Stuntwoman Vanessa Cater Kicking up an LA Storm
New Zealand-born stuntwoman Vanessa Cater has just finished putting her body on the line in Marvel’s new TV show The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Before that, the action woman has worked in The…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Violinist Benjamin Baker Teams Up on New Album
“In July this year, New Zealand-born violinist Benjamin Baker will be part of the online line-up for the East Neuk Festival,” Ken Walkton writes in a review page for The Scotsman. “Meanwhile, here he…
Advice for Budding Female Comics from Rose Matafeo
New Zealander Rose Matafeo, 29, is a staple on the UK stand-up circuit; you probably know her face from regular appearances on panel shows, or from her critically-acclaimed comedy special Horndog. But now, she’s…
Christchurch Teen Flynn Cranston Flies Up Charts
Fifteen-year-old Flynn Cranston has become the youngest New Zealander to enter the Billboard music charts, after co-writing and co-producing hit single Richer with US rappers Rod Wave and Polo G, David Skipwith reports for…
Talented New Zealanders Make Forbes Under 30 List
New Zealander Stella Bennett, aka Benee, and Joshua Nanani, who goes by the name of Jawsh 685, are among the musical talent in the Entertainment & Sports category of this year’s Forbes 30 Under…
Mansfield and Woolf’s a Transformative Friendship
“Stories of friendships between artists are often told as love stories: the chance meeting, the electric first encounter, the mysterious mutual recognition that would change everything,” Megan O’Grady writes in a feature about creative…
Film Fest Director Marten Rabarts Adapts
Marten Rabarts, the globetrotting New Zealand film executive turned festival director reflects on a year spent grounded, watching whales from his home office and the formative influences of Wendy Palmer and Michael Kuhn, Sandy…
Rhys Darby and Terminix Unite for Campaign
New Zealand actor Rhys Darby joined Adweek for an exclusive interview about his new campaign with American pest control company, Terminix. Darby, 47, is no stranger to humour – or bringing it to the ads…
Peter Jackson to Receive Visual Effects Accolade
New Zealand film director Sir Peter Jackson will receive the Visual Effects Society Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th annual VES Awards, which will be presented during a virtual ceremony on 6 April. “Sir Peter…
Wurld Series’ New Album Thoughtful and Witty
“Wurld Series seem to know how to escape millennial disaffection more than most. The Christchurch band, led by songwriter Luke Towart and producer and drummer Brian Feary, fight the encroaching threat of an optimised,…
Sinead Boucher and Stuff Break up with Social Media
Stuff’s decision to quit Facebook did not come out of the blue. In 2019, after the horrific mass shooting at mosques in Christchurch was livestreamed on Facebook, the company, headed by Sinead Boucher, began…
Kenneth Rea Teacher to Outstanding Actors
The mentor to some of Britain’s top performers believes the best acting comes from a childhood sense of playfulness – and is fraught with danger, David Jays reports for The Guardian. Defining the core…
Artist Euan Macleod Scoops Huge Drawing Prize
Multi award-winning artist Christchurch-born Euan Macleod has won the Australian $30,000 Dobell Drawing Prize with a pastel-on-paper work entitled Borderlands, Nick Galvin reports for The Sydney Morning Herald. Each of the 15 postcard-sized images in…
Blackpink’s Rosé Smashes UK Charts Glass Ceiling
Auckland-born singer Rosé, 24, already a star as a member of one of the biggest girl groups on the planet, has now made history in one of the largest music markets in the world…
Deadpan NZ Comedy Acts Resonate Far and Wide
The peculiar brand of awkward, self-deprecating, deadpan humour Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie and Taika Waititi developed on stage in the late 1990s – let’s call it the Wellington School of comedy – has now…
Creative Facebook Appointment for Nicky Bell
Facebook has appointed New Zealander Nicky Bell – international innovation consultancy R/GA’s former SVP global client partnerships – as its new global VP of Creative Shop. In a statement announcing her Los Angeles-based appointment, Facebook…
Metal Heroes Alien Weaponry on the Up
Alien Weaponry are part way through a tour of their homeland, New Zealand, Eleanor Goodman reports for UK heavy metal magazine, Metal Hammer. The run of dates is called the Level One Tour, named…
Whina an Exacting Assignment for Rena Owen
None of veteran New Zealand actor Rena Owen’s tough previous roles prepared her for the demands – both physical and emotional – of playing Māori matriarch and political activist Whina Cooper, in the new…
Designer Josh Nelson Inspired by People-Watching
Josh Nelson doesn’t own a car. Because of this, he regularly takes public transport around his home of Auckland, watching locals interact on bus and rail, Giacomo Lee writes for a story published online…
Why NZ’s Cheeky New Porn PSA Went Viral
The New Zealand-made Keep It Real Online advertising campaign that reminds parents to speak to their children about the pitfalls of pornography and other internet harms quickly went viral when it was released in late…
Portland-Based Artist Vo Vo’s New Show Ignites
After working four months with a tapestry company to create a textile for an upcoming show, New Zealand-born Portland-based artist Vo Vo ran into a problem: The company refused to print the design, Shannon…
Special Group Delivers for Uber Eats at Super Bowl
In just about every Super Bowl, there are ads – and, by extension, an agency or two – that come out of nowhere and make a splash, Doug Zanger reports for US industry publication,…
War Correspondent Kate Webb Subject in New Book
Vietnam was less quagmire and more a crucible for more than 468 women accredited reporters during a war where lives and deaths could never be measured by lines on a map. Journalist Elizabeth Becker’s…
US Production Company Snaps Up Meg Mason Book
“The production company behind movies such as 12 Years a Slave, Gone Girl and Bohemian Rhapsody has snapped up” the film and TV rights for Foxton-born Christchurch-raised writer Meg Mason’s latest novel – a…
Six60 Play World’s Only Stadium Tour
They’re currently the planet’s biggest touring band, putting on huge shows in their COVID-free homeland, NME reports. In his own words, Six60’s frontman, Matiu Walters, told the magazine how that feels. “When New Zealand went into…
Lucy Blakiston’s Insta Page Hugely Popular
Celebrities like Ariana Grande, Bella Hadid, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon and Chrissy Teigen are just some of the followers of Lucy Blakiston’s Instagram account, Shit you should care about. Morgane Solignac interviews the 23-year-old…
Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan Fronts Tough as Nails
Over the last two decades, Phil Keoghan has mostly led a nomadic life, Praveen Sudevan writes for The Hindu. As the host of The Amazing Race, a reality adventure show with 15 Emmy awards,…
Stunt Royal Zoë Bell Embracing Collaboration
It’s been 20 years since New Zealander Zoë Bell arrived in Los Angeles, where she soon took her stunt double career to another level. The Waiheke Island-native made her name after the iconic stunt collaboration…
LA Gallery Owner Blown Away by Emma McIntyre
Auckland-born artist Emma McIntyre’s first show out of New Zealand, ‘Pour plenty on the worlds’, is now on in Los Angeles at Chris Sharp Gallery, the new establishment’s debut show. Sharp, who co-curated the New…
Singer Sarah Mary Chadwick Says It All on New Album
On the launch of her new album, Me and Ennui Are Friends, Baby, New Zealand-born Melbourne-based singer Sarah Mary Chadwick “interrogates the forensic intimacy and specificity of her songs”. Jenny Valentish interviews Chadwick for…
There’s Extreme Tension Coming Home in the Dark
“The enormity of nature hits you like a freight train in the early scenes of James Ashcroft’s taut and sinewy first feature, Coming Home in the Dark,” David Rooney writes in a…
Sun Journalist Dan Wootton Heads to GB News
Lower Hutt-born Dan Wootton, 37, the Sun journalist who broke the story of “Megxit”, is leaving to present a daily show on GB News and write for Mail Online, Amol Rajan reports in a…
Exeloo Named America’s Best Public Toilet
The West Auckland-designed and manufactured Exeloo unit was named top toilet at the inaugural Best Restroom in America awards, which were held in November, Esther Taunton reports for Stuff. The “touchless” toilet was the subject…
Elizabeth Knox’s The Absolute Book Wry and Precise
New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox’s 2019 novel, The Absolute Book, is reviewed alongside UK-based Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit, by Canadian writer Amal El-Mohtar for The New York Times. “Here are two novels that are, in some ways, opposites:…
Comedian Rose Matafeo’s 2021 is Shaping Up
With an acclaimed romcom, one-off HBO special and a new sitcom out this year, 2021 is looking good for New Zealand-born rising comic, Rose Matafeo, who is based in the UK. NME’s George Fenwick recently…
Popular Film Baby Done Released in UK
With New Zealand-made film Baby Done just released on digital platforms throughout the UK, the BBC’s Emma Jones writes about the film’s star, Rose Matafeo, and how the film explores misgivings about motherhood. Matafeo, 28,…
RuPaul’s Drag Race Heads Down Under
Emmy-winning production company World of Wonder is bringing RuPaul’s drag queen reality series to New Zealand and Australia, and it will be appropriately titled RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, Dino-Ray Ramos reports for Deadline. RuPaul…
Local Creatives On Navigating a Post-Covid World
In a recent online i-D magazine article, young New Zealand creatives – including photographer Apela Bell (pictured), designer Charlotte Jennings, and performers Benee and Teeks – explain to readers “what it looks like on…
Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home
Writing for Atlas Obscura, Ye Charlotte Ming has taken an in-depth look at the ongoing process of repatriation of Maori remains from international museums, quoting poet and musician Hinemoana Baker, researcher Amber Aranui and…
Filmmaker Charlotte Larsen On Her Latest Projects
US-based Charlotte Larsen, 38, is poised to become a household name. The New Zealand native has found success as a producer and actress on popular films like Gloria and Great Expectations. She is currently…
Artist Simon Denny Reflects on Berlin Art Programme
Co-founder of the Berlin Program for Artists (BPA) New Zealand-born Simon Denny, 39, (pictured right) explains why artists are essential to the fabric of Germany’s capital city in an article for UK art magazine, Frieze. “When…
Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?
Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan (pictured right) and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, were seeking a passion project, Calum Marsh writes for The New York Times. Their business, a boutique web…
Graeme James Revives Lost Art of Shipwreck Song
“It’s been a while since” anything like “a gripping seafaring-disaster song” has “come along, but to that list we can now add ‘The Voyage of the James Caird’ by New Zealand singer-songwriter Graeme James,”…
Emerging Actor Nathalie Morris Plays Teen Parent
“Every few years, a tabloid story pops up about a teenager who didn’t know she was pregnant until she started giving birth. We never really hear about what happens next. The new Australian series…
Benee Makes DIY’s Class of 2021
Riding high off the back of megahit ‘Superlonely’ and her recent celeb-featuring full-length debut LP, Hey u x, Benee’s already done the hard bit – now she’s ready to reap the rewards, Elly Watson…
Thomasin McKenzie Poised to Dominate 2021
“Even in a year free from Hollywood’s typical machinations – red carpets, fall festivals, movie theatres – stars could still be made seemingly overnight,” Keaton Bell writes for Vogue. “Here’s our rundown of 15…
Peter Jackson Astonishes With Beatles Documentary
“In a brilliant move, the Beatles him to work on the 56 hours of…
Rachel House Counts Souls in Pixar’s Latest Outing
Auckland-born actor Rachel House, 49, is the voice of Terry, a Great Beyond “soul counter” in Pixar’s latest animated comedy-drama, Soul. House recorded remotely for the film from New Zealand, which also stars Jamie…
Marlon Williams’ Records with Saskatoon Soulmates
On tour a couple of years ago in Europe, Christchurch-born musician Marlon Williams was travelling with his band when Canadian folk duo Kacy and Clayton popped up on the radio. Williams knew instantly that…
Martin Henderson Isn’t Just Jack From Virgin River
Auckland-born actor Martin Henderson, 46, stars in Netflix series, Virgin River as the love interest of Mel Monroe played by Alexandra Breckenridge – “who moves to the tiny titular town in hopes of escaping…
How Our Film Industry Boomed During the Pandemic
Thanks to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand is enjoying an unprecedented boom in film production, with directors seeking safe conditions, and that most elusive thing this year – a normal life,…
David Howell Talks Architecture with Ralph Pucci
New York New Zealander David Howell and his wife and business partner Steffani Aarons talk architecture and design on the podcast of renowned American designer, gallery owner and entrepreneur Ralph Pucci. Asked by Pucci…
Kiwi YouTube gaming comedy trio levels up
New Zealand-based YouTube comedy trio Viva La Dirt League – which is behind popular video game skit series like Epic NPC Man and Game Logic – has signed with Creative Artists…
Author Chloe Gong is a New York Times Best Seller
It’s not every day that a 21-year-old debut author lands near the top of the young adult hardcover list, Elizbeth Egan writes for The New York Times. Chloe Gong, a Shanghai native who grew…
October and The Eyes Puts Together EP Collage
“October and The Eyes makes music that wouldn’t feel out of place on the soundtrack of an arthouse thriller. Read: dark, sexy and a little dangerous,” Fiona Hartley writes for British magazine, i-D. “After…
Henry Blake’s County Lines Draws From Youth Work
A thoroughly absorbing though deeply upsetting drama, County Lines is a remarkable debut feature from New Zealand-born writer-director Henry Blake. Inspired by his own experiences as a youth worker in East London, Blake hopes…
