List of New Zealand Academy Award winners and nominees

This is a list of New Zealand Academy Award winners and nominees.

Technical Achievement Award

Year Name Status Milestone/Notes
2025 Andrew van Straten Won Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Technical Achievement Award for the design and development of Ziva VFX., a system for constructing and simulating muscles, fat, fascia, and skin for digital characters. Andrew is from Nelson.

Best Actor

Best Leading Actor
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1999 Russell Crowe The Insider Nominated Crowe was born in New Zealand, but has lived in Australia since his childhood.
2000 Gladiator Won
2001 A Beautiful Mind Nominated

Best Actress

Best Leading Actress
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2003 Keisha Castle-Hughes Whale Rider Nominated Debut performance.
First indigenous person (Māori) ever nominated in this category.
Second youngest nominee (age 13) ever in this category.

Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actress
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1993 Anna Paquin The Piano Won Dual New Zealand-Canadian citizen.
Debut performance.
Second youngest winner (age 11) in Academy Award history.

Best Animated Short Film

Best Animated Short Film
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1986 Bob Stenhouse The Frog, the Dog and the Devil Nominated New Zealand-made film made by the National Film Unit
1994 Erica Russell Triangle Nominated

Best Animated Film

Best Animated Feature
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2004 Andrew Adamson Shrek 2 Nominated

Best Costume Design

Best Costume Design
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2001 Ngila Dickson
Richard Taylor 		The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Nominated
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Won First time that featured two New Zealanders costume designers in the Best Costume Design category (in different nominations) within the same year.
Ngila Dickson The Last Samurai Nominated

Best Director

Best Director
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1993 Jane Campion The Piano Nominated Second woman ever to be nominated in this category.
2001 Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Nominated
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Won
2021 Jane Campion The Power of the Dog Won First woman ever to be nominated twice in this category.

Best Documentary Feature Film

Documentary (Feature)
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1977 Michael Firth Off the Edge Nominated

Best Film Editing

Best Film Editing
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2001 John Gilbert The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Nominated
2002 Michael Horton The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Nominated
2003 Jamie Selkirk The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Won
2016 John Gilbert Hacksaw Ridge Won
2019 Tom Eagles Jojo Rabbit Nominated

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2001 Richard Taylor The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Won Shared with Peter Owen.
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Won Shared with Peter King.
2015 Lesley Vanderwalt Mad Max: Fury Road Won New Zealand-born Australian citizen.
Shared with Elka Wardega and Damian Martin.

Best Original Song

Best Original Song
Year Name Film Song Status Milestone / Notes
2003 Fran Walsh The Return of the King "Into the West" Won Shared with Annie Lennox and Howard Shore.
2011 Bret McKenzie The Muppets "Man or Muppet" Won

Best Picture

Best Picture
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1998 Tim Bevan Elizabeth Nominated New Zealand-born British producer.
Shared with Alison Owen and Eric Fellner.
2001 Peter Jackson
Fran Walsh 		The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Nominated Shared with Barrie M. Osborne.
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Nominated
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Won
2007 Tim Bevan Atonement Nominated Shared with Eric Fellner and Paul Webster.
2009 Peter Jackson District 9 Nominated Shared with Carolynne Cunningham.
2012 Tim Bevan Les Misérables Nominated Shared with Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh.
2014 Tim Bevan
Anthony McCarten 		The Theory of Everything Nominated Shared with Lisa Bruce and Eric Fellner.
2017 Darkest Hour Nominated Shared with Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, and Douglas Urbanski.
2019 Carthew Neal
Taika Waititi
Chelsea Winstanley 		Jojo Rabbit Nominated
2021 Jane Campion The Power of the Dog Nominated Shared with Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Roger Frappier

Best Production Design

Best Production Design
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2001 Grant Major
Dan Hennah 		The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Nominated
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Nominated Shared with Alan Lee.
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Won
2005 Grant Major
Dan Hennah
Simon Bright 		King Kong Nominated
2009 Kim Sinclair Avatar Won Shared with Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg.
2012 Dan Hennah
Ra Vincent
Simon Bright 		The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Nominated
2019 Ra Vincent Jojo Rabbit Nominated Shared with Nora Sopková.
2021 Grant Major
Amber Richards 		The Power of the Dog Nominated

Best Short Film - Live Action

Live Action Short Film
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1958 Brian Brake Snows of Aorangi Nominated First New Zealand film nominated in any category.
1980 Lloyd Phillips The Dollar Bottom Won First New Zealander to win in any category.
2004 Taika Waititi
Ainsley Gardiner 		Two Cars, One Night Nominated
2014 James Lucas The Phone Call Won Dual British-New Zealand citizen.
Shared with Mat Kirkby.

Best Sound Editing

Sound Editing
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2002 Mike Hopkins The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Won Shared with Ethan Van der Ryn.
2005 King Kong Won
2007 Transformers Nominated
2013 Brent Burge
Chris Ward 		The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Nominated
2014 Brent Burge The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Nominated Shared with Jason Canovas.

Best Sound Mixing

Best Sound Mixing
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2001 Gethin Creagh
Hammond Peek 		The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Nominated Shared with Christopher Boyes, and Michael Semanick.
2002 Michael Hedges
Hammond Peek 		The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Nominated
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Won
2005 King Kong Won
Tony Johnson[1] The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Nominated Shared with Terry Porter, and Dean A. Zupancic.
2009 Avatar Nominated Shared with Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Andy Nelson.
2013 Michael Hedges
Tony Johnson 		The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Nominated Shared with Christopher Boyes, and Michael Semanick.

Best Visual Effects

Best Visual Effects
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
2001 Richard Taylor The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Won Shared with Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, and Mark Stetson.
2005 Christian Rivers
Richard Taylor 		King Kong Won Shared with Joe Letteri, and Brian Van't Hul.
2009 Matt Aitken District 9 Nominated Shared with Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers and Robert Habros
2011 Dan Lemmon Rise of the Planet of the Apes Nominated Shared with Joe Letteri, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett.
2014 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Nominated Shared with Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, and Erik Winquist.
2016 The Jungle Book Won Shared with Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, and Andrew R. Jones.
2017 War for the Planet of the Apes Nominated Shared with Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, and Joel Whist.
2019 Matt Aitken Avengers: Endgame Nominated Shared with Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick.
2020 David Lee Tenet (film) Won Shared with Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley, and Scott Fisher.
2021 Sean Noel Walker Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Nominated Shared with Joe Farrell, Dan Oliver, and Christopher Townsend.

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay

Best Adapted Screenplay
Year Name Film Source Material Status Milestone / Notes
1980 Jonathan Hardy Breaker Morant The play Breaker Morant by Kenneth G. Ross Nominated Shared with David Stevens and Bruce Beresford.
2001 Philippa Boyens
Peter Jackson
Fran Walsh 		The Fellowship of the Ring The novel The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien Nominated
2003 The Return of the King The novel The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien Won
2014 Anthony McCarten The Theory of Everything The book Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen Hawking by Jane Hawking Nominated
2019 Taika Waititi Jojo Rabbit The novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens Won First indigenous person (Māori) ever to win this category.
Second time that two different nominations in the same year and category were for New Zealanders.
Anthony McCarten The Two Popes The play by Anthony McCarten Nominated Second time that two different nominations in the same year and category were for New Zealanders.
2021 Jane Campion The Power of the Dog The novel The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage Nominated

Best Writing – Original Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay
Year Name Film Status Milestone / Notes
1993 Jane Campion The Piano Won
1994 Peter Jackson
Fran Walsh 		Heavenly Creatures Nominated

Nominations and Winners

No. of wins No. of nominations
28 68

References

  1. ^ "Oscar call music to my ears, says Kiwi soundman". 2 February 2010.
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