Cliff Curtis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cliff Curtis | |
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| Born | Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis July 27, 1968 Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand |
Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born 27 July 1968) is a New Zealand actor. He has shown the ability to portray characters of a wide range of ethnicities — particularly Latin Americans and Arabs — by virtue of his Māori descent. He has 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 Hugh Jackman, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp, Nicholas Cage, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey and George Clooney in films such as Three Kings, Blow, The Fountain 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. During production of River Queen he crashed his car into a house while answering a cellphone text message - escaping with only minor injuries.
In 2004 with producer Ainsley Gardiner, he formed independent film production company Whenua Films.[1] 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. Whenua also produced another successful short film by director Mike Jonathan called "Hawaikii" in 2006. Both short films have circulated through many of the prestigious international film festivals like Berlinale. At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Miramax Films bought US distribution rights to their first feature film Eagle vs Shark.
[edit] Film and television
- Under Cover (1991) (TV)
- The Piano (1993)
- Desperate Remedies (1993)
- Kahu & Maia (1994)
- Once Were Warriors (1994)
- Rapa Nui (1994)
- Hercules in the Underworld (1994) (TV)
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - "As Darkness Falls" (1994)
- Chicken (1996)
- Mananui (1996)
- City Life (1996) (TV)
- The Chosen (1998) (TV film)
- Deep Rising
- Six Days Seven Nights (1998)
- Virus (1999)
- Three Kings (1999)
- Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
- The Insider (1999)
- Jubilee (2000)
- Blow (2001)
- Training Day (2001)
- The Majestic (2001)
- Collateral Damage (2002)
- Point of Origin (2002 (TV film)
- Whale Rider (2002)
- Runaway Jury (2003)
- Traffic (2004) (TV miniseries)
- Spooked (2004)
- Heinuous Crime (2004)
- The Pool (2005)
- River Queen (2005)
- The Fountain (2006)
- Sunshine (2007)
- Fracture (2007)
- Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
- 10,000 BC (2008)
- Crossing Over (2008)
