# List of people from Wellington

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
* 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
* Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva (born 2002) – Olympic rhythmic gymnast
* Ezi Magbegor – WNBA center for the Seattle Storm
* Melissa Moon – two-time world mountain running champion
* Jeetan Patel – cricketer
* Wynton Rufer – footballer
* Jesse Ryder – cricketer
* 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 – well-known homeless man
* Harold Jack Underwood (1908–1979) – clerk, farmer, toy-maker, and manufacturer
* Heinrich Franz Vosseler – engineer and oil refinery owner