Cliff Curtis facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cliff Curtis
Curtis in 2018
Born	Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (1968-07-27) July 27, 1968 (age 57) Rotorua, New Zealand
Education	Toi Whakaari (BFA)
Occupation	Actor Producer
Years active	1991–present
Children	4
Relatives	Toby Curtis (uncle)

Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born July 27, 1968) is an actor and film producer from New Zealand. He started his career in theatre. His first movie role was in the Oscar-winning film The Piano (1993). He then gained a lot of attention for his role in the drama Once Were Warriors (1994).

Cliff Curtis has won several awards for his acting. He won Best Actor at the New Zealand Film Awards for his roles in Jubilee (2000) and The Dark Horse (2014). For The Dark Horse, he also won the Asia Pacific Screen Award. He also won Best Supporting Actor for Desperate Remedies (1993) and Whale Rider (2002).

He has acted in many international movies. Some of these include Three Kings (1999), Blow (2001), Training Day (2001), and Live Free or Die Hard (2007). More recently, he played James "Mac" Mackreides in The Meg (2018) and Meg 2: The Trench (2023). He also played Tonowari in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025).

On television, he has been in shows like Trauma, Body of Proof, and Missing. From 2015 to 2017, he played Travis Manawa in the horror drama series Fear the Walking Dead. Cliff Curtis also helps run a film production company in New Zealand called Whenua Films.

Early Life and Background

Cliff Curtis was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, in 1968. He is one of eight children. His father, George Curtis, was a dancer. Cliff is from the Māori community. His family groups are Te Arawa and Ngāti Hauiti. His uncle, Toby Curtis, was a well-known Māori educator and leader.

Learning Traditional Skills

When he was a boy, Cliff learned mau rākau. This is a traditional Māori fighting style using a weapon called a taiaha. He learned from a Māori elder named Mita Mohi on Mokoia Island. This training helped him become a good performer in kapa haka, which is a traditional Māori performing art.

Later, Cliff also became a skilled breakdancer. He competed in rock 'n' roll dance competitions. He went to high school at Edmund Rice College, Rotorua in Rotorua. In 1989, he finished his acting studies at Toi Whakaari with a Diploma in Acting.

Acting Career

Starting in New Zealand

Cliff Curtis began his acting journey in local musical plays. He performed in Fiddler on the Roof and Man of La Mancha. After that, he studied at the New Zealand Drama School and a school in Switzerland. He worked with many theatre groups in New Zealand.

Cliff Curtis at MIPCOM in 2011

His first movie role was a small part in The Piano. He then became very well known for his role as Uncle Bully in Once Were Warriors. This movie was very popular in New Zealand. He also played Kahu in the short film Kahu & Maia. In 2000, he starred as Billy Williams in Jubilee. Later, he played the father of the main character in the popular movie Whale Rider.

Producing Films

In 2004, Cliff Curtis and producer Ainsley Gardiner started their own film company called Whenua Films. Their goal was to help grow the film industry for Māori people in New Zealand. They also wanted to support local short filmmakers. The New Zealand Film Commission asked them to help develop short films.

They produced several short films. One of them, Two Cars, One Night, was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005. Another short film, Hawaikii, was made in 2006. Both films were shown at big international film festivals.

In 2006, a movie called Eagle vs Shark was bought by Miramax Films for distribution in the US. This was the first feature film directed by Taika Waititi. Waititi's next film, Boy, also from Whenua Films, became the highest-earning New Zealand film ever.

In 2014, Cliff Curtis played the main role in The Dark Horse. Many people called it one of the best New Zealand films. He played a real-life chess player and coach named Genesis Potini. Cliff learned chess and gained weight for this role.

Working Internationally

Cliff Curtis at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con

Cliff Curtis has appeared in many movies around the world. These include Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Three Kings (1999), and Blow (2001) with Johnny Depp. He was also in Training Day (2001) and Collateral Damage (2002) with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Other films include Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and Sunshine (2007).

In M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender (2010), he played the main bad guy, Fire Lord Ozai. Cliff Curtis also played Lieutenant Cortez in Last Knights (2015). He played Jesus Christ in the film Risen (2016).

On TV, he played Reuben "Rabbit" Palchuk in the NBC show Trauma. He was also cast as Travis Manawa in the AMC series Fear the Walking Dead. This show is a spin-off of The Walking Dead.

In 2017, Cliff Curtis was chosen to play Tonowari in the Avatar sequels. He appeared in Avatar: The Way of Water and is set to appear in Avatar: Fire and Ash. In 2019, he played Jonah Hobbs, the brother of Luke Hobbs (played by Dwayne Johnson), in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Their characters in the movie are Samoan.

Cliff Curtis also stars in True Spirit with Teagan Croft and Anna Paquin. This movie started streaming on Netflix in February 2023. It is based on the true story of Jessica Watson. She was a 16-year-old Australian sailor who tried to sail around the world by herself. In 2024, Curtis played the Greek God Poseidon in the Netflix series Kaos.

Personal Life

Cliff Curtis got married in late 2009 in a private ceremony at his home. He has four children. He is a Roman Catholic.

He has been asked about playing many different types of characters from various ethnic backgrounds. He said that it has been a great advantage for him. He loves his heritage and the color of his skin. He knows there are some limits in the acting business, but he has also had many wonderful chances.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film Roles

Year	Title	Role
1993	The Piano	Mana
	Desperate Remedies	Fraser
1994	Kahu & Maia	Kahu
	Once Were Warriors	Uncle Bully
	Rapa Nui	Short Ears
1996	Chicken	Zeke
	Mananui	Mana
1998	Deep Rising	Mamooli
	Six Days, Seven Nights	Kip
1999	Virus	Hiko
	Three Kings	Amir Abdulah
	Bringing Out the Dead	Cy Coates
	The Insider	Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah
2000	Jubilee	Billy Williams
2001	Blow	Pablo Escobar
	Training Day	"Smiley"
	The Majestic	The Evil But Handsome Prince Khalid
2002	Collateral Damage	Claudio "El Lobo" Perrini
	Whale Rider	Porourangi
2003	Runaway Jury	Frank Herrera
2004	Fracture	Detective Franklin
	Spooked	Mort Whitman
	Heinous Crime	Pizza Delivery Man
2005	The Pool	Husband
	River Queen	Wiremu
2006	The Fountain	Captain Ariel
2007	Sunshine	Searle
	Fracture	Detective Flores
	Live Free or Die Hard	FBI Deputy Director Miguel Bowman
2008	10,000 BC	Tic'Tic
2009	Push	Hook Waters
	Crossing Over	Hamid Baraheri
2010	The Last Airbender	Fire Lord Ozai
2011	Colombiana	Emilio Restrepo
2012	A Thousand Words	Dr. Sinja
2014	The Dark Horse	Genesis Potini
2015	Last Knights	Lieutenant Cortez
2016	Risen	Yeshua
2018	The Meg	James "Mac" Mackreides
2019	Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw	Jonah Hobbs
	Doctor Sleep	Billy Freeman
2021	Reminiscence	Cyrus Boothe
	Murina	Javier
2022	Muru	Sergent "Taffy" Tawharau
	Avatar: The Way of Water	Tonowari
2023	True Spirit	Ben Bryant
	Meg 2: The Trench	James "Mac" Mackreides
2024	Ka Whawhai Tonu	Wi Toka
2025	Last Breath	Andre Jenson
	Avatar: Fire and Ash	Tonowari

Television Roles

See also

In Spanish: Cliff Curtis para niños