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Clifford Curtis was born on the 27 July 1968 in Rotorua, Rotorua Lakes District on the North Island of New Zealand. He is one of eight children born to George Curtis, an amateur dancer. He is of Māori descent; his tribal affiliations are Te Arawa and Ngāti Hauiti. His uncle was Toby Curtis KNZM, a prominent Māori educator and leader.
As a boy he studied man rākau, a traditional Māori form of taiaha fighting, with Māori elder Mita Mohi on Mokoia Island which nurtured his abilities as a performer in papa haha. Curtis later performed as a breakdancer and competitively in rock ‘n’ roll dance competitions. He received his secondary education at Edmund Rice College, Rotorua. Curtis graduated from Toi Whakaari in 1989 with a Diploma in Acting.
Career
Curtis began his acting career with the Kapiti Players and the Mantis Cooperative Theatre Company, performing in amateur versions of Man of La Mancha and Fiddler on the Roof. He later attended the New Zealand Drama School and Teatro Dimitri Scuola in Switzerland. He was employed by several New Zealand theatrical companies, such as Centre Point, Mercury theatrical, Downstage, and Bats Theatre. Happy End, The Marry Wives of Windsor, Othello, The Cherry Orchard, Macbeth, Serious Money, Porgy and Bess, and The End of the Golden Weather are just a few of the stage productions in which he has appeared.
In the Jane Campion film The Piano, which was nominated for an Oscar, he had a small role in his debut feature picture. He later gained notoriety for his role in Once Were Warriors, one of the most popular films to be shown in New Zealand. Temuera Morrison’s character ‘Jake the Muss’, who spoke the line ‘Uncle fucken Bully’ about Curtis’s character, became a well-known and quoted New Zealand film line, contributing to the ‘Kiwiana’ trend. In the short film Kahu & Maia, which was a modern retelling of a Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Rongomaiwahine mythology, he portrayed Kahu. In the melodrama Desperate Remedies, he portrayed a seducer. After starring in Jubilee in 2000 as family man Billy Williams, Curtis went on to play the father of the main character in the global smash Whale Rider.
In 2004, Curtis founded Whenua Films, an independent film production business, in collaboration with producer Ainsley Gardiner. The company’s objectives are to help local short filmmakers and to foster the development of New Zealand’s indigenous film industry. The New Zealand Film Commission hired him and Gardiner to oversee the conception and production of films for the Short Films Fund for the 2005–06 season. Under the new studio name, they have created a number of short films, including Two Cars, One Night (nominated for an Academy Award in 2005, and Mike Jonathan’s Hawaikii (2006). Both short films were screened at numerous esteemed international film festivals, including Berlinale.
The US distribution rights of Taika Waititi’s first feature picture, Eagle vs. Shark, a relationship comedy, were purchased by Miramax Films during the 2006 Cannes picture Festival. Boy, Waititi’s second movie from Whenua Films, went on to become the highest grossing picture to be released in New Zealand.
Curtis starred in The Dark Horse (2014), dubbed “one of the greatest New Zealand films ever made” by the National Radio review. His “towering performance” as the late, great Gisborne speed chess player and instructor Genesis Potini was lauded by the New Zealand Herald. Potini passed away in 2011. Curtis purposefully gained weight for the part while studying chess.
International Achievements
Curtis made appearances in the 1999 motion pictures Bringing Out the Dead directed by Martin Scorsese, Three Kings, the drug drama Blow starring Johnny Depp, and Training Day in 2001. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2002 film Collateral Damage. Sunshine, live free or die hard in 2007. Push (2009), the 2008 remake of “10,000 B.C.”, and Colombiana (2011). He portrayed Fire Lord Ozai, the primary antagonist in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 film The Last Airbender. In the 2015 film Last Knights, Curtis played Lt. Cortez; in the 2016 film Risen, he played Jesus Christ.
He portrayed the daring flight doctor Reuben “Rabbit” Palchuck in the NBC TV series Trauma. Curtis was chosen to play Travis Manawa, the principal male character in the Walking Dead spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead on AMC.
Curtis was chosen to play Tonowari in the 2017 film adaptations of Avatar, which will include Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash, among other films.
He portrayed the Samoan brother of Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) in the 2019 film Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
Together with Anna Paquin and Teagan Croft, Curtis stars in True Spirit. Netflix started streaming it on February 3, 2023. The 16-year-old Australian sailor Jessica Watson’s effort to complete a solo tour of the globe serves as the inspiration for the film. Curtis played the Greek god Poseidon in the Netflix series Kaos in 2024.
Personal Life
He has four children and got married in a quiet ceremony at his house in late 2009. He practices Roman Catholicism.
He responded, “It’s been a real advantage, I love being ethnic, I love the colour of my skin,” when asked about his status as a “all-purpose ethnic” actor. It’s a fact that the business has limits, yet I’ve been given such amazing possibilities.”
Cliff Curtis Net Worth
The net worth of the Actor and film producer Clifford Curtis, from New Zealand, is worth $3 million. His wins include Best Actor for Jubilee in 2000, four New Zealand Film Awards in 2001, the Asia Pacific Screen Award in 2014, and Best Supporting Actor in 1993 and 2002. He appeared in television shows on NBC and ABC. Whenua Films is an independent production business based in New Zealand. Curtis co-owns the firm from 2015 to 2017.
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