From Lydia Peckham and Morgana O’Reilly to Jess Hong, Rose McIver and Keisha Castle-Hughes, a cohort of New Zealand talent is making waves in the acting world with a series of high-profile roles.
Kiwi actresses are taking the world by storm. Lydia Peckham who is starring with Russell Crowe and Rami Malek in historical drama Nuremberg is the latest in a long list of Kiwi stars nailing their craft globally.
The movie is being directed by James Vanderbilt, and Peckham plays Lila, a young journalist covering the Nuremberg Trials. “Honoured to be a part of such an incredible story,” Peckham wrote on Instagram about the role.
Fellow Kiwi, Academy-award-winner Crowe, will play one of the most infamous Nazi figures on trial: Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man and convicted war criminal Hermann Göring.
Saltburn’s Richard E Grant and Nine Perfect Strangers’ Michael Shannon are also among the all-star line-up.
Peckham, 28, who trained at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, has had a number of roles including in Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop, and a leading role in Twentieth Century Fox’s Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes, which she finished filming in Sydney early last year.
She and fellow Kiwi Sara Wiseman, her co-star in the new Planet of the Apes movie, are said to be excited about the movie’s release in May.
Peckham’s big news comes hot on the heels of the announcement from Mean Mums star Morgana O’Reilly last month, on her starring role in the third season of The White Lotus.
O’Reilly, 38, heads to Thailand in late autumn to film the next series of the multi-Emmy award-winning show created by Mike White, and will co-star alongside famous Hollywood names including Michelle Monaghan, Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey.
Peckham, Wiseman and O’Reilly are all represented by Johnson & Laird Management. Imogen Johnson tells Spy their successes are the result of a lot of very hard work, dedication and perseverance from their talent.
O’Reilly, who has had her fair share of big casting role disappointments, said that the first thing she said to her agent about the Lotus role was “Are you sure?”
Kiwi actress Morgana O'Reilly. Photo / Dean O'Gorman
“It’s a tough road with a lot of setbacks along the way but, as you can see with these Kiwi actresses, our people are playing on the world stage with the brightest and best,” says Johnson.
More Kiwi talent from Johnson & Laird making a buzz in Hollywood news recently are Jess Hong, Rose McIver, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Sophie McIntosh.
Hong, 29, familiar to local audiences from TVNZ’s Creamerie, will gain global stardom late next month when she stars in Netflix’s science fiction series 3 Body Problem.
Uhyoung Choi, Ariadne Baltzazar, Jess Hong and Jehangir Homavazir in The First PrimeTime Asian Sitcom. Photo / Silo Theatre
The series, co-created by David Benioff and D..Weiss from Game Of Thrones, features an alien civilisation on the brink of destruction that captures a signal from Earth and plans an invasion.
Next week, former Shortland Street star McIntosh, 27, will hit the big theatre screen in plane-crash movie No Way Up. When oxygen runs out and dangers from the ocean creep in it becomes a story about a fight for survival.
Rose McIver at the Golden Globes. Photo / Getty Images
McIver, 35, stepped onto the red carpet last month at the Golden Globes, where she was presenting, and debuted her baby bump to the world in a pale pink Gucci gown.
The Hollywood-based Kiwi — who married Australian artist George Byrne in Santa Barbara early last year — premieres her third series of CBS hot comedy Ghosts this week. Fans can tune in on TVNZ+.
Fans of Castle-Hughes, 33, who relocated her base from the US to Godzone last year, can see her latest season of FBI: Most Wanted which drops this week on Neon.
