Cliff Curtis: The Life Story Behind New Zealand's Star

A Rotorua Boy With Māori Roots

Cliff Curtis was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, on 27 July 1968, and he grew up in a Māori family, of Ngāti Rongomai and Ngāti Pikiao descent, in a city known for its geothermal activity, its lakes and its Māori culture, where the traditions of his ancestors were not a distant history but a part of everyday life, because Rotorua is one of the centres of Māori culture in New Zealand, and a boy growing up there learns the language, the stories and the values of his people from a young age, which is a foundation that has shaped Cliff’s career, because he has always been proud of his Māori heritage, and has spoken about the importance of telling Māori stories, and of representing his people on screen, which is a responsibility he takes seriously, and that the audience can see in his performances, because they are grounded in a sense of place, of history and of identity that few actors possess. He attended schools in Rotorua, and then, after leaving school, he applied to Toi Whakaari, the New Zealand Drama School in Wellington, one of the most respected drama schools in the country, and he was accepted, which was a significant achievement, because Toi Whakaari’s acting course is highly competitive, and its graduates include many of New Zealand’s finest actors, and at Toi Whakaari, Cliff trained in voice, movement, Shakespeare and scene study, and he learned the disciplines that every actor needs, yet he also learned something more important, which is how to think about a character as a person, with a history, a culture and a point of view, which is a lesson that has stayed with him throughout his career, because his characters, whether they are Māori, Samoan, Colombian or American, always feel like real people, not stereotypes, which is a rare achievement, and one that casting directors noticed early, because Cliff could play almost any ethnicity, any nationality, and make the character believable, which is both a gift and a burden, because it meant he was often cast as the other, yet it also meant he was always in demand, which is a paradox that has defined his career, and that he has handled with a dignity that deserves respect.

His first film roles came in the early 1990s, and they placed him in the middle of a renaissance in New Zealand cinema, because the early 1990s were a time when New Zealand films were being seen around the world, and Cliff was part of that moment, in a way that few actors are, because he appeared in two of the most important New Zealand films of the decade, in quick succession. In 1993 he had a small role in The Piano, directed by Jane Campion, a film about a mute woman, Ada, played by Holly Hunter, who arrives in New Zealand in the nineteenth century, and the film, which won Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Hunter and Best Supporting Actress for Anna Paquin, was a global success, and Cliff’s small part in it, though it was not large, placed him on a set with one of the greatest directors in the world, and taught him how a film of that quality was made, which is an education that no drama school can provide. In 1994 he appeared in Once Were Warriors, directed by Lee Tamahori, a film about a Māori family in Auckland, the Hekes, whose lives are torn apart by violence, alcohol and poverty, and Cliff played Bully, a friend of the family’s son Nig, and the film, which was based on Alan Duff’s novel, became one of the most successful and controversial New Zealand films ever made, because it showed Māori life with a honesty that was both shocking and necessary, and it made Cliff, and his co-stars Temuera Morrison and Rena Owen, into stars in New Zealand, because the film was watched by almost everyone in the country, and its characters became part of the national conversation, about violence, about family, and about what it means to be Māori in modern New Zealand, which is a conversation that continues today, and that Once Were Warriors started, in a way that no film had before.

In the same year, 1994, Cliff also appeared in Rapa Nui, a film about Easter Island, produced by Kevin Costner, in which he played Short Ears, a character in a story about two tribes, and the film, though it was not a commercial success, gave Cliff his first experience of a Hollywood production, with a large budget, a large crew and an international cast, which is a lesson in itself, because a New Zealand actor who can work on a Hollywood film learns how the industry works, and Cliff learned it early, which is why he was ready when Hollywood called again, and it did, in the late 1990s, with roles in American films that used his versatility, his ability to play different ethnicities, and his talent for making a character feel real, even when the film around him was not. In 1999 he appeared in Three Kings, a war film directed by David O. Russell, starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube, about American soldiers in Iraq after the Gulf War, and Cliff played Amir Abdullah, an Iraqi rebel, a role that required him to speak Arabic, to play a man fighting for his country, and to hold his own opposite three movie stars, which he did, because his performance was praised for its dignity and its humanity, which is a quality that Cliff brings to every role, even a supporting one, because he understands that a character, however small, has a life, a history and a reason for being there, and the audience can tell when an actor understands that, which is why Cliff’s supporting roles are often the most memorable in a film, even when they are not the largest, because the audience remembers the actor who made a small part feel large, and Cliff has done that, again and again, for thirty years.

Whale Rider, Hollywood and the Working Actor

In 2002 Cliff took a role that would become one of his most loved in New Zealand, playing Porourangi, the father of Paikea, in Whale Rider, a film directed by Niki Caro, based on Witi Ihimaera’s novel, about a young Māori girl, Pai, played by Keisha Castle-Hughes, who wants to become the chief of her tribe, despite the tradition that only men can lead, and the film became a global success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Castle-Hughes, who was thirteen, and winning awards around the world, because it told a story about tradition, about gender, and about a girl’s courage, with a beauty and a simplicity that audiences loved, and Cliff’s Porourangi, who was an artist, a father who had left his village to live in Germany, and who returns to support his daughter, was a character who was both modern and traditional, a man caught between two worlds, which is a role that Cliff, who is himself caught between Māori and Pākehā, between New Zealand and Hollywood, understood deeply, and played with a warmth and a sadness that made Porourangi one of the film’s most loved characters, because the audience could see, in him, a father who loved his daughter, who was proud of her, and who was willing to defy tradition to support her, which is a story that resonates in every culture, and that Whale Rider told with a grace that few films achieve. Whale Rider also confirmed Cliff’s status as one of New Zealand’s finest actors, because he had now appeared in The Piano, Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider, three of the most important New Zealand films ever made, which is a record that few actors can match, and that Cliff achieved by his mid-thirties, which is a remarkable achievement, and one that the New Zealand film industry recognised, by casting him again and again, in films that mattered, because they knew he would deliver, which is the highest compliment an industry can pay an actor, that it trusts him, and that trust, which Cliff earned, has never left him.

While he was building his reputation in New Zealand, Cliff was also building a career in Hollywood, and the films he made there in the 2000s showed the range that had made him valuable, because he could play a Colombian drug lord, an Iraqi rebel, a Latino gangster and a Māori father, often in the same year, which is a versatility that few actors possess, and that Hollywood, which often typecasts actors by ethnicity, found both useful and confusing, because Cliff did not fit into a single category, and the industry did not know what to do with an actor who could be anyone, yet needed him, because the films needed someone who could play the other, and Cliff could, which is why he was cast in Blow in 2001, playing Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug lord, opposite Johnny Depp, in Training Day in 2001, playing Smiley, a Latino gang member, opposite Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, and in Live Free or Die Hard in 2007, playing a villain, and each of these roles, though they were supporting, showed a different side of his talent, from the menace of Escobar to the loyalty of Smiley, and the audience, though they did not always know his name, remembered his face, because he made each character distinct, which is a skill that the best character actors possess, and that Cliff has in abundance, because he does not play a type but a person, and the person, however small the part, feels real, which is why directors continue to cast him, even when the role is not large, because they know he will make it memorable.

In 2014 Cliff took a role that would become one of his most acclaimed, playing Genesis Potini, a Māori chess player, in The Dark Horse, a New Zealand film directed by James Napier Robertson, based on the true story of Potini, a man who suffered from bipolar disorder, who was a brilliant chess player, and who taught chess to disadvantaged children in Gisborne, in the hope of giving them a better life, and the film, which was a drama about mental illness, about chess, and about the power of a teacher, required Cliff to play a man who was both brilliant and broken, and he did it with a performance that was widely praised as one of the best in New Zealand cinema, winning him awards and earning him the respect of critics who had long admired him, but who had never seen him in a leading role of this depth, because Genesis was a character who was complex, who was funny, sad, inspiring and frightening, often in the same scene, and Cliff played him with a honesty that made the audience love him, even when he was difficult, because they could see, in Genesis, a man who was trying, who was failing, and who was trying again, which is a universal story, and one that The Dark Horse told with a grace that few films achieve. The film was a success in New Zealand and at festivals around the world, and it confirmed that Cliff Curtis, who had spent twenty years as a supporting actor in Hollywood, could carry a film as a leading man, in his own country, in a story about his own people, which is a achievement that matters, because it showed that the actor who could play anyone could also play himself, or at least, a man like himself, a Māori man, a teacher, a chess player, and that the audience, when it saw him do it, recognised the truth in it, which is the highest compliment an actor can receive, that the audience believes him, not as a character, but as a person.

Fear the Walking Dead, Avatar and the Global Stage

In 2015 Cliff took the lead in Fear the Walking Dead, a spin-off from the hit series The Walking Dead, playing Travis Manawa, a high school teacher in Los Angeles who must protect his family when a zombie apocalypse begins, and the series, which ran for eight seasons, with Cliff appearing in the first three, became a hit for AMC, watched by millions of viewers, and it gave Cliff a leading role on American television, which is a rare achievement for a New Zealand actor, and one that he earned through twenty years of work, because Travis was a character who was decent, brave and flawed, a man who tried to do the right thing in a world where the right thing was often impossible, and Cliff played him with a warmth and a humanity that made the audience care about him, even when the show’s storylines became darker, and his departure from the show, in the third season, when Travis is killed, was a moment that fans discussed for months, because they had invested in the character, and his death felt like a real loss, which is a testament to Cliff’s performance, because a character whose death matters is a character who lived, and Travis lived, for three seasons, in Cliff’s hands, which is a achievement that few actors can claim, and one that Cliff is proud of, because it showed that he could carry a series, not only a film, and that the American audience, which had known him as a supporting actor, now knew him as a leading man.

After Fear the Walking Dead, Cliff took roles in major Hollywood films, including The Meg in 2018, a shark thriller starring Jason Statham, in which he played James Mackreides, a member of the crew, and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw in 2019, in which he played Jonah Hobbs, the brother of Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson, and the role, which was set in Samoa, allowed Cliff to play a Samoan character, in a film that celebrated Samoan culture, which is a rare opportunity in Hollywood, and one that Cliff, who is Māori, not Samoan, approached with respect, because he understood the importance of representing Pacific cultures accurately, and the film’s Samoan scenes, with their tattoos, their dances and their family values, were praised for their authenticity, which is partly due to Cliff’s performance, and partly due to the film’s commitment to getting it right, which is a sign of how Hollywood is changing, slowly, to tell Pacific stories with Pacific actors, and Cliff, who has been part of that change for thirty years, is one of its pioneers. In 2019 he also appeared in Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, directed by Mike Flanagan, playing Dick Hallorann, a character originally played by Scatman Crothers, and the role required Cliff to play a man with psychic abilities, who mentors a young boy, and he did it with a warmth and a wisdom that made Dick feel like a real person, not a plot device, which is a skill that Cliff has shown again and again, in supporting roles that become memorable because the actor makes them so.

The most significant role of Cliff’s recent career came in 2022, when he played Tonowari, the chief of the Metkayina, a clan of Na’vi who live on the water, in Avatar: The Way of Water, directed by James Cameron, the sequel to Avatar, the highest-grossing film of all time, and the film, which was a technical marvel, with its underwater motion capture, its visual effects and its world-building, became one of the highest-grossing films ever made, earning more than two billion dollars, and Cliff’s Tonowari, who was a leader, a father and a warrior, was one of the film’s most important new characters, because he represented a different Na’vi culture, one that lived on the sea, not in the forest, and Cliff played him with a dignity, a strength and a warmth that made the audience care about the Metkayina, even though they were new, and his performance, which was captured through motion capture, a technique in which the actor’s movements and expressions are recorded and translated into a digital character, required Cliff to act without costumes, without sets, in a studio, which is a different kind of acting, and one that he mastered, because the Tonowari that audiences saw on screen felt real, which is a testament to Cliff’s skill, and to Cameron’s trust in him, because Cameron, who is one of the most demanding directors in the world, chose Cliff for a reason, and the reason was that he knew Cliff could deliver, which he did, and he returned as Tonowari in Avatar: Fire and Ash in 2025, the third film in the series, which confirmed that his character, and his performance, are central to the Avatar saga, and that Cliff Curtis, the boy from Rotorua, is now part of one of the biggest film franchises in history, which is a journey that few actors take, and that Cliff has taken with grace, humility and a pride in his Māori heritage that has never left him.

What the Career Adds Up To

Looked at as a whole, Cliff Curtis’s career has a shape that is easy to miss if you only remember one role, because it is the shape of a person who began as a boy in Rotorua, trained at Toi Whakaari, appeared in The Piano, Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider, became a working actor in Hollywood, played Genesis Potini in The Dark Horse, led Fear the Walking Dead, and became Tonowari in Avatar, and who did it all with the same dignity, the same versatility and the same pride in his Māori heritage, which is why he has lasted while other actors have faded. He has played a Māori father, a Colombian drug lord, an Iraqi rebel, a chess player, a teacher in a zombie apocalypse and a Na’vi chief, and each of those characters was different, yet each of them was played with the same honesty, the same humanity and the same belief that a character, however small, has a life, which is a philosophy that has guided his career for thirty years. The through-line is not fame but representation, because Cliff Curtis has always been a representative, of Māori people, of New Zealand, of the Pacific, and of the idea that an actor can play anyone, yet never forget who he is, which is a balance that few actors achieve, and that Cliff has achieved, by being proud of where he comes from, and by being willing to go anywhere the work takes him, from Rotorua to Hollywood to Pandora, one role at a time, which is a story worth telling, because it shows that a boy from a small city in New Zealand can become a star in the biggest films in the world, without losing himself, which is a rare achievement, and one that Cliff Curtis has earned, through talent, hard work and a deep sense of who he is.

The Actor Who Can Play Anyone

There is one more part of Cliff Curtis’s story that deserves attention, and it is the way he can play anyone, from a Māori father to a Colombian drug lord to a Na’vi chief, and make each of them feel real, because that ability, to disappear into a character, is the rarest in acting, and Cliff possesses it in abundance, yet it has also been a burden, because Hollywood has often cast him as the other, as the foreigner, as the villain, and the roles, though they were well-played, did not always allow him to play himself, which is a frustration that he has spoken about with candour, because he understands that representation matters, and that an actor who can play anyone should also be allowed to play someone like himself, which is why The Dark Horse and Avatar matter, because Genesis Potini was a Māori man, and Tonowari, though he is blue and lives on Pandora, is a chief, a father and a leader, which are roles that Cliff, as a Māori man, understands from the inside, and that understanding, which comes from his heritage, is what makes his performances feel true, even when the character is not human, which is a remarkable achievement, and one that few actors can claim, because it requires the actor to bring his own identity to the role, not to hide it, and Cliff brings his, every time, which is why his characters, however different, share a quality, the quality of dignity, which is the quality of a man who knows who he is, and who is proud of it.

A Career of Dignity and Versatility

Cliff Curtis’s career is a career of dignity and versatility, because he has played many roles, in many countries, in many languages, and he has done it with a professionalism that the industry respects, and a humanity that the audience loves, which is a combination that few actors achieve, because most actors are good at one thing, while Cliff is good at many, and the many things he is good at, from Māori drama to Hollywood action to motion capture, are the reason he has lasted for thirty years, while other actors have faded. He has also been a mentor to younger Māori and Pacific actors, who look to him as an example of how to build a career, how to survive Hollywood, and how to keep working, and that mentorship, though informal, is part of his legacy, because the actors who follow him will benefit from the path he paved, from Rotorua to Toi Whakaari to Hollywood to Pandora, which is a path that no one had taken before, and that Cliff took, one role at a time, with dignity, with versatility, and with a pride in his heritage that has never left him, which is a story worth telling, because it shows that an actor can be anyone, yet never forget who he is, and that is the most important lesson of all, for any actor, from any place, who dreams of a bigger stage, because the stage is bigger when you bring yourself to it, which is exactly what Cliff Curtis has done, for thirty years, and counting.

My Take:

When I look at Cliff Curtis’s career, the first thing that strikes me is the versatility, because he has played a Māori father, a Colombian drug lord, an Iraqi rebel, a chess player, a teacher in a zombie apocalypse and a Na’vi chief, and each of those characters was different, yet each of them felt real, which is a rare achievement, because most actors are good at one kind of character and spend their lives repeating it, while Cliff has been good at many kinds and has kept finding new ones. I think his most important decision was the decision to take The Dark Horse, because it was a leading role in a New Zealand film about a Māori man, Genesis Potini, a chess player with bipolar disorder, and the role required Cliff to play a man who was both brilliant and broken, and he did it with a performance that was widely praised as one of the best in New Zealand cinema, winning him awards and earning him the respect of critics who had long admired him, but who had never seen him in a leading role of this depth, because Genesis was a character who was complex, funny, sad, inspiring and frightening, often in the same scene, and Cliff played him with a honesty that made the audience love him, even when he was difficult, because they could see, in Genesis, a man who was trying, who was failing, and who was trying again, which is a universal story, and one that The Dark Horse told with a grace that few films achieve. The film proved that Cliff, who had spent twenty years as a supporting actor in Hollywood, could carry a film as a leading man, in his own country, in a story about his own people, which is an achievement that matters, because it showed that the actor who could play anyone could also play himself, or at least, a man like himself, and that the audience, when it saw him do it, recognised the truth in it.

The Avatar role deserves a closer look, because Tonowari, the chief of the Metkayina, is a character who is central to the Avatar saga, and Cliff’s performance, which was captured through motion capture, required him to act without costumes, without sets, in a studio, which is a different kind of acting, and one that he mastered, because the Tonowari that audiences saw on screen felt real, which is a testament to Cliff’s skill, and to James Cameron’s trust in him, because Cameron, who is one of the most demanding directors in the world, chose Cliff for a reason, and the reason was that he knew Cliff could deliver, which he did, in The Way of Water, which earned more than two billion dollars, and again in Fire and Ash in 2025. I notice that Tonowari is a leader, a father and a warrior, which are roles that Cliff, as a Māori man, understands from the inside, because Māori culture values leadership, family and strength, and that understanding, which comes from his heritage, is what makes his performance feel true, even though the character is blue and lives on Pandora, which is a remarkable achievement, and one that few actors can claim, because it requires the actor to bring his own identity to the role, not to hide it, and Cliff brings his, every time. His work in Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider also deserves attention, because those films, which are among the most important in New Zealand cinema, gave Cliff his start, and the fact that he appeared in The Piano, Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider, three of the most important New Zealand films ever made, by his mid-thirties, is a record that few actors can match, and one that the New Zealand film industry recognised, by casting him again and again, because they knew he would deliver.

What I admire most about Cliff Curtis is the dignity, because he has always played his characters with dignity, even when they were villains, even when they were small, and that dignity, which comes from his Māori heritage, from his training at Toi Whakaari, and from his own character, is a quality that the audience can feel, because a character who is played with dignity is a character who is respected, and the audience respects a character who is respected by the actor. His versatility has also been a burden, because Hollywood has often cast him as the other, as the foreigner, as the villain, and the roles, though they were well-played, did not always allow him to play himself, which is a frustration that he has spoken about with candour, because he understands that representation matters, and that an actor who can play anyone should also be allowed to play someone like himself, which is why The Dark Horse matters, because Genesis Potini was a Māori man, and Cliff played him as a Māori man, with all the complexity that implies, and the audience, when it saw him do it, recognised the truth. There are limits to what he has done, and I should name them, because he has not yet had a leading role in a major Hollywood film, and his Hollywood career, though it includes Three Kings, Training Day and Avatar, has been a series of supporting roles rather than leading roles, which means the question of whether he can carry a Hollywood film on his own remains open, yet the fact that he carried The Dark Horse and Fear the Walking Dead suggests that he can, and that the industry simply has not given him the chance, which is a failure of the industry, not of the actor, because the actor who can play anyone deserves to play a leading man, and Cliff Curtis is that actor.

For young actors, especially those from New Zealand and the Pacific, Cliff Curtis’s career is a useful map, because it shows that the way to survive is to be versatile, to work in New Zealand and in Hollywood, in film and in television, in drama and in action, and to do each of them well, because versatility is insurance against the changes in the industry. His path, from Rotorua to Toi Whakaari to Once Were Warriors to Hollywood to Avatar, is a path that many actors have taken, and the lesson of it is that the training matters, the small roles matter, and the willingness to play a character who is different from you matters, because each of those steps adds a skill and a connection that the next step depends on. My honest view is that Cliff Curtis is one of the finest actors of his generation, and that his career, taken as a whole, is stronger than any single film in it, because it is the story of a boy from Rotorua who became a star in the biggest films in the world, without losing himself, which is a story worth remembering. The work continues, and the next chapter, whether it is another Avatar film, a new New Zealand drama or a new Hollywood role, will probably be as surprising as the last one, because Cliff Curtis has never done the expected thing twice, and he is still, in his late fifties, learning, growing and surprising audiences who thought they knew what he could do.

One more thing about Cliff Curtis deserves to be said, and it is the way he has represented Māori people on screen, because he has always been proud of his heritage, and has spoken about the importance of telling Māori stories, and of representing his people accurately, which is a responsibility he takes seriously, and that the audience can see in his performances, because they are grounded in a sense of place, of history and of identity that few actors possess. I think his mentorship of younger Māori and Pacific actors matters too, because the actors who follow him will benefit from the path he paved, from Rotorua to Hollywood to Pandora, which is a path that no one had taken before, and that Cliff took, one role at a time, with dignity, with versatility, and with a pride in his heritage that has never left him. The story of Cliff Curtis is, in the end, a story about a boy who knew who he was, who went to drama school, and who became an actor who could play anyone, yet never forgot who he was, and that is a story worth telling, because it shows that an actor can be anyone, yet never forget who he is, and that is the most important lesson of all, for any actor, from any place, who dreams of a bigger stage.

Finally, I want to say something about Fear the Walking Dead, because it is the series that gave Cliff a leading role on American television, and it deserves to be remembered not only as a zombie show but as a drama about a family, about a teacher who must protect his family in a world that has fallen apart, and Cliff played Travis Manawa with a warmth and a humanity that made the audience care about him, even when the show’s storylines became darker. My honest view is that his career is not finished, and that the best of it may still be ahead, because the roles for men in their late fifties, the chiefs, the fathers, the leaders, are the roles he was born to play, and the dignity and versatility he brings to them will make them memorable, long after the films themselves have ended. When those roles come, the story will change again, and the boy from Rotorua will become something else, and that is a story worth waiting for, because it is the story of a person becoming himself in public, one role at a time, for thirty years, and counting.

I also want to reflect on Whale Rider, because it is a film that many people love, and Cliff’s Porourangi is a character who is both modern and traditional, a father who left his village, who became an artist, and who returns to support his daughter, and the performance, which was warm, sad and proud, showed a side of Cliff that Hollywood had not often seen, the side that is a father, a Māori man, and a person caught between two worlds, which is a role that Cliff understood deeply, because he himself is caught between Māori and Pākehā, between New Zealand and Hollywood, and that understanding, which came from his own life, gave the performance a truth that a less experienced actor could not have given it. I think Whale Rider is one of the most important films in Cliff’s career, because it showed that he could play a character who was like himself, and that the audience, when it saw him do it, recognised the truth, which is the highest compliment an actor can receive, that the audience believes him, not as a character, but as a person.

One last thought on Cliff Curtis concerns the future of Avatar, because the series, which will continue with more films, has made Tonowari a central character, and Cliff’s performance, which is captured through motion capture, will be seen by millions of people around the world, which is a scale of fame that few New Zealand actors ever achieve, and that Cliff has achieved, not by chasing it, but by doing the work, one role at a time, for thirty years. I believe his legacy will be as a bridge between New Zealand and Hollywood, between Māori culture and global cinema, and that is a legacy worth having, because it is a legacy built on dignity, on versatility and on the belief that an actor can play anyone, yet never forget who he is, which is a story that should encourage any young person from a small place who dreams of a bigger stage, because the distance, which once seemed impossible, turns out to have been crossable all along, by a boy from Rotorua who knew who he was, and who kept being himself, one role at a time.

Finally, I think Cliff Curtis’s story offers a lesson about identity, because he has played many different ethnicities, many different nationalities, and many different characters, yet he has never lost his own identity, as a Māori man from Rotorua, and that identity, which is the foundation of his work, is what makes his performances feel true, even when the character is not Māori, because the actor brings himself to the role, and the role, when it is played by a person who knows who he is, becomes more than a type, it becomes a person. My honest view is that his career is a triumph of identity, of a man who refused to be defined by Hollywood, who defined himself, one role at a time, from Rotorua to Pandora, and that is a story worth celebrating, because it shows that a person is always more than the label, and that the work of a life is to keep becoming, one character at a time, without ever forgetting where you started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where was Cliff Curtis born?

Cliff Curtis was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, on 27 July 1968. He is of Māori descent, Ngāti Rongomai and Ngāti Pikiao, and he trained at Toi Whakaari, the New Zealand Drama School in Wellington.

What was Cliff Curtis’s role in Once Were Warriors?

He played Bully, a friend of the family’s son Nig, in Once Were Warriors (1994), directed by Lee Tamahori, one of the most important New Zealand films ever made.

Who did Cliff Curtis play in Whale Rider?

He played Porourangi, the father of Paikea, in Whale Rider (2002), directed by Niki Caro, about a young Māori girl who wants to become the chief of her tribe.

Who did Cliff Curtis play in The Dark Horse?

He played Genesis Potini, a Māori chess player with bipolar disorder who taught chess to disadvantaged children, in The Dark Horse (2014). The performance won him awards and critical acclaim.

Who did Cliff Curtis play in Fear the Walking Dead?

He played Travis Manawa, a high school teacher who must protect his family during a zombie apocalypse, in Fear the Walking Dead (2015-2017), appearing in the first three seasons.

Who does Cliff Curtis play in Avatar?

He plays Tonowari, the chief of the Metkayina, a clan of Na’vi who live on the water, in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025), directed by James Cameron.

What other Hollywood films has Cliff Curtis appeared in?

He appeared in Three Kings (1999) as Amir Abdullah, Blow (2001) as Pablo Escobar, Training Day (2001) as Smiley, Live Free or Die Hard (2007), The Meg (2018), Hobbs and Shaw (2019) and Doctor Sleep (2019).

What is Cliff Curtis’s Māori heritage?

He is of Ngāti Rongomai and Ngāti Pikiao descent, and he has spoken about the importance of telling Māori stories and representing his people on screen.