Cliff Curtis

Biografia

Cliff Curtis was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, on July 27, 1968. He is of New Zealand Maori descent (with Ngati Hauiti and Te Arawa tribal affiliations). He enrolled at the New Zealand Drama School, and then the Teatro Dmitri Scoula in Switzerland. After returning to New Zealand from Europe, he was cast in Lezioni di piano (1993). Subsequent roles in New Zealand include the camp melodrama Desperate Remedies (1993), the grueling urban drama Once Were Warriors - Una volta erano guerrieri (1994), and the lighthearted comedy Jubilee (2000). In Hollywood, Curtis has played a range of different roles and ethnicities in films. He plays a Colombian in Blow (2001), an Arab in Three Kings (1999) and Insider - Dietro la verità (1999), a Latino in Training Day (2001) and La giuria (2003), and a drug dealer of ambiguous ethnicity in Al di là della vita (1999). However, he is probably best known for his role as Paikea's father Porourangi, in La ragazza delle balene (2002).