List of Famous people born in New Zealand

Taika David Cohen, known professionally as Taika Waititi, is a New Zealand film and television director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and comedian. He is the recipient of an Academy Award as well as two further nominations. He has also received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film.

Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director. She is the second of five women ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and the first and only female filmmaker to receive the Palme d'Or, which she received for the acclaimed film The Piano (1993), for which she also won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Among her other directed films An Angel at My Table and Bright Star are the most highly regarded.

Rachin Ravindra is a New Zealand cricketer. Ravindra was born to Indian parents Ravi Krishnamurthy, a software system architect from Bengaluru, and Deepa Krishnamurthy in Wellington, New Zealand. He made his international debut for the New Zealand cricket team in September 2021.

Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie is a New Zealand actress. She rose to prominence and garnered critical acclaim for playing the lead role in Debra Granik's 2018 drama film Leave No Trace. She has also appeared in supporting roles in Jojo Rabbit and True History of the Kelly Gang.

Daniel Preston Hooker is a New Zealand mixed martial artist. He was the King in the Ring Middleweight Kickboxing Champion and WKBF X-Rules Welterweight Champion, and currently competes in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of January 25, 2021, he is #8 in the UFC lightweight rankings.

Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. First elected to the House of Representatives as a list MP in 2008, she has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Mount Albert since March 2017.

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, known professionally as Lorde, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Taking inspiration from aristocracy for her stage name, she is known for employing unconventional musical styles and introspective songwriting. Lorde's music is primarily electropop and contains elements of subgenres such as dream pop and indie-electro.

Keith Lionel Urban is an New Zealand singer, songwriter, and record producer. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, charting four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Sir Peter Robert Jackson is a New Zealand film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03) and the Hobbit trilogy (2012–14), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. He is the third-highest-grossing film director of all time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.

Christopher Mark Luxon is a New Zealand politician and former business executive who is currently serving as leader of the National Party and is the Leader of the Opposition. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Botany electorate since the 2020 general election. He was the chief executive officer of Air New Zealand from 2012 to 2019. Luxon also served in Judith Collins' shadow cabinet as Spokesperson for Local Government, Research, Science, Manufacturing and Land Information, as well as being the Associate Spokesperson for Transport. He has been leader since 30 November 2021, succeeding Collins.

James Francis Rawiri Lowe is a rugby union player who plays as a wing or fullback. Born in New Zealand, he plays for Leinster Rugby and represents Ireland after qualifying through the three-year residency rule. He has also represented the Māori All Blacks.

Joseph Dennis Parker, OM, is a New Zealand professional boxer of Samoan heritage. He held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 to 2018, and previously multiple regional heavyweight championships including the WBO Oriental, Africa, and Oceania titles; as well as the PABA, OPBF, and New Zealand titles. As an amateur he represented New Zealand at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the super-heavyweight division, and narrowly missed qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Daryl Joseph Mitchell is a New Zealand cricketer who represents Canterbury in domestic cricket, and plays for the national team. He is the son of New Zealand rugby union coach and former player John Mitchell.

Kane Stuart Williamson is a New Zealand international cricketer who is currently the captain of the New Zealand national team in all formats. He is a right-handed batsman and an occasional off spin bowler. Williamson is consistently rated as one of the top-ranked Test and ODI batsmen in the world, according to the ICC Player Rankings. On 31 December 2020, he reached a Test batting rating of 890, surpassing Steve Smith and Virat Kohli as the number one ranked Test batsmen in the world. Williamson was the only New Zealander to be named in the ICC Test Team of the Decade (2011–2020). The late former New Zealand cricketer, Martin Crowe, noted that, "we're seeing the dawn of probably our greatest ever batsman" in Williamson.

Bradley Riddell is a New Zealand mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Keneti James Fitzgerald Apa is a New Zealand actor, singer, and musician. He began acting playing Kane Jenkins in the New Zealand primetime soap opera Shortland Street from 2013 to 2015. In 2016, Apa was cast in the lead role of Archie Andrews in the CW drama series Riverdale. In film, Apa has starred in A Dog's Purpose (2017), The Hate U Give (2018), and I Still Believe (2020).

Russell Ira Crowe is an actor, film producer, director and musician. Although a New Zealand citizen, he has lived most of his life in Australia. He came to international attention for his role as the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the epic historical film Gladiator (2000), directed by Ridley Scott, for which Crowe won an Academy Award, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, an Empire Award, and a London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actor, along with ten other nominations in the same category. Crowe's other award-winning performances include portrayals of tobacco firm whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand in the drama film The Insider (1999) and John F. Nash in the biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Temuera Derek Morrison is a New Zealand actor who first gained recognition for his role as Dr. Hone Ropata on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. He gained critical acclaim after starring as Jake "The Muss" Heke in the 1994 film Once Were Warriors and its 1999 sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

Martin Henderson is a New Zealand actor known for his roles on the ABC medical drama Off the Map as Dr. Ben Keeton, the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Nathan Riggs, the Netflix romantic drama Virgin River as Jack Sheridan and for his performance as Noah Clay in the 2002 horror film The Ring, while remaining known in his home country for his teenage role as Stuart Neilson in the soap opera Shortland Street.

Anne Louise Wyllie is a New Zealand microbiologist who has worked on community studies to better understand pneumococcal disease. She is part of the Public Health Modeling Unit at Yale University. She is best known for developing the SalivaDirect PCR method of testing saliva for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.