Cliff Curtis

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Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born 27 July 1968 in Rotorua, New Zealand) is a New Zealand actor. He has shown the ability to portray foreign characters — particularly Latin Americans and Arabs — because of his Māori descent, and appeared as a character actor in many Hollywood films, while back home in New Zealand he is usually the main star.

He acted in the New Zealand film Once Were Warriors as Uncle Bully, a child rapist.

He has starred opposite many big names in Hollywood such as Harrison Ford, Nicholas Cage, Denzel Washington, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey and George Clooney in films such as Three Kings , Blow and Training Day. His international reputation grew further in 2003, when he was one of the leads in the internationally popular New Zealand film Whale Rider.

In 2005, Curtis was cast to be in Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain.

[edit] Whenua Films

In 2004 with producer Ainsley Gardiner [1] he formed independent film production company Whenua Films[2]. The goals of the company are to support the growth of the New Zealand indigenous filmmaking scene, and to be supportive of local short filmmakers. He and Ainsley were appointed to manage the development and production of the Short Films Fund for 2005/2006 by The New Zealand Film Commission. They have already produced several shorts under the new company banner, notably, "Two Cars, One Night," which received an Academy Award nomination in 2005. At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Miramax Films bought US distribution rights to their first feature film "Eagle vs. Shark".