News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Stewart Island Ideal Place for Kiwispotting

Stewart Island Ideal Place for Kiwispotting

Long-beaked kiwis, which live for up to 30 years and choose mates for life, have been part of the New Zealand landscape for several million years. Tour guide Furhana Ahmad says Stewart Island is…

5 Great Rides for Mountain Bikers

5 Great Rides for Mountain Bikers

There are numerous mountain bike tracks in New Zealand and a lot of new tracks are being created while old tracks are being reworked. “Many follow old pathways forged by early Māori and pioneer…

Goat Milk Promises Cheap Cancer Treatments: New Zealand Scientists

Goat Milk Promises Cheap Cancer Treatments: New Zealand Scientists

“Genetically modified goat milk has been used to create a new biotechnology process that promises cheaper anti-cancer drugs, New Zealand scientists said Wednesday.” “Milking goats have been used to produce mono-clonal antibodies (MCA) in their…

Jono Kenyon To Star in Shonda Rhimes ‘Toast’

Jono Kenyon To Star in Shonda Rhimes ‘Toast’

Kiwi actor Jono Kenyon has landed the male lead in Toast – ABC’s hybrid comedy pilot from Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers’ Shondaland – alongside Grey’s Anatomy alumna Tessa Ferrer. “So excited to announce my next project! Lead role in an…

Joseph Lawrence’s Business Looks Beyondhealth

Joseph Lawrence’s Business Looks Beyondhealth

Joseph Lawrence, a 35-year-old New Zealander and trained musculo-skeletal physiotherapist, thinks he has the answer changing the underlying health issues that could give us a better life, London’s Evening Standard reports. Arriving in the UK…

Mark Vette Teaching UK Dogs How to Fly Planes

Mark Vette Teaching UK Dogs How to Fly Planes

New Zealander Mark Vette, a professional animal psychologist and zoologist, is currently working on new British television show, Dogs Might Fly. Vette, who taught Monty, the giant schnauzer, to drive a car,…

Lesley Vanderwalt’s Post-Apocalyptic Beauty Tips

Lesley Vanderwalt’s Post-Apocalyptic Beauty Tips

New Zealand-born Lesley Vanderwalt, who won both an Oscar for hairstyling and make-up at this year’s Academy Awards and the equivalent at the 2016 BAFTAs, talks to Vogue about bringing Mad Max: Fury Road’s…

AllBird’s Merino Trainers Wow WIRED

AllBird’s Merino Trainers Wow WIRED

AllBird’s new Wool Runners are the brainchild of Tim Brown, 35, a native New Zealander and former All White. And according to WIRED magazine – which rates the sneaker 9/10 – they are “understated”,…

Keda Hurtles onto Big Apple Catwalks

Keda Hurtles onto Big Apple Catwalks

New Zealander Makeda Soper-Wirangi, 20, was browsing a pharmacy in Melbourne in 2013 when her life changed forever. Scout Phoenix Michael Darley spotted Soper-Wirangi and asked if she had ever considered modelling. “I saw this…

Tina Waru Putting Indigenous Design on Fashion Map

Tina Waru Putting Indigenous Design on Fashion Map

Tina Waru organised the recent Global Indigenous Runway event, which was on as part of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival. It was the first time international indigenous fashion made the official…

Chef Jean Paul Lourdes Heads to Miami

Chef Jean Paul Lourdes Heads to Miami

For the menu at El Tucán, a newly opened supper club in Miami, New Zealand-born, French-trained chef, Jean Paul Lourdes did culinary research with big-concept restaurateur Stephen Starr looking to local Cubano joints, and…

White Lies Unfolds with Inexorable Weight

White Lies Unfolds with Inexorable Weight

The 2013 feature film by Mexican director Dana Rotberg, White Lies, is “quiet, graceful, stately and infused with slow tension,” according to New York Times reviewer Paul Wester. “Set in rural New Zealand, the movie…

Zoë Bell Stands in for Herself in Camino

Zoë Bell Stands in for Herself in Camino

Quentin Tarantino’s “favourite stunt double,” New Zealander Zoë Bell, 37, “sturdily stands in for herself” in Camino, a survival-thriller set in the jungles of Colombia circa 1985. The Los Angeles Times reviews the film: “Bell plays…

Flight of the Conchords Announce US Tour

Flight of the Conchords Announce US Tour

The Flight of the Conchords return to stages in the United States playing at nearly 30 locations across the country in June and July, the first time the duo has toured since co-headlining 2013’s…

Where Teddy Tahu Rhodes Goes to Hide Out

Where Teddy Tahu Rhodes Goes to Hide Out

The “pin-up boy of Australian opera”, New Zealand grand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, famous for his portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, talks with the Advertiser about how he unwinds and where he loves to…

Kiwi Pilot Jason Laing Honoured

Kiwi Pilot Jason Laing Honoured

New Zealand helicopter pilot Jason Laing has been honoured with this year’s Appareo Pilot of the Year Award. The pilot is best known for his work in the aftermath of last April’s earthquake in Nepal. After the…

Kiwi Cycles Across India

Kiwi Cycles Across India

New Zealander Tim Chittock started cycling the roads of India to create a world record on February 27. His goal is to pedal 6,000 kilometres from New Delhi along the Golden Quadrilateral in 20…

Kiwi Entrepreneur Makes Forbes Under 30 List

Kiwi Entrepreneur Makes Forbes Under 30 List

Law and commerce graduate Shay Wright has been listed on Forbes Under 30 Asia list in the magazine’s social entrepreneur category as co-founder of Te Wharre Hukahuka, an organization that aims to rebuild the…

The Best Places To Visit in New Zealand

The Best Places To Visit in New Zealand

With its picturesque landscapes, and multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites and natural wonders New Zealand has something to offer travellers of all interests whether you’re into a relaxing scenic drive or taking part in…

New Zealand’s Food and Drink Make It A Land of Plenty

New Zealand’s Food and Drink Make It A Land of Plenty

With their “Zingy “sauv blanc”, rich flat-white coffee and citrusy hops which now flavours British craft beers, “Kiwis have been making much more impact on our tastes than simply supplying lamb and butter,” as…

9 Can’t Miss New Zealand Experiences

9 Can’t Miss New Zealand Experiences

New Zealand is known for its beauty and many diverse activities. Jenn Brown shares her personal ‘Can’t Miss Experiences’. Bungee Jump in Queenstown According to Brown, Bungee jumping is the one true way…

New Zealand, Chinese Telecom Firms Sign Pacific-Wide Internet Agreement

New Zealand, Chinese Telecom Firms Sign Pacific-Wide Internet Agreement

Spark and China Telecom Global have signed a deal to boost Internet traffic between the two countries and across the Pacific region, as reported on Xinhua News. “China Telecom Global has the technology,…

Ta Moko – Traditional Maori Face and Body Tattoos

Ta Moko – Traditional Maori Face and Body Tattoos

The Daily Mail has featured a number of black and white photos, which were taken by possibly the first New Zealand female professional photographer  Elizabeth Pulman and depict “how far…

Timelio’s Charlotte Petris Helping Small Grow

Timelio’s Charlotte Petris Helping Small Grow

Large superannuation funds are preparing to enter the invoice financing market via the award-winning fintech start-up Timelio, which has created a peer-to-peer platform to provide capital to small companies seeking to expand. Timelio was…

Francis Upritchard’s Forlorn Figures Test Empathy

Francis Upritchard’s Forlorn Figures Test Empathy

New Zealand born Francis Upritchard’s exhibition Jealous Saboteurs is on at Monash University’s Museum of Art (MUMA) in Melbourne. Robert Nelson reviews the show for the Sydney Morning Herald. “Upritchard has modified a group of…

Scottish Coastal Rowing New Zealand Style

Scottish Coastal Rowing New Zealand Style

“A fleet of St Ayles skiffs travelled to Motuora Island nature reserve to participate in the most ambitious coastal rowing event to date: a 15-day rowing and sailing expedition exploring the islands, peninsulas and…

Ulster Orchestra Welcomes New MD Richard Wigley

Ulster Orchestra Welcomes New MD Richard Wigley

Former artistic manager at the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic boss, New Zealander Richard Wigley, 55, is the new managing director of the Ulster Orchestra. Wigley talks about “channelling the energy” of the orchestra…

New Zealand cricket great Martin Crowe

New Zealand cricket great Martin Crowe

New Zealand Cricket Great Martin Crowe has died at the age of 53. His family in Auckland announced his death in a statement. “It is with heavy hearts that the family of Martin Crowe, MBE…

Mike Anstis Flies for Rain over Middle East Desert

Mike Anstis Flies for Rain over Middle East Desert

At a remote airstrip outside Abu Dhabi, New Zealand-born pilot Mike Anstis is setting off to do something most would consider impossible in a desert. He’s hoping to make it rain. Anstis is cloud…

Soccer’s Rory Fallon Striking It Big in Ice Cream

Soccer’s Rory Fallon Striking It Big in Ice Cream

Star soccer striker Rory Fallon, 33, and his wife Carly launched their award-winning Cowlick Creamery ten months ago in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Now, the couple is hoping to win over Plymouth locals. “The whole concept…

Michael Ashton is Adele’s Right-Hand Man

Michael Ashton is Adele’s Right-Hand Man

The source of Adele’s elusively perfect cat-eye swoosh is her longtime makeup artist and hairstylist New Zealander Michael Ashton, who has worked with Louise Roe, Hilary Swank, and Chris Pratt. Ashton began his career…

Professor Roger Clark Nominated for Nobel Prize

Professor Roger Clark Nominated for Nobel Prize

New Zealand-born Professor Roger Clark, a public international law, human rights and criminal law scholar, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his work on a lawsuit on behalf of…

KJ Apa Lands Archie Andrews Role in US

KJ Apa Lands Archie Andrews Role in US

Eighteen-year-old New Zealand-born KJ Apa, best known for his Shortland Street role as Kane Jenkins, has been cast as Archie Andrews in US television network series Riverdale. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Riverdale had difficulty…

Translator Max Bickerton’s Haiku Legacy Discussed

Translator Max Bickerton’s Haiku Legacy Discussed

“In the 1930s, a translator of Japanese literature from New Zealand was jailed and tortured by the Japanese police. His name was Max Bickerton or, more fully, William Maxwell Bickerton,” Japanese poet and translator…

Singapore Events Exec Matt Bennett Takes Time Off

Singapore Events Exec Matt Bennett Takes Time Off

New Zealander Matt Bennett, 47, is the managing director of events company Magic Rock, which is organising Magners International Comedy Festival in Singapore. Bennett divides his time between Singapore and Bangkok. He talks to…

Lorde Delivers Powerful Tribute to David Bowie

Lorde Delivers Powerful Tribute to David Bowie

Lorde’s tribute to her hero David Bowie at this year’s BRIT Awards has been called “dignified”, “powerful” and “heartbreaking”. Singing Life on Mars with Bowie’s own backing band, Lorde’s was an “acid, disaffected take…

Chris Kraus’ I Love Dick Coming Soon to TV

Chris Kraus’ I Love Dick Coming Soon to TV

Emmy Award-winning auteur Jill Soloway, creator of the gender- and genre-bending TV series Transparent, recently announced her next project: an adaptation of I Love Dick, Chris Kraus’s psycho-sexual epistolary novel about a married, failed…

Queenstown – Lakefront Oasis, Adventure Capital and Luxury Destination

Queenstown – Lakefront Oasis, Adventure Capital and Luxury Destination

Queenstown was given its name by early gold prospectors, who not only hoped to find gold, but also saw the beauty of the grandiose mountains, lakes and rivers. It’s “A town fit for a…

Auckland Ranked #3 in Global Quality of Living

Auckland Ranked #3 in Global Quality of Living

Auckland has been ranked #3 in the 18th Mercer Quality of Life study. In the report New Zealand is the highest ranked English speaking country as well as the top country in the Pacific region. “New…

United Strangers Interiors March into Vegas Market

United Strangers Interiors March into Vegas Market

New Zealand designer Logan Komorowski took his United Strangers brand to the recent Winter Las Vegas Furniture Market; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profiles Komorowski’s military aesthetic. In the 1940s, battleship gray and army green…

Artist Melvin Day Brought a Cubist Edge to New Zealand

Artist Melvin Day Brought a Cubist Edge to New Zealand

Artist Melvin Day, who gave his post-war landscapes, still lifes and images of Maori meetings a cubist sensibility, has died aged 92. Day studied at the Courtauld Institute in London under the Cambridge spy Anthony Blunt,…

You’ll Always Learn Something New at Karen Walker

You’ll Always Learn Something New at Karen Walker

New Zealand designer Karen Walker “has a knack for transforming obscure, utilitarian references into magnetic clothing that all the cool girls want to wear and Fall 2016 was no different,” according to the Daily…

Malcolm Law Documents 50 Back-to-Back Marathons

Malcolm Law Documents 50 Back-to-Back Marathons

A new trail film takes a look at New Zealand mountain runner Malcolm Law, 54, who takes on an incredible odyssey, running 50 mountain peaks and large elevation gains. For a lot of runners, hill…

Re-Examining The Piano’s Kinky Music Lessons

Re-Examining The Piano’s Kinky Music Lessons

“Films about mute piano players embroiled in erotic love triangles never did become a burgeoning genre. Perhaps that’s because it’s virtually impossible to imagine another equalling writer/director Jane Campion’s 1993 magnum opus: an extraordinarily…

Trans-Tasman New Pathways to Citizenship Deal Made

Trans-Tasman New Pathways to Citizenship Deal Made

New Zealanders who have lived and worked in Australia for more than five years will find it easier to access citizenship under a deal reached by the leaders of the two countries, the Guardian…

Brooklyn Nets Give Top Job to Sean Marks

Brooklyn Nets Give Top Job to Sean Marks

Sean Marks, 40, of Auckland, may not be a household name among casual basketball fans – or even among professional basketball players – but the Brooklyn Nets are heralding his general manager appointment as…

Emilia Wickstead Goes Puritanical but Luxe

Emilia Wickstead Goes Puritanical but Luxe

“There was a feeling that London Fashion Week finally got started at the Emilia Wickstead show,” Kate Finnigan writes for the Telegraph. “The New Zealand-born designer, now firmly established in London, is an impressively…

Kiwi in Syria War Zones Raising Relief Funds

Kiwi in Syria War Zones Raising Relief Funds

New Zealander Michael Seawright, founder of international humanitarian organisation ReliefAid is raising emergency relief funds to provide shelter support to families in Syria War Zones. ReliefAid is one of only a handful of…

How Tragedy Turned Napier into Art Deco Wonder

How Tragedy Turned Napier into Art Deco Wonder

“For Murray Houston, 3 February 1931 started out like any ordinary day. The now 91-year-old New Zealander was sitting inside the small wooden schoolhouse he attended in the coastal town of Napier, when the…

Melanie Lynskey Acts the Only Way She Can: Honestly

Melanie Lynskey Acts the Only Way She Can: Honestly

Actor Melanie Lynskey, the “genial” New Zealand-born star of HBO’s comedy-drama series Togetherness, is profiled in the Los Angeles Times. Lynskey’s expressions are somehow familiar, a visage seen in her countless television and film roles…

Christchurch a City Reimagining Itself

Christchurch a City Reimagining Itself

The story of Christchurch’s resurrection is nearly as inspirational as the one that lends the city its name. In the aftermath of a terrible succession of earthquakes between 2010-11, which led to the demolition…

Tammy Davis’ Hit a Berlinale Favourite

Tammy Davis’ Hit a Berlinale Favourite

Tammy Davis’ hip-hop drama Born to Dance, a “hidden gem” at this year’s Berlinale, has become the most unlikely of box-office hits Down Under. Born to Dance brought in more than $1 million in theatres…

Jemaine Clement Recalls David Bowie Snub

Jemaine Clement Recalls David Bowie Snub

“Dave Grohl is only the latest to have revealed his rejection by David Bowie.” The Guardian also includes New Zealand’s very own Flight of the Conchords in its list of “10 of Bowie’s very…

Richard Hall is Singapore’s new Iceman

Richard Hall is Singapore’s new Iceman

A four-generation family-owned ice business in Singapore has partnered with new local company Plink, founded by New Zealander Richard Hall, to launch what they call “the future of ice” – one filled many colours…

Heavenly line for NYNZ artist Max Gimblett

Heavenly line for NYNZ artist Max Gimblett

“In fact, it was heavenly,” said Grafton, Auckland-born New York artist Max Gimblett, 80, on being invested as Officer of the Order of Merit Award by Governor General Sir Jerry Matapere. “I thought it would…

Kieran Read Confirmed As New All Blacks Captain

Kieran Read Confirmed As New All Blacks Captain

Coach Steve Hansen has confirmed that Kieran Read will replace Richie McCaw as captain of the All Blacks. He will also captain the Crusaders in this year’s Super Rugby competition. “We have known for quite…