PEOPLE - ACTORS
George Henare (Ngati Porou, Ngati Hine) / Actor
At the recent 2010 New Year Honours, George was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for Services to the Theatre. His recent work for Auckland Theatre Company includes FOUR FLAT WHITES IN ITALY and The Next Stage presentation of LE SUD by Dave Armstrong. He also starred in Roger Hall’s WHO WANTS TO BE 100 as well as THE CRUCIBLE, GOLDIE, CABARET, WIND IN THE WILLOWS (as Toad), and INTO THE WOODS.
He was honoured in the Tairawhiti Museum FAMOUS FACES book and exhibition and received a Te Waka Toi Award for contribution to Maori Theatre. He was also a 2008 Laureate Winner in the prestigious Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Awards.
This is well-won recognition for an extraordinary career that began in 1965 when George performed in the New Zealand Opera Company’s PORGY AND BESS, which starred Inia Te Wiata. Since then he has worked in theatres throughout New Zealand including Downstage Theatre, Maori Theatre Trust, Circa Theatre, Mercury Theatre, Court Theatre, Taki Rua and Stetson Productions. His range of characters encompass both comedy and tragedy, and most memorably includes King Lear, Sweeney Todd, Henry Higgins, Dracula, Othello, Frank n Furter, and Hongi Hika.
Appearances in Australia include performances with Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir Street, Ensemble Television and commercial tours of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.
George’s many television and film works include ONCE WERE WARRIORS, RAPANUI, THE SILENT ONE, JOHNNY LINGO, HERCULES, XENA, SHORTLAND STREET, OCEAN GIRL and fellow Arts Laureate Briar Grace Smith’s POTIKI’S MEMORY OF STONE. Radio drama and narrations for documentaries and books also figure in his repertoire.
In 1988, George was awarded an OBE for Services to Theatre. At the 1994 Entertainer of the Year Awards he won Best Theatrical Performance as Pilate in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. He was named Best Actor at the 2000 NZ Television Awards for NGA TOHU SIGNATURES and Narrator of the Year by The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind in 2001. In 2006, George received a Chapman Tripp Best Actor Award for his portrayal of Willy Loman in Circa Theatre’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN.
George was born in Gisborne, the third youngest of ten children. He spent much of his childhood on a farm in the Whakaangiani Valley, inland from Te Araroa on the East Coast of the North Island.
