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This is a list of notable people who were born in Wellington, New Zealand, or who spent a significant part of their lives living in the region.

(Alphabetically by surname)

The arts

Comedy

• Raybon Kan – comedian

Drag

• Pollyfilla (Colin McLean) – drag queen

Drama

• Russell Crowe – Oscar-winning actor
• Kerry Fox – actress
• Anna Paquin – Oscar-winning actress
• Antonia Prebble – actress
• Emmett Skilton – actor
• Antony Starr – actor
• Karl Urban – actor

Film

• Jane Campion – Oscar winning film-maker
• Peter Jackson – Oscar-winning film-maker
• Clive Revill – film and theatre actor
• Richard Taylor – head of film prop and special effects company Weta Workshop; multiple Oscar winner
• Fran Walsh – Oscar-winning screenwriter
• Taika Waititi – film director, screenwriter, actor, and comedian

Music

• Jemaine Clement – musician, member of Flight of the Conchords
• Brooke Fraser – multi-platinum selling singer
• Anthony Jennings — harpsichordist, organist, choral and orchestral director, and academic ^[1]
• Andy Kent – bass player for You Am I
• Ben Lummis – singer, 2004 New Zealand Idol winner
• Tina Matthews – musician ( The Crocodiles), puppeteer, writer
• Bret McKenzie – musician, member of Flight of the Conchords
• John Psathas – composer
• John Charles - composer
• Eddie Rayner – musician – Crowded House, Split Enz
• Frankie Stevens – entertainer, singer and judge of New Zealand Idol
• Jon Toogood – singer and guitarist for the rock band Shihad
• Rosita Vai – singer, 2005 New Zealand Idol winner

Visual arts

• Tom Scott – cartoonist, political commentator

Writing

• Ann Shulgin – author
• Ivan Bootham – novelist, short story writer, poet and composer
• Neil Cross – writer
• Richard Curtis – movie and TV writer and director
• Lauris Edmond – poet
• Robin Hyde – poet
• John Gallas – poet and educator
• Patricia Grace – writer
• Lloyd Jones – writer
• Elizabeth Knox – author
• Katherine Mansfield – writer
• Bruce Mason – playwright
• Christopher Pugsley – writer
• Sydney Goodsir Smith – Scots language poet

Broadcasting

• John Campbell – broadcaster and news journalist
• Selwyn Toogood (dec.) – broadcaster
• Dan Wootton – broadcaster and news journalist

Business

• Mark Dunajtschik – Property developer and philanthropist
• Sam Morgan – founder of online auction site TradeMe
• Peter Vincent – entrepreneur, founder/CEO of Vincent Aviation
• Dame Therese Walsh – chief operating officer for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and head of the organising body for the 2015 Cricket World Cup
• Jack Yan – publisher and graphic designer

Politics and public service

• Lettie Annie Allen – public servant and political activist
• Robin Cooke, Baron Cooke of Thorndon (dec.) – barrister and jurist
• Francis Fisher – politician, tennis player
• Jessica Hammond – The Opportunities Party politician
• Bill Hastings – lawyer, Chief Censor
• Joe Mack – trade union leader
• Jack Marshall (dec.) – former Prime Minister
• Gerald O'Brien – public servant and politician
• Nancy Wake (dec.) – World War II British agent
• Fran Wilde – Mayor, Member of Parliament
• Michael Wilford – diplomat

Religion

• Francis Douglas – Catholic missionary priest killed in World War II
• Thomas Stafford Cardinal Williams (1930–2023) – Cardinal-Priest of Gesù Divin Maestro alla Pineta Sacchetti (1983–2023); Fifth Catholic Archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand (1979–2005)

Science and technology

• Rod Drury – technology entrepreneur
• Alan MacDiarmid (dec.) – scientist
• Richard Cockburn Maclaurin (dec.) – physicist, foundation professor of Victoria University and president of MIT
• William Hayward Pickering (dec.) – electrical engineer, former head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California
• Matt Visser – physicist and mathematician

Sport

• Leo Bertos – footballer
• Jim Cassidy – jockey
• Murray Chandler – chess grandmaster
• Russell Coutts – professional sailor
• Anton Down-Jenkins (born 1999) – diver
• Phillip Drew (born 1986) – international croquet player
• Simon Elliott – footballer
• Chris Killen – footballer
• Melissa Moon – two-time world mountain running champion
• Jeetan Patel – cricketer
• Wynton Rufer – footballer
• Jonathan Sarfati – chess master and author, raised in Wellington
• Ross Taylor (born 1984) – cricketer
• Ruby Tui (born 1991) – rugby sevens player.
• Tana Umaga – former captain of the All Blacks
• Rob Szabo – darts player

Other

• Ben Hana – a well-known homeless man
• Harold Jack Underwood (1908–1979) – clerk, farmer, toy-maker and manufacturer ^[2]
• Heinrich Franz Vosseler – engineer and oil refinery owner ^[3]

References