Cliff Curtis

Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born 27 July 1968) is a New Zealand actor and film producer. After working in theatre, he made his film debut in Jane Campion's Oscar-winning film The Piano (1993), followed by a breakout role in the drama Once Were Warriors (1994). He has won four New Zealand Film Awards, Best Actor for Jubilee (2000) and The Dark Horse (2014)—which also earned him the Asia Pacific Screen Award—and Best Supporting Actor for Desperate Remedies (1993) and Whale Rider (2002).

Curtis' international film credits include Three Kings, Bringing Out the Dead (both 1999), Blow, Training Day (both 2001), Collateral Damage (2002), Sunshine, Live Free or Die Hard (both 2007), Push, Crossing Over (both 2009), Colombiana (2011), Hobbs & Shaw, and Doctor Sleep (both 2019), also portraying James "Mac" Mackreides in The Meg (2018) and Meg 2: The Trench (2023) and Tonowari in the Avatar series (2022–present).

He had television series roles on NBC's Trauma and ABC's Body of Proof and Missing. From 2015 to 2017, he portrayed Travis Manawa on the AMC horror drama series Fear the Walking Dead. Curtis is also the co-owner of the independent New Zealand production company Whenua Films.

Early life and education

Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis was born in Rotorua on 27 July 1968,^[1] one of eight children born into a family of Māori descent.^[2] His tribal affiliations are Te Arawa^[3] and Ngāti Hauiti.^[4] His uncle was Māori leader and educator Toby Curtis.^[5]

As a child, he studied mau rākau—a traditional Māori martial art involving taiaha combat—under elder Mita Mohi on Mokoia Island.^[6] This training informed his early performances in kapa haka. He subsequently competed in breakdancing and rock 'n' roll dance competitions, winning national titles in the late 1980s.^[7]

Curtis received his secondary education at Edmund Rice College, Rotorua, before enrolling at the New Zealand Drama School, Toi Whakaari, where he graduated with a Diploma in Acting in 1989.^[8]

Career

New Zealand

Curtis started acting in amateur productions of musicals Fiddler on the Roof and Man of La Mancha with the Kapiti Players and the Mantis Cooperative Theatre Company, before attending the New Zealand Drama School and Teatro Dimitri Scuola in Switzerland. He worked at a number of New Zealand theatre companies, including Downstage, Mercury Theatre, Bats Theatre, and Centre Point. His stage roles include Happy End, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, The Cherry Orchard, Porgy and Bess, Weeds, Macbeth, Serious Money, and The End of the Golden Weather.

His first feature film role was a small part in the Oscar-nominated Jane Campion film The Piano. He went on to win attention in Once Were Warriors, one of the most successful films released on New Zealand screens; the line "Uncle fucken Bully" referring to Curtis's character spoken by "Jake the Muss", played by Temuera Morrison, became one of New Zealand film's most memorable and quoted lines, as well as being part of the "Kiwiana" trend. He played Kahu in the short-film Kahu & Maia, a contemporary depiction of a Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Rongomaiwahine legend. He played a seducer in the melodrama Desperate Remedies. In 2000 Curtis starred as family man Billy Williams in Jubilee,^[9] before playing father to the lead character in the international hit Whale Rider.

In 2004 with producer Ainsley Gardiner, Curtis formed independent film production company Whenua Films.^[10] The goals of the company are to support the growth of the New Zealand indigenous film-making scene, and support local short filmmakers. He and Gardiner were appointed to manage the development and production of films for the Short Films Fund for 2005–06 by the New Zealand Film Commission. They have produced several shorts under the new company banner, notably Two Cars, One Night, which received an Academy Award nomination in 2005, and Hawaikii by director Mike Jonathan in 2006. Both short films circulated through many of the prestigious international film festivals like the Berlinale.

At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Miramax Films bought US distribution rights to relationship comedy Eagle vs Shark, the first feature film directed by Taika Waititi. Waititi's follow-up feature Boy, also from Whenua Films, went on to become the highest grossing New Zealand film released.^[11]

In 2014, Curtis played the lead role in The Dark Horse, which the National Radio review called "one of the greatest New Zealand films ever made."^[12] The New Zealand Herald praised him for his "towering performance"^[13] as real-life Gisborne speed chess player and coach Genesis Potini, who died in 2011. Curtis studied chess and deliberately put on weight for the role.

International

Curtis has appeared in the films Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Three Kings (1999), the drug drama Blow (2001) with Johnny Depp, Training Day (2001), Collateral Damage (2002) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Sunshine (2007), Push (2009), “10,000 B.C.” (2008) the re-make, and Colombiana (2011). In M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender (2010), he played the main villain, Fire Lord Ozai.^[14] Curtis portrayed Lt. Cortez in the film Last Knights (2015) and Jesus Christ in the film Risen (2016).^[15]

In the NBC TV drama Trauma,^[16] he played daredevil flight medic Reuben "Rabbit" Palchuck.^[17] Curtis was cast as Travis Manawa, a leading male role of the AMC TV series Fear the Walking Dead,^[18][19] the spin-off of The Walking Dead.^[20]

In 2017, Curtis was cast as Tonowari and is set to appear in the four sequels to Avatar, including Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash.^[21]

In 2019, he played Jonah Hobbs, the brother of Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw; their characters are Samoan.^[22]

In 2023, Curtis starred in the Netflix film True Spirit, alongside Teagan Croft and Anna Paquin, based on the journey of Jessica Watson, a 16-year-old Australian sailor attempting a solo global circumnavigation. In 2024, Curtis starred in the Netflix series Kaos, as the Greek God Poseidon.

Personal life

He was married in late 2009^[23] in a private ceremony at his home, and has four children. He is Roman Catholic.^[24]

When asked about being an "all-purpose ethnic" actor, he said, "It's been a real advantage, I love being ethnic, I love the colour of my skin. There are limitations in the business, that's a reality, but I've been given such wonderful opportunities."^[25]

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations