List of New Zealanders

This is a list of well-known people associated with New Zealand.

Art

• Charles Goldie - painter
• Len Lye - artist/film maker
• Patrick Hanly - painter
• Frances Hodgkins - painter
• Ralph Hotere - painter, educator
• Colin McCahon - painter, museum curator, teacher
• Selwyn Muru - carver, painter, poet, producer, singer, writer

Film, Radio, Television

• 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)
• Max Cryer - presenter, singer, writer
• Peter Jackson - film director
• Billy T James - comedian, actor
• Phil Keoghan - TV presenter (born in New Zealand)
• Lucy Lawless - actress (Xena Warrior Princess)
• Richard Long - Former TVNZ newsreader
• Anita McNaught - TVNZ and BBC World newsreader
• Temuera Morrison - actor
• Ian Mune - actor, director, screenwriter
• Brian Perkins - BBC Radio Four newsreader and announcer
• Sam Neill - actor
• Anna Paquin - actress (born in Canada, raised in New Zealand)
• 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
• Keri Hulme - author
• Michael King - author, historian
• 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

See also List of New Zealand musicians.

• Jack Body - composer
• Ray Columbus - singer, TV presenter
• Dave Dobbyn - singer, songwriter
• Neil Finn - singer, songwriter
• Tim Finn - singer, songwriter
• Dame Joan Hammond - violinist, soprano
• Marc Hunter - singer (moved to Australia)
• Dame Kiri Te Kanawa - opera singer
• Chris Knox - singer, songwriter
• Douglas Lilburn - composer, educator
• Jenny Morris - singer, songwriter
• Scribe - rapper
• Hayley Westenra - singer

Politics

Main list: List of New Zealand politicians

• 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)
• Tariana Turia - Maori politician
• Julius Vogel - Prime Minister

Science

• Leslie Comrie - computer pioneer
• Harold Gillies - pioneering plastic surgeon
• Edward Kidson (1882 - 1939) was an eminent New Zealand scientist, latterly Director of Meteorological Services in New Zealand.
• William Pickering, central figure and pioneer of NASA space exploration
• 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

• Chris Amon - racing driver
• Anne Audain - runner
• Todd Blackadder - rugby player
• Sir Peter Blake - yachtsman
• Possum Bourne - rally driver
• Michael Campbell - golfer
• Sir Bob Charles - champion golfer
• 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
• Murray Halberg - runner
• 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
• Lorraine Moller - runner, won Boston Marathon
• Allison Roe - runner, won Boston and New York City Marathons 1981
• Peter Snell - runner
• Mark Todd - horseman
• John Walker - runner
• Michael Walker - jockey
• Wayne Shelford - rugby player
• Sarah Ulmer - cyclist
• Tana Umaga - rugby player
• Tony Wilding, tennis great

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
• Eve van Grafhorst, (born Australia) AIDS patient and activist
• Murray Haszard, entrepreneur and businessman
• Dr Fred Hollows - eye surgeon (moved to Australia)
• Hone Heke - Māori activist
• Rachel Hunter - supermodel
• Vaughan Jones - mathematician (Field's medallist)
• Ngaio Marsh - author and theatrical director
• Pat Kelly - trade unionist
• Kate Sheppard - suffragist
• Te Kooti - Māori leader

Other lists

• Governor-General of New Zealand (for a list of Governors-General)
• 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