Temuera Morrison
Temuera Morrison | |
|---|---|
 Temuera Morrison, August 2007 | |
| Born | Temuera Derek Morrison |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1986–present |
Temuera Derek Morrison (born January 26, 1960) is a New Zealand actor. He has become one of the country's most famous stars for his roles as the abusive Jake "the Muss" Heke in 1994's Once Were Warriors and as bounty hunter Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers in the Star Wars series.
Personal life
Morrison, a Māori, was born in the town of Rotorua in the North Island of New Zealand, the son of Hana (née Stafford) and Laurie Morrison, a musician.[1] His sister is performer Taini Morrison and his uncle was musician Sir Howard Morrison. His secondary education took place at Wesley College, Auckland. Morrison lives in New Zealand, and divides his time filming there and in Australia and the United States. He has an 18-year-old son, James, from a relationship in the late 1980s with singer Kim Willoughby from the all-girl group When The Cat's Away.
Career
Trained in drama under the New Zealand Special Performing Arts Training Scheme, one of his earliest roles was in the 1988 film Never Say Die, opposite Lisa Eilbacher. Before this he had starred as a character called "Ricky" in the original TV1 soap opera Close to Home. He played Dr. Hone Ropata on the television soap opera Shortland Street from 1992–1995; he was immortalized when another character rebuked him with the line "You're not in Guatemala now, Dr. Ropata!"
In 1994 he received attention as the violent and abusive Māori husband Jake Heke in Once Were Warriors, a film adaptation of Alan Duff's novel of the same name. The role won him international acclaim, and he received the 1994 award for best male performance in a dramatic role from the New Zealand Film and TV Awards. He reprised the role in the sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, for which he received the Best Actor award from the New Zealand Film Awards. He has appeared in supporting roles in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and The Beautiful Country (2004). In 2005, Morrison became the host of the talk show The Tem Show on New Zealand television.
Star Wars
In recent years, Morrison has received much popularity from his role as the bounty hunter Jango Fett in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002). Part of the film's plot involves an army of clones created with Jango's DNA; Morrison also provided acting and voice work for the soldiers. He reappeared as a number of clones in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the final film of the series, and rerecorded the lines of the character Boba Fett (Jango's "son" and another clone) in the 2004 DVD re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy, replacing the voice of Jason Wingreen.
He has since portrayed Jango Fett and his clones in a number of Star Wars video games, all produced by LucasArts. He played the commando "Boss" in Star Wars: Republic Commando, voiced all the troopers in Star Wars: Battlefront, and returned again to voice the bounty hunters Jango Fett and Boba Fett in Star Wars: Battlefront II. He played Jango again in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, which reveals the origins of Jango Fett, and played Boba Fett in the 2006 game Star Wars: Empire at War. He also reprised his roles uncredited as Jango Fett, Boba Fett, and the clones in the video games Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron and Lego Star Wars The Video Game
Other roles
Temuera returned to Shortland Street for six weeks in June/July 2008 as Dr Hone Ropata.
In 2008, Morrison also appeared on New Zealand skit comedy television show Pulp Sport where he appeared in a sketch that made fun of him being cloned.
Morrison will portray Abin Sur in the upcoming 2011 superhero film Green Lantern.[2]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Never Say die | Alf Winters | |
| 1994 | Once Were Warriors | Jake "the Muss" Heke | |
| 1996 | Barb Wire | Axel Hood | |
| The Island of Dr. Moreau | Azazello | ||
| Broken English | Manu | ||
| 1997 | Speed 2: Cruise Control | Juliano | |
| 1998 | Six Days Seven Nights | Jager | |
| 1999 | What Becomes of The Broken Hearted? | Jake "the Muss" Heke | |
| 2000 | Crooked Earth | Will Bastion | |
| Vertical Limit | Major Rasul | ||
| From Dusk till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter | The Hangman | ||
| 2002 | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones | Jango Fett, clone troopers | |
| 2004 | Blueberry | Runi | |
| The Beautiful Country | Snakehead | ||
| Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (2004 DVD edition) | Boba Fett (voice) | ||
| 2005 | Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith | Commander Cody, clone troopers | |
| River Queen | Te Kai Po | ||
| 2008 | Rain of the Children | Rua Kenana Hepetipa | |
| 2009 | Couples Retreat | Briggs | |
| The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake | Don Sandovate | Sci-Fi Television Movie | |
| The Marine 2 | |||
| 2010 | Tracker | Kereama | |
| 2011 | Green Lantern | Abin Sur |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close to Home | Ricky | ||
| 1986 | Adventurer | Maru | |
| 1992–1995, 2008 | Shortland Street | Dr. Hone Ropata | |
| Gloss | Sean | ||
| 2007-2009 | Pulp Sport | himself | Season 6,7(at least one episode per season) |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Wars: Bounty Hunter | Jango Fett | ||
| 2003 | Star Wars: Battlefront | Jango Fett, clone troopers | |
| 2006 | Empire at War | Boba Fett | |
| Lego Star Wars: The Video Game | Jango Fett, the clone troopers | ||
| Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron | Jango Fett, Boba Fett, clone troopers | Uncredited |
References
External links
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
- Betros, Chris (July 17, 2006). "Once a warrior, Temuera Morrison now New Zealand's best known film star". Japan Today. Retrieved February 20, 2007.
- Temuera Morrison on "Wookiepedia"