- Shane Jones
Shane Jones is a New Zealand politician. He stood in the 2005 elections for the Labour Party, being ranked twenty-seventh on its party list. This is the highest position given by Labour to someone who was not already a member of Parliament. He took his seat in the new parliament after the Labour Party won 50 seats in New Zealand's 120 seat parliament. Jones held a number of senior roles in the public sector, …
- Pita Sharples
Dr. Pita Russell Sharples CBE (born 20 July 1941), a Māori academic and politician, currently co-leads the Māori Party, he currently is the member for Tamaki Makaurau(Auckland City) in New Zealand's Parliament. Sharples, of the Ngati Kahungunu iwi, was born in Waipawa, a town in Hawke's Bay. He received his early education at Waipukurau District High School and then at Te Aute College. He then attended the University of Auckland, studying education.
- Tame Iti
Tāme Iti is a Tūhoe Māori activist who is known for publicity stunts protesting policies of the New Zealand government.
- Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa, ONZ, AC, DBE, (born March 6, 1944) is an internationally famous New Zealand opera singer. In 1981, she was seen and heard around the world by an estimated 600 million people when she sang Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, on New Zealand's North Island.
- John Carter
John McGregor Carter (8 May 1950 -) is a New Zealand politician, and member of the National Party. Before entering politics, Carter worked as a local government administration official.
- Te Kooti
Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was a Māori leader and the founder of the Ringatu religion. Te Kooti's early years are obscure. He was born in the Gisborne region. In 1865 Te Kooti fought for the government forces suppressing the local Māori Pai Marire. However, he was arrested as a spy and exiled to the Chatham Islands, together with the rebels he had been fighting against. He was never tried and took every opportunity to demand a trial, some say he got his name from this, …
- Witi Ihimaera
Professor Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler DCNZM QSM (born 7 February, 1944), generally known as Witi Ihimaera, is a New Zealand author, and is often regarded as the most prominent Māori writer alive today.
- Michael Campbell
Michael Shane Campbell CNZM (born February 23, 1969) is a New Zealand golfer who is best-known for having won the 2005 US Open and the richest prize in golf, the £1,000,000 HSBC World Match Play Championship, in the same year. He is a member of the European Tour. Ethnically, he is predominantly Māori, from the Ngati Ruanui (father's side) and Nga Rauru (mother's side) iwi. He also has some Scottish ancestry, being a great-great-great-grandson of John Logan Campbell, …
- Keri Hulme
Keri Hulme is a New Zealand writer, best known for "The Bone People", her only novel. Hulme was born in Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island. The daughter of a carpenter and a credit manager, she was the eldest of six children. Her parents were of English, Scottish, and Māori descent. Hulme's early education was at North New Brighton Primary School and Aranui High School. Her father died when she was eleven years old.
- Georgina Te Heuheu
Georgina Manunui Te Heuheu QSO (born 1943) is a Māori MP in the New Zealand National Party. She was a Minister for Courts and Women's Affairs in the last National Government. Speculation about her future arose in 2004 after she criticised a speech by leader Don Brash. Questioned some weeks later, she refused to rule out the possibility that she might switch allegiance to the new Māori Party that had arisen after the resignation of Tariana Turia.
- Che Fu
Che Fu (born Che Rauhihi-Ness) is a Māori-Niuean hip hop, R&B, and reggae vocalist.
- Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha was a Māori chief and war leader of the Ngati Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Affray in Marlborough.
- Cliff Curtis
Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis is a New Zealand actor. He has shown the ability to portray foreign characters - particularly Latin Americans and Arabs - because of his Māori descent, and appeared as a character actor in many Hollywood films, while back home in New Zealand he is usually the main star. He acted in the New Zealand film "Once Were Warriors" as Uncle Bully, a child rapist. He has starred opposite many big names in Hollywood such as Bruce Willis, …
- Te Atairangikaahu
Dame Te Atairangikaahu ONZ, DBE (23 July 1931 - 15 August 2006) was the Māori queen for 40 years, the longest reign of any Māori monarch. Her full name and title was Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Her title Te Arikinui (meaning "Great Chief") and name Te Atairangikaahu (also her mother's name) were bestowed when she became monarch; previously she was known as Princess Piki Mahuta and, after marriage, …
- Willie Jackson
Willie Jackson is a New Zealand broadcaster and former politician. He was an Alliance MP from 1999 to 2002.
- Clem Simich
Clement Rudolph (Clem) Simich is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the National Party. He was born in Te Kopuru, Northland on 2 June 1939. He was first elected to Parliament in the 1992 by-election in Tamaki, which followed the retirement of former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon. He remained as MP for Tamaki until 2005, when he stepped down to stand as the National candidate for Mangere. He is now a List MP, having not succeeded in winning the Labour safe seat.
- John Tamihere
John Tamihere was a New Zealand politician until the 2005 election. Until 3 November 2004 he served as a Cabinet minister, in the governing Labour Party,. Tamihere has become one of the more high-profile Māori politicians currently active in New Zealand politics.
- Timana Tahu
Timana Tahu (born October 16, 1980) is an Australian rugby league player for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League competition. He has been selected on a number of occasions to play for both New South Wales in the State of Origin series and for the Australian National Team. Debuting for the Newcastle Knights in 1999. Tahu, of Maori heritage was born in Melbourne, traditionally an Australian rules football dominated city where he grew up in St Kilda.
- Hone Tuwhare
Hone Tuwhare is a noted New Zealand poet of Māori ancestry. He currently resides in The Catlins in Southland in New Zealand.
- Apirana Ngata
Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata was a prominent New Zealand politician and lawyer. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have ever served in Parliament, and is also known for his work in promoting and protecting Māori culture and language
- Hekia Parata
Hekia Parata is a former candidate for the New Zealand Parliament, having stood for the National Party in the Wellington Central electorate. Parata was educated at The University of Waikato, gaining a MA. She was also been a Senior Executive Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She initially pursued a career in the state sector, eventually becoming Deputy Chief Executive of Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Māori Development.
- Temuera Morrison
Temuera Derek Morrison (born December 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 in the "Star Wars" series.
- Hone Heke
Hone Wiremu Heke Pokai was a Māori chief and war leader in New Zealand. He is considered the principal instigator of the Flagstaff War. Born at Pakaraka south of Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands, Heke was a member of the Ngā Puhi tribe but also had connections to Rāhiri which added to his mana and gave him significant influence within the tribe. He grew up in the Kaikohe area, scarcely surviving the vicissitudes of tribal warfare.
- Whirimako Black
Whirimako Black is a female Māori vocalist from New Zealand. Whirimako sings in Te Reo Māori, uses traditional Māori musical forms and collaborates with traditional Taonga Puoro instruments. Her musical achievements include composing and singing the titles for the acclaimed Television New Zealand series, 'The New Zealand Wars', as well as composing with Hori Tait the initial title music for the Māori news programme, Te Karere.
- Rawiri Paratene
Rawiri Paratene is a New Zealand Māori actor (Nga Puhi iwi) born in Hokianga. He is best known internationally for his role in the film Whale Rider, in which he played the male lead, Koro. He is an actor, director and writer. Paratene is one of New Zealand's best known and versatile actors, starting his career on television as a children's presenter on "Play School" and in a sitcom (where ironically he also played a character called Koro), "Joe and Koro".
- Patricia Grace
Patricia Grace, DCNZM, QSO, (born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1937) is a notable Māori writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. She currently lives in Hongoeka Bay, Plimmerton. She was awarded the Distinguished Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours. Under the old system she would have held the title of Dame until the order was reformed in 2001.. Grace is a patron of the Coalition for Open Government.
- Kawiti
Te Ruki Kawiti was a prominent Māori chief. He and Hone Heke successfully fought the British in the Flagstaff War. Descended from Nukutawhiti and Rāhiri he was born in the north of New Zealand into the Ngāti Hine hapu, one of the subtribes of Ngā Puhi. From his youth he was trained in leadership and warfare. He was present at the Battle of Moremonui when many Ngā Puhi were slaughtered by Ngāti Whātua.
- Elsdon Best
Elsdon Best was an ethnographer who made important contributions to the study of the Māori of New Zealand.
- Lee Tamahori
Lee Tamahori, born 17 June 1950 in Wellington, New Zealand, is best known as a film director, although he got his start as a commercial artist and photographer in the late 1970s. Tamahori is of Māori ancestry on his father's side and of British ancestry on his mother's. His break as a filmmaker came with "Once Were Warriors" (1994), a gritty depiction of urban Māori life that was phenomenally successful in New Zealand.
- Ralph Hotere
Hone Papita Raukura (Ralph) Hotere is a New Zealand artist of Māori descent (Te Aupōuri iwi). He was born in 1931 in Mitimiti, Northland. He is widely regarded as New Zealand's most important living artist. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Otago.
- Moana Jackson
Moana Jackson is a New Zealand Māori lawyer specialising in Treaty of Waitangi and constitutional issues. Moana Jackson is of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou decent. He is presently Director of "Nga Kaiwhakamarama I Nga Ture" (the Maori Legal Service) which he co-founded in 1987. He graduated in Law and Criminology at Victoria University of Wellington, and after a short period in practise took up the teaching of Maori language.
- John Rowles
John Rowles O.B.E (born 26 March 1947) is a New Zealand singer. He was most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, and most famous for his song "Cheryl Moana Marie". In his own way he was the "New Zealand Elvis", complete with big hair and overblown design sense. Rowles is Māori. His father, Eddie Hohapata Rowles, played for the 1938 Māori All Blacks. He was bought up in Kawerau, in the North Island of New Zealand. John Rowles was best known in New Zealand and Australia, …
- Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the Ngapuhi iwi (tribe). Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars, but also encouraged Pākehā (European) settlement, patronised New Zealand's first missionaries, introduced Māori to Western agriculture and helped put Te Reo (the Māori language), into writing. He travelled to England and met King George IV.
- Billy Tk
Billy TK is a Māori guitarist, born in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He has often been touted as the Māori Jimi Hendrix, and is one of the most respected and technically proficient guitarists in New Zealand today.<sup title="Needs citation">[[Wikipedia:Citing sourcesnowiki>[</nowiki>"citation needed"<nowiki>]</nowiki>]]</sup>
- Henry Williams
Henry Williams was one of the many European Missionaries who arrived in New Zealand in an attempt to bring Christianity to the Māori people. In February 1840 he translated the Treaty of Waitangi into the Māori language, along with some help from his son Edward. They used a dialect known as "Missionary Māori", which was not traditional Māori, but had been made up by the missionaries. The Māori were thus confused by some of the wording.
- Donna Awatere Huata
Donna Lynn Awatere Huata is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament, and former activist for Māori causes. In 2004 she was expelled from parliament and subsequently convicted of fraud.
- Rena Owen
Rena Owen is a New Zealand Māori film actress, best known for her role in the film "Once Were Warriors" (1994). In 2005, she appeared in "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" as Nee Alavar, and in "Mee-Shee: The Water Giant".
- Jerry Mateparae
Lieutenant-General Jerry Mateparae ONZM, (born November 1954) is the current Chief of the New Zealand Defence Force. He is the first Māori to hold this office. He took office on May 1, 2006. Lieutenant-General Mateparae, enlisted in the Regular Force of the New Zealand Army in June 1972. In December 1976 he graduated from the Officer Cadet School of Australia-Portsea, into the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.
- Adam Parore
Adam Craig Parore (born 23 January 1971 in Auckland) is a former wicket-keeper for the New Zealand cricket team. He played 78 Test cricket matches for New Zealand and 179 One-Day International cricket matches. Latterly, Parore is the Managing Director of financial services firm Adam Parore Mortgages. After representing New Zealand for more than a decade, Parore retired from international cricket, his last Test match played against England in Auckland.
- Ans Westra
Ans Westra is a self-taught New Zealand photographer, with an interest in Māori, whose prominence as an artist and author was most amplified by her 1964 piece "Washday at the pa". Westra emigrated to New Zealand in 1957.