Sam Neill to Play Texan Patriarch in TV’s The Son
New Zealand actor Sam Neill will star in the AMC television network drama The Son, playing the patriarch of a Texas family in a multigenerational story of the clan’s rise and fall. Production on the…
Blog Archives
Zero-Hour Contracts Banned in New Zealand
Zero-hour contracts have been outlawed in New Zealand after parliament unanimously passed a bill to ban the controversial practice, which is being hailed as a major victory for minimum wage workers, particularly in the…
Andrew Hore Named Waratahs CEO
New Zealander Andrew Hore has been appointed chief executive of the Waratahs and New South Wales Rugby, replacing Greg Harris in April. Hore has spent the last four years at the helm of Welsh club…
Wanaka Wines That Deliver a Taste of New Zealand
“We’re in the Upper Clutha Basin where even under grey skies the lakes and rivers are an astonishing cerulean blue. Wanaka, the small town at the head of the lake that bears the same…
Steve Braunius Cuts to the Chase about the Flag
In an opinion piece for the New York Times, New Zealand author and journalist Steve Braunius dives into the flag debate as the nation votes in a second referendum on whether to retain the…
Ladyhawke Is Back with Wild New Album
Pip Brown, better known as Ladyhawke, ARIA-winning maker of synth-pop hits such as Paris is Burning and My Delirium, is back with a new album. Wild Things was created in Los Angeles and is…
A Gemma New Deal Might Be Hard to Pass Up
“The orchestra scene in Southern California is keen for refreshment,” according to classical music critic Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times, who reviews the 29-year-old New Zealand conductor Gemma News’ recent “speed date”…
Captaincy Will Be the Making of Dylan Hartley
Sean Fitzpatrick, the former All Black captain who was asked by Eddie Jones to give advice to his newly appointed captain, Rotorua-born Dylan Hartley, 29, believes that the captaincy will turn out to be…
Sarah Robb O’Hagan Leaves Equinox to Go Extreme
New Zealander Sarah Robb O’Hagan has left her “dream job” as president of luxury American fitness company Equinox Holdings to devote herself to pursue a new passion. Robb O’Hagan describes the project in a blog…
Hall Ludlow Gown Exhibited in Melbourne
A 1953 evening gown designed by Otahuhu-born Clarence Hall Ludlow is on display in the 200 Years of Australian Fashion exhibition, included as part of the Melbourne Fashion festival. Hall Ludlow was one of Australia’s earliest…
Aviva Boss Mark Wilson Preys for Growth
“Kiwis are meek creatures, prodding in the leaf litter for worms. But Mark Wilson, the New Zealander who runs Aviva, is a bird of more raptorial kind. Seizing the chief executive’s job three years…
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…
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
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
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 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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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…
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
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
“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
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…
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
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
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
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
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
“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
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’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…
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, 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
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
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
“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
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
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
“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…
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
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…
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
“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
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…
Pania of the Reef a Story to Travel
“About 85 per cent of New Zealand’s Maori population live on the country’s North Island, and visitors who want to learn more about the culture of the country’s indigenous people don’t have to look…
Standing Ovation for Gemma New in Ontario
Conductor Gemma New made her long-awaited mainstage debut in Ontario as the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s new music director, receiving a standing ovation from a huge crowd. Classical music writer for the Hamilton Spectator Leonard Turnevicius…
Owls Do Cry Continues to Astonish 60 Years On
The “modern masterpiece” Owls Do Cry, written by New Zealand author Janet Frame in 1957, “about siblings struggling with money, health and grief still has the power to unnerve and astonish,” writes Claire Hazelton…
Lonely Lingerie Features in the New York Times
New Zealand-based label Lonely Lingerie, which was founded by Helene Morris in 2009, is profiled in the New York Times. Launched as a small partnership between Morris and collaborator Steve Ferguson, Lonely calls itself…
Gin Wigmore Making Music at Home in California
“There are singers, and there’s Gin Wigmore,” according to Billboard. “The New Zealand-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s raw, bluesy voice is so distinctive, some pundits are convinced it’s only a matter of time before the…
Rob Bryers and Beefy Blake on a Sporting Odyssey
Meet Aucklander Rob Bryers (pictured right) and Welshman Kieren “Beefy” Blake, two blokes crossing the globe to see a different sport for every day of the year, revelling in the Olympic Games as much…
iZombie Star Rose McIver a Role Model for Fans
Rose McIver, the New Zealand actress who plays crime-solving zombie, Liv Moore, says the character has become an unlikely role model for many fans, which may explain why iZombie has been ratings gold for…
Banking Boss Ross McEwan Still up for the Fight
The Royal Bank of Scotland boss, New Zealander Ross McEwan tells the Telegraph about how the bank is helping UK’s small businesses and why trust is important. Opening a new business start-up “hub” on the…
