News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Have Faith in Lorde She Knows What’s She’s Doing

Have Faith in Lorde She Knows What’s She’s Doing

Lorde’s “gender and her age – coupled with her self-assuredness – are both reasons” the 18-year-old singer “attracts perhaps more than her fair share of scrutiny, including from ‘truthers’ who maintain she’s at least…

Game Designer Pippin Barr Loots the Museum

Game Designer Pippin Barr Loots the Museum

New Zealand–born, Malta-based video game designer and writer Pippin Barr has created an ongoing series of lo-fi, quirky, web-based games, which comment on the art world’s intriguing, often absurd insularity. With his latest piece, The…

Architect Greg Shand Mixes History and Modernity in Singapore

Architect Greg Shand Mixes History and Modernity in Singapore

New Zealand-born Greg Shand’s design for the newly opened Indian Heritage Centre has finally given Singapore’s ethnic Indian community a worthy home in which to showcase its cultural riches. The choice of the Japan-trained, Singapore-based…

Jarred Christmas Hits the Comic Spot

Jarred Christmas Hits the Comic Spot

The “generously bearded” comedian, New Zealander Jarred Christmas’ stand-up show at London’s Soho Theatre spread “joy in microseconds”, according to Chortle reviewer Steve Bennett. “He banters, teasingly but non-aggressively, with the front row. ‘I’m just…

Nielson Family Reunion Perfect Subtext for New UMO Album

Nielson Family Reunion Perfect Subtext for New UMO Album

“Visionary” New Zealander Ruban Nielson, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, has tightened up his songwriting, “with the added bonus of synths” on the band’s latest album Multi-Love. “Nielson’s favourite new toy is apparent from the…

New Zealand Singer Wins Major International Scholarship

New Zealand Singer Wins Major International Scholarship

New Zealand Bass-Baritone James Ioelu has won the Victoria League Scholarship in Singing sponsored by the Victoria League in Auckland in association with the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. “We are absolutely delighted to…

Fear The Walking Dead Teaser Released

Fear The Walking Dead Teaser Released

AMC has released a pair of sneak peek videos to celebrate the start of production on Walking Dead spinoff Fear The Walking Dead. A behind-the-scenes look at the show, which is set…

Thomston Challenging Pop Conventions

Thomston Challenging Pop Conventions

Aucklander Thomas Stoneman, aka Thomston, who recently made his British debut at the Great Escape festival in Brighton, “is most certainly a talent to watch out for,” according to Clash magazine. The 19-year-old singer’s debut…

Mad Max Stunt Star Dayna Grant Tweets Action Shots

Mad Max Stunt Star Dayna Grant Tweets Action Shots

New Zealand stuntwoman Dayna Grant, 39, who doubled for Charlize Theron’s cunning warrior Furiosa in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, posted some behind-the-scenes snapshots on her Twitter page. Esquire shared them with its…

Sean MacPherson’s Marlton One of NY’s Hippest Hotels

Sean MacPherson’s Marlton One of NY’s Hippest Hotels

In 2013, New Zealand-born hotelier Sean MacPherson “decided to turn his attentions to a Greenwich Village flophouse that used to host the likes of Jack Kerouac back in the literary heyday of New York.”…

Slow West Set in Dauntingly Beautiful Landscape

Slow West Set in Dauntingly Beautiful Landscape

John Maclean’s “compelling” directorial debut Slow West set in Colorado in 1870 was shot in New Zealand and stars Michael Fassbender. South African-born New Zealander Caren Pistorius plays crofter’s daughter, Rose Ross “who even…

Lorde Immortalised in Wax at Madame Tussauds

Lorde Immortalised in Wax at Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds in Hollywood has unveiled a wax figure of 18-year-old New Zealand singer Lorde. Human Lorde was quite excited when the wax museum’s Hollywood location revealed her figure. She tweeted out a photo of…

New Zealand International Film Festival Reveals First Titles

New Zealand International Film Festival Reveals First Titles

The first five titles of the New Zealand International Film Festival Line-up have been released, which include “a whole raft” of “films emerging from Sundance”. Umrika, written and directed by Prashant Nair won…

Michael Fassbender Channels Clint Eastwood in Slow West

Michael Fassbender Channels Clint Eastwood in Slow West

Michael Fassbender channels his favourite cowboy Clint Eastwood in his performance in the newly released action western thriller Slow West, which was filmed in New Zealand’s South Island. While filming in New Zealand Fassbender took…

Jacob Tomuri – More Than Tom Hardy’s Mad Max Stunt Double

Jacob Tomuri – More Than Tom Hardy’s Mad Max Stunt Double

“Mad Max Fury Road spends two hours denying audiences the chance to catch their breath. Much of that is thanks to the work of star Tom Hardy and his stunt double, Jacob Tomuri”, proclaims Kim…

Ethan Hawke Stars in New Zealand Directed Movie Good Kill

Ethan Hawke Stars in New Zealand Directed Movie Good Kill

New Zealand director and screenwriter Andrew Niccol’s new film Good Kill explores the post-traumatic stress experienced by drone operating military pilots. The movie, which is set in 2010, stars Ethan Hawke as Tom Egan, a…

David Clarkson’s Encoded Opens New Canberra Festival

David Clarkson’s Encoded Opens New Canberra Festival

New Zealander David Clarkson, artistic director of Australian company Stalker Theatre, opened the inaugural SEGUE festival in Canberra with a work called, Encoded. Clarkson says the piece – which combines physical theatre, dance theatre and…

Why Grand Designs Kevin McCloud Loves NZ Homes

Why Grand Designs Kevin McCloud Loves NZ Homes

Presenter of popular UK television show Grand Designs Kevin McCloud has visited New Zealand four times because of his involvement in a competition to build a new residential quarter in Christchurch as part of…

iZombie Renewed for Second Season on the CW

iZombie Renewed for Second Season on the CW

DC Comics/Vertigo-based series iZombie has been renewed by the CW for a second season. “Scheduling and an episode count have yet to be determined”, according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter. iZombie stars…

Keisha Castle-Hughes Makes Memorable Debut on Game of Thrones

Keisha Castle-Hughes Makes Memorable Debut on Game of Thrones

New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes “made a memorable debut on Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones – The Sons of the Harpy, according to the New York Times blog ArtsBeat. Castle-Hughes’ character Obara Sand and…

Wet Dogs Dry Dogs Captured by Serenah Hodson

Wet Dogs Dry Dogs Captured by Serenah Hodson

New Zealand-born photographer Serenah Hodson’s Wet Dog Dry Dog series captures show dogs in two essential physical and emotional states: dry and pleased, and then wet and oh so grumpy. The idea came about while…

Jess Johnson’s Parallel Realm Finds Home in a Book

Jess Johnson’s Parallel Realm Finds Home in a Book

Tauranga-born visual artist Jess Johnson has drawn inspiration from some lesser-known belief systems like UFO religion Raëlism, to create an art book for the National Gallery of Victoria’s inaugural art book fair. ” movement was…

Simon Denny One of the Top Reasons to Get to Venice

Simon Denny One of the Top Reasons to Get to Venice

Some exhibitors at the 56th Venice Biennale have a shot at changing the art world and New Zealand representative Simon Denny is one of them, according to Bloomberg, which includes the Aucklander in a…

Heath Cozens Grapples with Controversial Sport

Heath Cozens Grapples with Controversial Sport

New Zealand-born filmmaker Heath Cozens, 41, saw his first Japanese disabled pro wrestling match in 2010. At the time, he didn’t know what to think. Cozens, who spent 18 years in Japan as a video…

Billboard Gets a Rush on Gin Wigmore’s New Video

Billboard Gets a Rush on Gin Wigmore’s New Video

New Zealand singer-songwriter Gin Wigmore, 28, is preparing for the release of her third studio album Blood to Bone with the “intense and uninhibited” video, “New Rush,” Billboard reports. “ Wigmore is giving her…

Danielle Cormack an Ambitious Currency Trader in New Play

Danielle Cormack an Ambitious Currency Trader in New Play

Award-winning actor New Zealand-born Danielle Cormack, who came to prominence in Australia with her performances in Underbelly and Wentworth, is currently playing an ambitious currency trader in Boys Will Be Boys at

Simon Denny’s The Innovator’s Dilemma – a Young Ironist’s Work

Simon Denny’s The Innovator’s Dilemma – a Young Ironist’s Work

In a review in the prestigious New Yorker magazine, NZ artist Simon Denny’s exhibition The Innovator’s Dilemma is featured as one of the highlights of the New York arts scene. The exhibition, which is being…

Peter Jackson Celebrates Life of Friend Andrew Lesnie

Peter Jackson Celebrates Life of Friend Andrew Lesnie

Peter Jackson has taken to Facebook to celebrate the life of Andrew Lesnie – his friend, ‘brother’ and frequent collaborator, who suffered a fatal heart attack this week. “I grew up wondering what…

Jess Cornelius Releases New Track Ahead of Courtney Barnett Tour

Jess Cornelius Releases New Track Ahead of Courtney Barnett Tour

“New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Jess Cornelius is the tour de force behind Teeth & Tongue, and returns with a rollicking new track ‘Cupcake’,” Monica Tan writes for the Guardian’s weekly “Mixtape” column. “Although recorded in…

Country Star Marlon Williams Takes to the Road

Country Star Marlon Williams Takes to the Road

New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Marlon Williams will tour Australia and his home country in support of his just-released, critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. “A free-ranging complement to the assured country weirdness of last year’s Sad…

Louis Baker Takes Flight with New EP Birds

Louis Baker Takes Flight with New EP Birds

The “impressive” New Zealand-born songwriter Louis Baker’s new EP Birds will be released in the United Kingdom on 29 June. Clash magazine premieres the title track. Continually observing the world around him, Baker…

Kimbra Plays at California’s Coachella

Kimbra Plays at California’s Coachella

Singer Kimbra was a headline act at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, included alongside big names like Florence and the Machine, Caribou, FKA Twigs and Father John Misty. For the…

Google Doodle Honours Detective Novelist Ngaio Marsh

Google Doodle Honours Detective Novelist Ngaio Marsh

New Zealand-born crime writer and theatre director Dame Ngaio Marsh who wrote during the “golden age” of detective novels was celebrated on 23 April 2015 with a Google Doodle. Marsh, born in Christchurch, would have…

Russell Crowe’s Water Diviner a Story Only He Could Tell

Russell Crowe’s Water Diviner a Story Only He Could Tell

Growing up a New Zealander-Australian, Russell Crowe, 51, was intimately familiar with the Dardanelles Campaign, a veritable slaughterhouse battle over a tiny Turkish peninsula also known as Gallipoli. In his latest film, The Water…

Sundance TV Launches The Red Road Prequel Graphic Novel

Sundance TV Launches The Red Road Prequel Graphic Novel

Sundance TV’s acclaimed drama The Red Road, starring New Zealander Martin Henderson “has gotten off to quite the intense start” in its newly released second season according to tvovermind.com. In season two “Harold…

WETA Digital Helped to Complete Paul Walker’s Scenes for ‘Fast & Furious 7’

WETA Digital Helped to Complete Paul Walker’s Scenes for ‘Fast & Furious 7’

WETA Digital has helped to finish current box office hit Fast and Furious 7 after movie star Paul Walker passed away in a car accident halfway through the filming. Walker’s accident left the directors with…

Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf’s Powerful Partnership

Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf’s Powerful Partnership

Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf are included in a list of literary “titans” who banded together as penpals whilst they produced the classics. “Before Woolf was lionised she shared an unlikely friendship with a New…

Keisha Castle-Hughes Starring in Game of Thrones Season Five

Keisha Castle-Hughes Starring in Game of Thrones Season Five

  New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes has joined the Game of Thrones cast in the series’ fifth season, which has just kicked off in the US and New Zealand. Castle-Hughes is starring as Obara Sand, one…

Shushila Takao Stars in Cook Island-Set Thriller Tatau

Shushila Takao Stars in Cook Island-Set Thriller Tatau

Like many of the cast of BBC3’s new supernatural thriller Tatau, Shushila Takao is a New Zealander. She stars alongside British newcomers Joe Layton and Theo Barklem-Biggs as Aumea in the television…

Heath Cozens’ Film on Japanese Disabled Wrestlers Premieres

Heath Cozens’ Film on Japanese Disabled Wrestlers Premieres

A documentary about a small troupe of Tokyo wrestlers with disabilities made by New Zealander Heath Cozens will premiere at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto on 27 April. Five years in the making,…

Award-Winning Correspondent Peter Arnett Speaks on War

Award-Winning Correspondent Peter Arnett Speaks on War

Pulitzer-winning journalist New Zealander Peter Arnett spoke to a packed crowd at California State University in Fresno on his 50 years of reporting experience – from covering the Vietnam War to his struggles with…

Ian North’s Antarctic Images Evoke Beauty and Terror of Our Era

Ian North’s Antarctic Images Evoke Beauty and Terror of Our Era

The latest exhibition of Ian North’s work, “East Antarctica 1915”, demonstrates the Lower Hutt-born artist’s uncanny ability to tap into the zeitgeist of our socially fractured and culturally fragmented times, writes Flinders University lecturer…

Stan Walker’s New Album Marks Becoming of Age

Stan Walker’s New Album Marks Becoming of Age

New Zealand soul singer Stan Walker, 24, is about to release his new album Truth & Soul, a collection of songs from icons like Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding. The Australian Idol winner says,…

Jemaine Clement Joins Steven Spielberg’s The BFG

Jemaine Clement Joins Steven Spielberg’s The BFG

Jemaine Clement is set to star in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG alongside Penelope Wilton and Rebecca Hall. “In more than 40 years of making movies, I have been on the producing…

Kody Nielson Is Another Exciting NZ Music Offering

Kody Nielson Is Another Exciting NZ Music Offering

New Zealand’s “most exciting offerings” of late, according to the Guardian, “have been the warped psychedelia of Connan Mockasin and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Completing this trio of peculiarity is Silicon – also known as…

Rising Star of the Art World Simon Denny Exhibits at MoMA

Rising Star of the Art World Simon Denny Exhibits at MoMA

New Zealand–born, Berlin-based Simon Denny, who is represented by one of New York’s most reputable galleries, Petzel, has opened his first American show “The Innovator’s Dilemma” at MoMA PS1. In…

Hannah O’Neill Dances in Paris Opera’s Swan Lake

Hannah O’Neill Dances in Paris Opera’s Swan Lake

A New Zealander is one of the Paris Opera Ballet’s “emerging young dancers” who has brought “style and elegance” to Nureyev’s production of Swan Lake. This was the “sprightly” Hannah O’Neill’s first time dancing…

Reg Mombassa Shows at Mambo Exhibition in Sydney

Reg Mombassa Shows at Mambo Exhibition in Sydney

Auckland-born artist and musician Reg Mombassa’s works dominate the “Mambo: 30 Years of Shelf-Indulgence” exhibition on at the newly opened aMBUSH Gallery in Sydney. His art is now a part of the Australian…

Director Andrew Niccol Shines a Light on Drone Warfare

Director Andrew Niccol Shines a Light on Drone Warfare

Nobody wanted to back a film on the subject of drone warfare, according to New Zealand-born director Andrew Niccol, whose drama Good Kill, about that very subject, is on now in UK cinemas. “We had…

Anna Paquin Developing Miniseries with Husband and Jack Black

Anna Paquin Developing Miniseries with Husband and Jack Black

True Blood star New Zealander Anna Paquin, 32, is set to return to HBO as Madame X in a new miniseries she is developing with husband Stephen Moyer and Jack Black. TheWrap reports…

Kimbra to Headline Palm Springs Music Festival

Kimbra to Headline Palm Springs Music Festival

Grammy-winning artist New Zealander Kimbra will headline the US music festival, Tachevah: A Palm Springs Block Party, on 15 April outside of the Spa Resort Casino. The Desert Sun reports: “Kimbra, now living…

Dubai-Based Designer Judith Hobby’s Opens Her Home

Dubai-Based Designer Judith Hobby’s Opens Her Home

New Zealander Judith Hobby, who has lived in the Middle East for 22 years and in Dubai for almost 17, is the founder of the Judith Hobby Clothing fashion line. Her modernist…

Lucy Lawless Brings a Defiant Edge to Salem

Lucy Lawless Brings a Defiant Edge to Salem

Television channel WGN America has upped the ante by recruiting New Zealander Lucy Lawless, “one of television’s most cult-inspiring actresses”, to join the cast of witchy tale Salem. The season premiere introduces a character played…

Hotelier Simon Baeyertz Engineering Stays for the Intrepid

Hotelier Simon Baeyertz Engineering Stays for the Intrepid

No building in Vieques, Puerto Rico is “more striking” than new 22-room eco-hotel El Blok, according to the New York Times. Co-owner, Simon Baeyertz, “a dashing New Zealander and longtime record industry executive, explained…

Dwayne Johnson Joins Disney’s Polynesian tale ‘Moana’

Dwayne Johnson Joins Disney’s Polynesian tale ‘Moana’

Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson has officially signed on with Disney to play the male lead in their newest film Moana. The actor will lend his voice to Maui, the lead male protagonist in the upcoming…

Simon Denny’s Upcoming First Solo Exhibition at MoMA PS1

Simon Denny’s Upcoming First Solo Exhibition at MoMA PS1

New Zealand born artist Simon Denny will have his first major solo exhibition ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma’ at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. The Innovator’s Dilemma adopts the architectural typology of the industry…