Film and TV Peter Arnett - TV journalist Jane Campion - film director Keisha Castle-Hughes - actress John Clarke - actor, comedian (moved to Australia) Russell Crowe - actor (moved to Australia at age 4) Peter Jackson - film director Phil Keoghan - TV presenter (born in New Zealand) Lucy Lawless - actress (Xena Warrior Princess) Temuera Morrison - actor Ian Mune - actor, director, screenwriter Sam Neill - actor Karl Urban - actor Inventors John Britten - designer of the Britten motorcycle Bill Hamilton - developed the modern jetboat Richard Pearse - outstanding early aviator/inventor Literary Fleur Adcock - poet Sylvia Ashton-Warner - author James K. Baxter - poet A. R. D. Fairburn - poet Janet Frame - author Sam Hunt - poet Witi Ihimaera - author Katherine Mansfield - author Ngaio Marsh - author Ruth Park - author (moved to Australia) Frank Sargeson - author Maurice Shadbolt - author C.K. Stead - author, poet Cherry Wilder - author Military Bernard, Lord Freyberg of Wellington - General, and Victoria Cross winner Alfred Hulme - awarded the Victoria Cross "Cobber" Kain - RAF fighter ace (first pilot to win a DFC in WW II) Sir Keith Park- RAF sector commander during the Battle of Britain Lloyd Alan Trigg - World War II pilot, (only person awarded the VC on recommendation of the enemy) Charles Upham - World War II soldier (only combat soldier to win the Victoria Cross twice) Nancy Wake - the most decorated servicewoman of World War II Music Jack Body - composer Dave Dobbyn - singer, songwriter Neil Finn - singer, songwriter Tim Finn - singer, songwriter Dame Joan Hammond - violinist, soprano Marc Hunter - singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa - opera singer Chris Knox - singer, songwriter Douglas Lilburn - composer, educator Jenny Morris - singer, songwriter Hayley Westenra - singer Politics Georgina Beyer - world's first transsexual MP Jim Bolger - Prime Minister Helen Clark - New Zealand Prime Minister (1999 - ) Don McKinnon - Secretary General of the Commonwealth Garnet Hercules Mackley - MP Mike Moore - Prime Minister and Director-General of the World Trade Organization Michael Joseph Savage - Prime Minister Richard Seddon - Prime Minister Jenny Shipley - Prime Minister 1997 - 1999 (NZ's first female prime minister) Julius Vogel - Prime Minister Science Harold Gillies - pioneering plastic surgeon Edward Kidson (1882 - 1939) was an eminent New Zealand scientist, latterly Director of Meteorological Services in New Zealand. Ernest, Lord Rutherford of Nelson - scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize Maurice Wilkins - received the Nobel Prize for his part in the discovery of DNA Sports Todd Blackadder - rugby player Sir Peter Blake - champion yachtsman Possum Bourne - rally driver Don Clarke - rugby player Christian Cullen - rugby player Scott Dixon - racing driver Ian Ferguson - kayaker Bob Fitzsimmons - world boxing heavyweight champion (born in UK, raised in NZ) Sir Richard Hadlee - cricketer Sir Edmund Hillary - mountaineer Denny Hulme - world champion racing driver Jonah Lomu - rugby player Jack Lovelock - runner Arthur Lydiard - running coach Bruce McLaren - racing driver Colin Meads - rugby player Stan Meads - rugby player; younger brother of Colin Peter Snell - runner Mark Todd - horseman John Walker - runner Other Alexander Aitken - mathematician / soldier Rewi Alley - friend of China Jean Batten - Aviator Thomas Bracken - author of God Defend New Zealand and first to publish the phrase God's Own Country Ian Brackenbury Channell - The Wizard of Christchurch and of New Zealand Charles Goldie - artist Eve van Grafhorst, (born Australia) AIDS patient and activist Dr Fred Hollows - eye surgeon (moved to Australia) Hone Heke - Māori activist Rachel Hunter - supermodel Vaughan Jones - mathematician (Field's medallist) Len Lye - artist/film maker Ngaio Marsh - author and theatrical director Kate Sheppard - suffragist Te Kooti - Māori leader Other lists Prime Minister of New Zealand (for a list of PMs) Culture of New Zealand (for a list of iconic characters), New Zealand cinema (for a list of related people) New Zealand literature (for a list of New Zealand writers) List of people by nationality
