The Most Famous

ACTORS from New Zealand

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This page contains a list of the greatest New Zealander Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 41 of which were born in New Zealand. This makes New Zealand the birth place of the 24th most number of Actors behind Austria, and Denmark.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary New Zealander Actors of all time. This list of famous New Zealander Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of New Zealander Actors.

Photo of Russell Crowe

1. Russell Crowe (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 69.03, Russell Crowe is the most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 112 different languages on wikipedia.

Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an New Zealand-born actor, director and musician. He was born in Wellington, spending 10 years of his childhood in Australia and residing there permanently by age 21. His work on screen has earned him various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a British Academy Film Award. Crowe began acting in Australia and had his breakout role in the drama Romper Stomper (1992). He gained international recognition for his starring roles as a police detective in the thriller L.A. Confidential (1997) and Jeffrey Wigand in the drama The Insider (1999). Crowe gained wider stardom for playing the title role in the period film Gladiator (2000), winning the Academy Award for Best Actor. Further acclaim came for portraying mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in the biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001). He then starred in the war film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), the sports drama Cinderella Man (2005), the Western 3:10 to Yuma (2007), the crime drama American Gangster (2007), the thriller State of Play (2009), and the action film Robin Hood (2010). Crowe has since appeared as Javert in the musical Les Misérables (2012), Jor-El in the superhero film Man of Steel (2013), Noah in the biblical drama Noah (2014), and Zeus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). In 2014, he made his directorial debut with the drama The Water Diviner, in which he also starred. He has been the co-owner of the National Rugby League (NRL) team South Sydney Rabbitohs since 2006.

Photo of Lucy Lawless

2. Lucy Lawless (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 57.73, Lucy Lawless is the 2nd most famous New Zealander Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 62 different languages.

Lucille Frances Lawless (née Ryan; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess, as D'Anna Biers on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series, and Lucretia in the television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand and associated series. Since 2019, she has starred as Alexa in the television series My Life Is Murder. Lawless had recurring roles as Diane Lewis-Swanson on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2012–2014), and as Countess Palatine Ingrid Von Marburg on the WGN America supernatural series Salem (2015). She also starred as Ruby on the Starz horror-comedy series Ash vs Evil Dead (2015–2018).

Photo of Karl Urban

3. Karl Urban (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 56.71, Karl Urban is the 3rd most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 53 different languages.

Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and television series such as Xena: Warrior Princess. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship. Since then, he has starred in many high-profile movies, including as Éomer in the second and third installments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Vaako in the second and third installments of the Riddick film series, Leonard McCoy in the Star Trek reboot film series, Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy (2004), John "Reaper" Grimm in Doom (2005), Judge Dredd in Dredd (2012), Gavin Magary in Pete's Dragon (2016), and Skurge in Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok (2017). In 2013, he starred in the sci-fi series Almost Human. Since 2019, he has starred as Billy Butcher in Amazon Prime Video's superhero streaming television series The Boys.

Photo of Bruce Spence

4. Bruce Spence (b. 1945)

With an HPI of 56.21, Bruce Spence is the 4th most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Bruce Robert Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand-born Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre.

Photo of Marton Csokas

5. Marton Csokas (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 55.45, Marton Csokas is the 5th most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Marton Paul Csokas (, Hungarian: Csókás Márton Pál; born 30 June 1966) is a New Zealand actor of film, stage, and television. A graduate of the Toi Whakaari drama school, he has worked extensively in Australia and Hollywood, along with his native country, and often portrays villainous roles. His notable roles include Celeborn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003), Yorgi in XXX (2002), Guy de Lusignan in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Trevor Goodchild in Æon Flux (2005), Hora in Romulus, My Father (2007), Nico in Dead Europe (2012), Jack Barts in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), Nicolai Itchenko A.K.A. Teddy Rensen in The Equalizer (2014), and Quinn on the U.S. television series Into the Badlands. Earlier in his career, he played Leonard Dodds on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. Csokas is a three-time AACTA Award nominee, winning Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Romulus My Father. He was also nominated for Best Male Actor in a Play at the 2008 Helpmann Awards, for his portrayal of George in Belvoir's revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Photo of Cliff Curtis

6. Cliff Curtis (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 53.42, Cliff Curtis is the 6th most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Cliff Curtis (born July 27 1968) is a New Zealand actor. His film credits include Once Were Warriors (1994), Three Kings (1999), Blow (2001), Training Day (2001), Whale Rider (2002), Collateral Damage (2002), Sunshine, Live Free or Die Hard (both 2007), Push, Crossing Over (both 2009), Colombiana (2011), The Dark Horse (2014), for which he won the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor, and Doctor Sleep (2019), also portraying James "Mac" Mackreides in The Meg (2018) and Meg 2: The Trench (2023) and Tonowari in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Avatar 3 (2025). Curtis had television series roles on NBC's Trauma and ABC's Body of Proof and Missing. From 2015 to 2017, he portrayed Travis Manawa on the AMC horror drama series Fear the Walking Dead. He is the co-owner of the independent New Zealand production company Whenua Films.

Photo of Temuera Morrison

7. Temuera Morrison (b. 1960)

With an HPI of 53.37, Temuera Morrison is the 7th most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Temuera Derek Morrison (born 26 December 1960) is a New Zealand actor who first gained recognition in his home country for playing Dr. Hone Ropata on the soap opera Shortland Street. He garnered critical acclaim for his starring role as Jake "The Muss" Heke in the 1994 film Once Were Warriors and its 1999 sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? Outside of New Zealand, Morrison is best known for his work in the Star Wars multimedia franchise, playing the roles of Jango Fett as well as his many genetic clones, including the clone troopers and Jango's clone son Boba. He originated the role of Jango in the 2002 film Attack of the Clones. Morrison would go on to provide the voice of Boba Fett in the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, various Star Wars video games, and he would portray Boba fully in the second season of The Mandalorian (2019–present) and the spin-off show The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022). In 2022, he also had a recurring role in the black ops thriller series Echo 3. Morrison is also known for voicing Chief Tui, the father of the title character in Disney's Moana (2016), and for playing Arthur Curry's father Tom Curry in the DCEU films Aquaman (2018), The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (both in 2023).

Photo of Alan Dale

8. Alan Dale (b. 1947)

With an HPI of 53.26, Alan Dale is the 8th most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Alan Hugh Dale (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand actor, known for his early long-running role as Jim Robinson in Australian tv soap opera Neighbours, American series' The O.C. (as Caleb Nichol) and Ugly Betty (as Bradford Meade), as well as recurring and guest roles in Lost, 24, NCIS, ER, The West Wing, The X-Files, Entourage, Once Upon a Time and Dynasty as Joseph Anders. Dale was born on 6 May 1947 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. One of four children, Dale enjoyed his childhood, but his family was relatively poor. Growing up in New Zealand without television, Dale loved rugby union, the theatre and amateur dramatics. His first performance was for a school concert, at the age of 13, doing an impression of comedian Shelley Berman. After moving northwards, his parents became founding members of an amateur theatre in Auckland called 'The Little Dolphin Theatre'. Dale often operated the stage equipment used to produce weather effects, Dale was a skilled rugby player, but opted to move into drama instead because "the acting fraternity didn't like footballers and the footballers didn't like actors. [...] Acting gave me the same buzz and there was the chance of a longer career." He gave up rugby at the age of 21 because it was not considered a workable career at the time, and he had to support his family. Acting roles were limited in New Zealand so Dale worked in multiple jobs, including as a male model, a car salesman and a realtor. While working as a milkman he heard the disc jockey at his local radio station resign during a broadcast. Dale went over to the station and told the managers he could do a better job. They gave him a trial and then signed him up for the afternoon show. At the age of 27, he decided to become a professional actor. Dale's first professional acting job was playing an Indian in a production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun at the Grafton Theatre in Auckland. His first on-screen role came in the New Zealand television drama Radio Waves, which although not successful, he described as "nine months of solid work and great fun." In the late 1970s, Dale moved to Australia at the age of 32, due to the limited acting work in New Zealand. He applied to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, but was rejected because he "was a lot older than anybody else on the course." He was soon cast as Dr. John Forrest in the Australian soap opera The Young Doctors, where he remained for three-and-a-half years until 1982. In 1985, Dale was cast in the continuing role of Jim Robinson in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. He appeared on the show from the first episode and stayed for eight years before his character was killed off in 1993. He found working on Neighbours "exciting" and it enabled him to provide for his sons, but he said: "You were a totally replaceable commodity; [the production company] didn't put any value on any of the people appearing in the show." He expanded: "I didn't like it there, they were not nice people. When we decided that we hated each other, the company and me, one of the things the company did was to market everything they could out of us and pay us nothing." Dale and the company (Grundy Television) parted on "bad terms", although he would later go on to appear on the show again in 2018 and 2019. After Neighbours, Dale struggled to find work in Australia because he was typecast as Jim Robinson. His only regular sources of income were voice-overs, and publishing magazines about his former show which he "made quite a lot of money out of". He lost most of his profits investing in a failed children's magazine. In 1999, he was cast in the American television film First Daughter, which was filmed in Australia. After discovering he could perform a convincing American accent, Dale attended the film's premiere, finally moving with his family to the United States permanently in January 2000. Dale, his second wife Tracey, and their then two-year-old son Nick moved into an "awful little flat" in Los Angeles and found an agent. Dale recalled telling his wife in Melbourne that "there's no way this is going to work. But if it does, it proves you can do anything." At the age of 52, he began to revive his career and started taking acting classes, something he had not thought about after being cast in Neighbours. He described his age, unknown status and willingness to work for a relatively low fee as being his main assets for getting work in America. His drama teacher, whom he has remained with ever since, told him "that you might want to play great roles, but truth is you will get cast as a specific type. Just work out your type. The others in the class said I was a bit Anthony Hopkins and a bit Sean Connery and that went into my head. I thought if I go for roles those guys would go for I'm more likely to get them." The first role he was offered was a part in a series called Sign of Life, a show about a rock band, which eventually fell through. Dale only received a couple of auditions during his first year in America, but his break came when he was cast as the South African Al Patterson in four episodes of ER. Since then, Dale has been "busier than ever". He has appeared in many television series including guest appearances on The West Wing, Torchwood, The Lone Gunmen, Californication, and The Practice. Many of these have been recurring roles, such as the part of Tom Morrow in JAG and its spin-off NCIS, as well as appearing in three episodes, including the series finale, of The X-Files, playing the "Toothpick Man". He played the recurring role of Vice President of the United States Jim Prescott for seven episodes of the second season of 24, a part which was originally supposed to be a single scene. Dale had recurring roles in the serial Midnight Man and the Australian series Sea Patrol in 2008. He also had recurring parts on Undercovers, Entourage as John Ellis, the fictional owner of Warner Bros., and the British series Moving Wallpaper as a fictional version of himself. He had a recurring role as King George in the series Once Upon a Time, and Emmett in Hot in Cleveland, before joining the main cast of Dominion in 2014, playing General Edward Riesen. From 2003 to 2010, Dale appeared in his longest running American roles. He starred in the Fox TV series, The O.C. playing Caleb Nichol, a wealthy tycoon. The producers saw that the character had further potential, and made his initially recurring role a regular character in the series. After 35 appearances, Caleb was killed off in the second-season episode "The O.Sea" in 2005. Dale was disappointed that Caleb was written out and described it as a mistake by the production staff. In 2006, Dale was cast in the starring role of Bradford Meade, the owner of Meade Publications in the ABC show Ugly Betty. Although he impressed the producers in his audition, he initially lost the role to a "bigger star". After said star began "causing trouble" and was fired, Dale was given the part. Bradford was killed off during the show's second season. Dale appeared in the second-season finale of Lost, "Live Together, Die Alone", as Charles Widmore, a businessman and leader of the Others. Dale's publicist was initially worried that Widmore (who was an integral part of the show's mystery) would become a starring role, meaning it would be hard for Dale to appear in both Lost and Ugly Betty at the same time. The part became a recurring role, with Dale appearing numerous times between seasons two (2006) and six (2010). He enjoyed the role but often found it difficult due to his character's unclear motivation. In March 2008, Dale replaced Peter Davison in the lead role of King Arthur in the London West End production of Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre. He accepted the role because he was a huge fan of Monty Python and considered that "life's too short" for him to have turned down a West End part. Although he has seen all of the Flying Circus sketches and Life Of Brian, Dale had never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail (from which Spamalot is "lovingly ripped off") and had to buy a copy to prepare for the role. It was not his first experience in musical theatre because he appeared in a 1984 Australian production of Applause, but Dale found the comic timing of the part to be the hardest task. "On stage, the battle is to find all of the humorous moments and not skip over them. [...] There's an art to Python humour and I'm aiming to try and get every single joke just right." He was succeeded in the role by Sanjeev Bhaskar on 23 June 2008. Dale has also made several film appearances. He appeared as the Romulan Praetor Hiren in Star Trek: Nemesis, a part he got after the actor originally cast fell ill, and had small parts in films such as Hollywood Homicide, After the Sunset, and the minor part of General Ross in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Dale said his script for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was printed on tin foil so it was impossible to replicate, in order to keep the film's plot a secret. He appeared in four films released in 2011: A Little Bit of Heaven, Priest, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, having joined late in the film's production. Despite his mainstream success upon his move to America, Dale remained primarily known for his role as Jim Robinson in Neighbours in the United Kingdom and Australia for several years. This was spoofed in a promotional ident for the UK's Channel 4 in 2007 which sees Dale taking part in a mock interview about the sudden upturn in his career, before being accosted by an Australian fan, who recognises him as Jim Robinson. Discussing this association after Ugly Betty's 2007 Golden Globe win, Dale noted: "Every article I read I'm always, 'Ex-soap star Jim Robinson'. Maybe now people will just get to know me as actor Alan Dale." In 2007, Amazon.co.uk reported that they had sold more DVDs of films and television shows featuring Dale than any featuring other ex-Neighbours cast members. Dale's characters on most of the American television shows he has appeared on have shared similar character traits, which Dale describes as the "go-to powerful guy". "I either play rulers of the world or the guy who kills the ruler of the world", he said, recalling that his age benefited him after moving to the US, because "A lot of the American middle-aged faces were too familiar, I came along and people were saying 'Who is this great new guy?' And I was cheap". Following his appearance as Senator Eaton in The Killing in 2011, reviewers commented on his tendency to play powerful, wealthy and mysterious characters in many shows. Maureen Ryan of TV Squad wrote that it was "lovely to see Alan Dale playing a typically Alan Dale-ian character. He's always so great at playing That Sketchy Wealthy Guy With a Hidden Agenda, which he has now played on, I believe, 87 different shows. And he always does it well." Coincidentally, Dale's characters in Neighbours, The O.C. and Ugly Betty have all been killed off by a fatal heart attack. Christopher Rosen of The New York Observer wrote in 2008 that "with his square jaw and seemingly no nonsense attitude, Mr. Dale is the go-to actor when casting directors need a conservative-looking authoritarian. When he comes onto the screen, audiences immediately take him seriously, since he radiates rich, smug and serious. He demands your respect." Rosen says that Dale is "not even...a particularly good actor" but is "fine enough" and "bring[s] a no frills, no gimmicks style to his roles," and "manages to give a consistent performance in every show he appears on." Jayne Nelson, writing in magazine SFX, named Dale the second most "serial" science-fiction guest star after Mark Sheppard. She wrote: "The thing is, soap-opera origins aside, Dale is always good. Which is why he keeps getting so much work....Dale never lets you down, always (well, usually) summoning up a pitch-perfect accent, too. There's something comforting about his presence on a show, as though the fact he's in it has lent it some weight." In a profile of his work on "cult shows", Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy called Dale an "institution". In 1968, Dale married his girlfriend, Claire. The couple had two children, Simon and Matthew, both of whom are involved in the entertainment industry, Simon as a radio announcer at Kiss 100 and Matthew as a writer, film maker and actor. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979. At the time, Dale lived in Auckland but after the divorce he moved to Sydney with his sons. On 8 April 1990, he married Tracey Pearson, the 1986 Miss Australia, whom he met at the 1986 Australian Grand Prix, when she was 21 and he was 39. Dale described it as "the most appropriate relationship I've ever had." Dale also has two children from this marriage, Daniel and Nick. He and his family now live in Manhattan Beach, California and also owns property in Australia. Dale sold his holiday home in New Zealand in 2011 for $1.25m. Both of Dale's parents died in 2007. Dale describes his life philosophy as being Winston Churchill's quote "Never, never, never give up", and counts Gene Hackman as his "big acting hero". Spamalot (2008) – King Arthur Alan Dale at IMDb

Photo of Manu Bennett

9. Manu Bennett (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 51.30, Manu Bennett is the 9th most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Jonathan Manu Bennett (born 10 October 1969) is an Australian-New Zealand actor. He is primarily known for portraying characters in epic fantasy works, such as Crixus in the TV series Spartacus, Allanon in The Shannara Chronicles, Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in Arrow, and Azog the Defiler in The Hobbit trilogy.

Photo of Clive Revill

10. Clive Revill (b. 1930)

With an HPI of 51.18, Clive Revill is the 10th most famous New Zealander Actor.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Clive Selsby Revill (born 18 April 1930) is a New Zealand actor, best known for his performances in musical theatre and the London stage. A veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has also starred in numerous films and television programmes, often in character parts. He is a two-time Tony Award nominee; Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Irma La Douce and Best Actor in a Musical for Oliver! He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Billy Wilder's Avanti! (1972). His roles also include voicing the Emperor in the original theatrical edition of The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

People

Pantheon has 44 people classified as New Zealander actors born between 1930 and 2002. Of these 44, 42 (95.45%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living New Zealander actors include Russell Crowe, Lucy Lawless, and Karl Urban. The most famous deceased New Zealander actors include Kevin Smith, and Terence Bayler. As of April 2024, 3 new New Zealander actors have been added to Pantheon including Anna-Louise Plowman, Daniel Logan, and Julian Dennison.

Living New Zealander Actors

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Deceased New Zealander Actors

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Newly Added New Zealander Actors (2024)

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