List of Famous people born in New Zealand
Joel Little
Joel Little is a New Zealand record producer, musician and Grammy Award-winning songwriter. He is best known for his work as a writer and producer with artists Lorde, Taylor Swift, Broods, Sam Smith, Imagine Dragons, Ellie Goulding, Khalid, Elliphant, Jarryd James, Shawn Mendes, Marina Diamandis and the Jonas Brothers.
Michael Broadhurst
Michael Broadhurst is a New Zealand born Japanese rugby union player who plays at flanker, lock or number 8 for the Ricoh Black Rams in the Top League and the Japan national rugby union team.
Brendan Cole
Brendan Cole is a New Zealand ballroom dancer, specialising in Latin American dancing. He is most famous for appearing as a professional dancer on the BBC One show, Strictly Come Dancing. From 2005 to 2009, he was a judge on the New Zealand version of the show, Dancing with the Stars.
Wayne Pivac
Wayne Pivac is a New Zealand rugby union coach. In November 2019 he replaced Warren Gatland as the Wales national team coach. A former sworn officer in the New Zealand Police, he was a constable at the Takapuna police station on Auckland's North Shore. He played his early rugby at Rosmini College and then Westlake Boys High School. Pivac played senior rugby for both the Northcote and Takapuna rugby clubs. Pivac played for North Harbour Rugby Union while he was a policeman. A reoccurring knee injury forced Pivac to retire from playing Rugby at the age of 28. In 2012 Pivac was named at flanker in the Westlake Boys High school 50 year anniversary greatest First XV
Emma Humphries
Emma Louise Humphries is a New Zealand association football player who represented her country at international level.
Lorraine Downes
Lorraine Elizabeth Downes is a New Zealand dancer and beauty queen who won the Miss Universe title in 1983 and the New Zealand version of the reality TV show Dancing with the Stars in 2006.
Sophie Pascoe
Sophie Frances Pascoe is a New Zealand para-swimmer. She has represented New Zealand at three Summer Paralympic Games from 2008, winning a total of nine gold medals and six silver medals, making her New Zealand's most successful Paralympian. She also went to the Commonwealth Games to represent New Zealand.
Sean Marks
Sean Andrew Marks is a New Zealand basketball executive and former player and coach who is the general manager of the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the first New Zealand-born player to play in the NBA. Marks won two championships with the San Antonio Spurs: one as a player in 2005 and another as an assistant coach in 2014.
Emma Twigg
Emma Twigg is a New Zealand rower. A single sculler, she was the 2014 world champion and won gold in her fourth Olympics in Tokyo in July 2021. Previous Olympic appearances were in 2008, 2012, and 2016. She has retired from rowing twice, first for master-level studies in Europe in 2015 and then after the 2016 Olympics, disappointed at having narrowly missed an Olympic medal for the second time. After two years off the water, she started training again in 2018 and won silver at the 2019 World Rowing Championships. Since her marriage in 2020, she has become an outspoken advocate for LGBT athletes. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Twigg won gold in the woman's single scull.
Simon Bridges
Simon Joseph Bridges is a New Zealand politician and lawyer. He served as Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tauranga since the 2008 election.