructure Congress 2023 in Berlin, we were awarded the Built Environment Green Roof Award for the Hundertwasser Art Centre and Wairau Māori Art Gallery,” University of Auckland Associate Director of…

Thomasin McKenzie Gets the Accent Right in Eileen

Thomasin McKenzie Gets the Accent Right in Eileen

Thomasin McKenzie takes it as a compliment when people don’t know she’s from New Zealand. The 23-year-old actor – who broke through with 2019’s Jojo Rabbit and 2021’s Last Night in Soho – regularly…

Photographer Hōne Naera-Scott on a Journey

Photographer Hōne Naera-Scott on a Journey

Dwelling in foreign territory is something fashion photographer Hōne Naera-Scott is used to, Ticia Almazan writes in a story for Vogue Philippines. “Up until my early 20s, I was always just trying to be…

Chill Out with Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins

Chill Out with Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins

Taika Waititi has always seen cinema as something optimistic. Growing up in a poor area of New Zealand, where he was born to an Ashkenazi mother and Māori father, movie theatres offered the future…

Birnam Wood Makes NY Times 2023 Best of List

Birnam Wood Makes NY Times 2023 Best of List

“Each year, we pore over thousands of new books, seeking out the best novels, memoirs, biographies, poetry collections, stories and more. Here are the standouts, selected by the staff of The New York Times…

Author Anna Smaill Looks in the Mirror

Author Anna Smaill Looks in the Mirror

Featuring in The Guardian’s regular column, ‘A Moment That Changed Me’, is New Zealand author Anna Smaill, 44, who describes how she fell in love with clothes. “When I was growing up in Auckland in…

Art Gave Brent Harris a Way Back from Pain

Art Gave Brent Harris a Way Back from Pain

In New Zealand-born Brent Harris’s surreal painting I Weep My Mother’s Breasts (1996) two identical young men shed pendulous tears that end in nipples. Magic realism comes to mind: a Diego Rivera painting or…

LOTR Chainmail Production a Two-Year Odyssey

LOTR Chainmail Production a Two-Year Odyssey

“There’s a lot of chainmail in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” Men’s Journal journalist Griff Griffin writes. “Think of the hundreds of soldiers who wear it into battle, from Orcs…

Luminary Award Bestowed Upon Jane Campion

Luminary Award Bestowed Upon Jane Campion

New Zealander Jane Campion has been honoured with Next Generation Indie Film’s 2023 Luminary Award. The director accepted the award at the third annual gala, which took place at the end of October in…

Mysterious Ways Set for N American Release

Mysterious Ways Set for N American Release

Specialty distributor Ariztical Entertainment has acquired the North American rights to New Zealand-set wholesome gay love story Mysterious Ways,  with a multi-platform digital release in 2024, Patrick Frater reports for Variety. Written and directed by…

Acquire’s Zane Furtado Makes Under-40 List

Acquire’s Zane Furtado Makes Under-40 List

New Zealander Zane Furtado, general manager of technology and innovation at Acquire, has been named in Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 40 Under 40 2023 list. Furtado, who is also co-owner of the independent trading desk focused on…

New Zealand Ideal Setting for Mystery

New Zealand Ideal Setting for Mystery

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh, 46, makes the case for New Zealand’s place atop the world of mystery and thrillers, in a story published by CrimeReads. “Several years ago, I was sitting in…

Kaylee Bell Wins Country Music Award in Nashville

Kaylee Bell Wins Country Music Award in Nashville

Waimate musician Kaylee Bell, has become the first New Zealander since Keith Urban to win at America’s prestigious CMA Awards, 1 News reports. Her song Keith – a tribute to Whangārei-born Urban – is a global…

Tenth DJ Champ Title for Kalib Strickland

Tenth DJ Champ Title for Kalib Strickland

New Zealand DJ Kalib Strickland, 19, who goes by the name DJ K-Swizz, is on a massive high after winning his tenth world DJ championship title, going back-to-back at the Olympics of DJing, the…

New Yorker Editors Rate Catherine Chidgey’s Pet

New Yorker Editors Rate Catherine Chidgey’s Pet

New Yorker editors and critics choose their “most captivating, notable, brilliant, surprising, absorbing, weird, thought-provoking, and talked-about reads” every Wednesday and on a recent week noticed New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey’s latest fiction, Pet. This…

Setting the Scene in Our Flag Means Death

Setting the Scene in Our Flag Means Death

After starting the season with its lovable cast split in two, Our Flag Means Death concluded its second season with the entire crew of the Revenge sailing off together into the literal sunset –…

Beatles Fan Peter Jackson Directs Music Video

Beatles Fan Peter Jackson Directs Music Video

Following his acclaimed documentary Get Back, New Zealand director Peter Jackson is continuing his relationship with the Beatles by directing his first ever music video for the band’s final song, Now and Then, Guardian…

Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan Not Slowing Down

Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan Not Slowing Down

Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race, is a citizen of the world. This New Zealander may call California home at the moment. His stack of passports and ability to land shows that take…

LA-Based Artist Emma McIntyre Paints Magic

LA-Based Artist Emma McIntyre Paints Magic

“With vivid hues and dynamic mark-making, conjures up pieces that might change before our very eyes,” Berlin-based writer Olivia Parkes reports for the Art Basel website. “ paintings are full…

M3GAN’s Universal Dance Thrills at Halloween

M3GAN’s Universal Dance Thrills at Halloween

Universal and Blumhouse’s M3GAN, directed by New Zealander Gerard Johnstone, quickly became a cult classic as the killer AI doll twirled and kicked her way into our hearts after the film’s run earlier this…

Producer 33 Below Shares New Club Cut

Producer 33 Below Shares New Club Cut

New Zealand-born producer Jack Laven, aka 33 Below, has shared his new single, “Hold Tight”, a hypnotising dancefloor number that’s likely to stay with you for some time, according to James Keith writing for…

Ron Te Kawa Embroiders and Connects

Ron Te Kawa Embroiders and Connects

Textile artist and former fashion designer Maungarongo Te Kawa (known to many as Ron) interprets his name as ‘one who brings peace and tranquillity to the land’. Te Kawa’s chosen artform is the quilt,…

Artist Angela Tiatia Keeps ACMI Visitors Guessing

Artist Angela Tiatia Keeps ACMI Visitors Guessing

The opening sequence of New Zealand-born artist Angela Tiatia’s The Dark Current, a 17-minute digital video now screening at the ACMI in Melbourne, is as mesmerising as it is suspenseful, Lenny Ann Low writes…

Georgia Nott Reborn as Georgia Gets By

Georgia Nott Reborn as Georgia Gets By

With four studio albums under their belt, the Nelson brother-sister act BROODS remains a beacon not just of radiant sound, but of soul-stirring emotion – and with the release of Georgia Nott’s first solo…

Six Katherine Mansfield Stories You Need to Read

Six Katherine Mansfield Stories You Need to Read

“The only contemporary writer Virginia Woolf admitted to being jealous of,” New Zealand-born Katherine Mansfield “is one of the greatest short story writers of all time,” Catherine Dent writes for Canada-based humanities-focused site, The…

Sam Hamilton Exhibits at Portland’s Converge 45

Sam Hamilton Exhibits at Portland’s Converge 45

“The strongest curatorial statement of Converge 45 is at Oregon Contemporary, where a five-channel video by Portland-based, Aotearoa New Zealand-born Sam Hamilton (Sam Tam Ham) rejects the hegemonic world order in favour…

Rose Matafeo’s Romcom Even Better than Ever

Rose Matafeo’s Romcom Even Better than Ever

“ is no longer a will-they-won’t-they series. Instead, it focuses on the joys of friendship – and becomes more enjoyable, relatable and far more moving,” Rachel Aroesti writes in a…

Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne’s Star on the Rise

Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne’s Star on the Rise

It’s been 10 years since her debut as Kahu in Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople at age 13, and Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne’s career continues to soar, Eda Tang writes for Stuff. Named a “Rising…

Brag’s Poppy Reid Wins at B&T Media Awards

Brag’s Poppy Reid Wins at B&T Media Awards

New Zealand-born Sydney-based Poppy Reid, editor-in-chief of Australia’s biggest youth publisher The Brag Media, is among the big winners at the B&T Women In Media Awards 2023, taking out the champion of change category,…

Conductor Gemma New Makes Proms Debut

Conductor Gemma New Makes Proms Debut

“Every musical era has its characteristic audience faux pas. Once upon a time it was failing to remove extravagant headwear, which obscured the view of those sitting behind. These days – and despite rules,…

New York Times Recommends Catherine Chidgey’s Pet

New York Times Recommends Catherine Chidgey’s Pet

Auckland-born writer Catherine Chidgey’s latest novel Pet has been included in The New York Times’ regular column, ‘Nine New Books We Recommend This Week’. “In this twisted psychological thriller, a motherless 12-year-old Catholic school student…

How George Nelson Fell in Love with Haiku

How George Nelson Fell in Love with Haiku

It was Haiku Day on 19 August in Japan, and just like many of Japan’s kinenbi or “faux holidays”, the designation stems entirely from wordplay. Haiku Day (haiku no hi) is on 19 August…

Bumpa Love a Voice for Melbourne Drag Queens

Bumpa Love a Voice for Melbourne Drag Queens

Bumpa Love wears many hats – the New Zealander is a trailblazer in Melbourne’s drag scene, an activist queen, a “businesswomen queen”, and now a contestant on Season 3 of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down…

Game Developer Pippin Barr on Playful Creations

Game Developer Pippin Barr on Playful Creations

New Zealand-born Pippin Barr might just be the most prolific solo game developer in the world. Since 2011 he has released a baffling 81 of them – and while many are just snapshots or…

Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck Back for Third Run

Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck Back for Third Run

With her smash hit Starstruck exploring fairytale romance and what happens next, New Zealander Rose Matafeo breathed new life into the sitcom. But, as the series returns for a third run, she’s now wondering…

Barack Obama Has New Zealand Favourites

Barack Obama Has New Zealand Favourites

Among former president Barack Obama’s recommended summer reads for beach, porch or sun lounger is New Zealand author Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood, Martin Pengelly reports for The Guardian. “Here’s some books that I’m reading this summer,”…

Parris Goebel Knows Femininity Is Strength

Parris Goebel Knows Femininity Is Strength

This year, New Zealander Parris Goebel choreographed Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show – and she says she’s only getting started, Alison Cohn reports for Harper’s Bazaar. Goebel, 31, first got to have a hand in…

Milky Day Draws on Struggles to Create New EP

Milky Day Draws on Struggles to Create New EP

Korean New Zealander Milky Day tells digital music site Atwood Magazine about changing his life path to music, wanting to be genre-fluid, and how he turned his personal struggles into his upcoming EP. Milky Day…

Marya Martin Talks 40th Summer Festival

Marya Martin Talks 40th Summer Festival

New Zealand-born flautist Marya Martin is celebrating the 40th summer season of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Long Island’s longest-running classical music festival. celebrates its 40th summer season. With 11 concerts across July and August,…

Benee Sets Her Sights on Global Domination

Benee Sets Her Sights on Global Domination

Moving to Los Angeles has allowed New Zealand singer-songwriter Benee to tap into the city’s extensive repertoire of producers and mixers for new ventures, including her latest single Green Honda. “I made Green Honda with…

Art Lover Sigrid Kirk on Her Personal Collection

Art Lover Sigrid Kirk on Her Personal Collection

New Zealand-born, London-based collector Sigrid Kirk wears many hats: art advisor, cultural strategist, independent curator, patron and co-founder of the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA). Art market website ArtNet speaks with Kirk…