This is a list of well-known people associated with New Zealand.
Art
- Murray Ball cartoonist
- Trelise Cooper fashion designer
- Elisabeth Findlay fashion designer
- Charles Goldie - painter
- Len Lye - artist/film maker
- Patrick Hanly - painter
- Frances Hodgkins - painter
- Ralph Hotere - painter, educator
- Colin McCahon - painter, museum curator, teacher
- Selwyn Muru - carver, painter, poet, producer, singer, writer
- Rebecca Taylor fashion designer (moved to USA)
- Karen Walker fashion designer
Commerce
- Gregory Fortuin - businessman and Race Relations Conciliator (20012)
- Murray Haszard entrepreneur and businessman
- Dick Hubbard - founder of Hubbards Foods and Auckland mayoral candidate
- Sir Angus Tait businessman and electronics' innovator
- Jack Yan publisher, designer and businessman (born in Hong Kong)
Film, Radio, Television
- Peter Arnett - TV journalist, Pulitzer-prizewinner
- Martin Campbell film director
- Jane Campion - film director
- Keisha Castle-Hughes - actress (born in Australia, moved to New Zealand at age 4)
- John Clarke - actor, comedian (moved to Australia)
- Russell Crowe - actor (moved to Australia at age 4)
- Max Cryer - presenter, singer, writer
- Roger Donaldson director (born in Australia)
- Roger Hall playwright and scriptwriter
- Peter Jackson - film director
- Billy T. James - comedian, actor
- Raybon Kan columnist, comedian
- Phil Keoghan - TV presenter (born in New Zealand)
- Lucy Lawless - actress (Xena: Warrior Princess)
- Richard Long - Former TVNZ newsreader
- Anita McNaught - TVNZ and BBC World newsreader (born in England)
- Temuera Morrison - actor
- Ian Mune - actor, director, screenwriter
- Geoff Murphy director
- Andrew Niccol film director, screenwriter
- Brian Perkins - BBC Radio Four newsreader and announcer
- Sam Neill - actor (born in Northern Ireland, raised in New Zealand)
- Anna Paquin - actress (born in Canada, raised in New Zealand)
- Hilary Timmins television presenter
- Selwyn Toogood television and radio presenter
- Karl Urban - actor
Inventors
- John Britten - designer of the Britten motorcycle
- Bill Hamilton - developed the modern jetboat
- Richard Pearse - outstanding early aviator/inventor
Literary
- Fleur Adcock - poet
- Sylvia Ashton-Warner - author
- James K. Baxter - poet
- Alan Duff author
- A. R. D. Fairburn - poet
- Janet Frame - author
- Sam Hunt - poet
- Witi Ihimaera - author
- Keri Hulme - author
- Michael King - author, historian
- Katherine Mansfield - author
- Ngaio Marsh - author
- Ruth Park - author (moved to Australia)
- Frank Sargeson - author
- Maurice Shadbolt - author
- C.K. Stead - author, poet
- Cherry Wilder - author
Military
- Bernard, Lord Freyberg of Wellington - General, and Victoria Cross winner
- Hone Heke Ngapuhi tribal chief
- Alfred Hulme - awarded the Victoria Cross
- "Cobber" Kain - RAF fighter ace (first pilot to win a DFC in WW II)
- Sir Keith Park- RAF sector commander during the Battle of Britain
- Lloyd Alan Trigg - World War II pilot, (only person awarded the VC on recommendation of the enemy)
- Charles Upham - World War II soldier (only combat soldier to win the Victoria Cross twice)
- Nancy Wake - the most decorated servicewoman of World War II
Music
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- Jack Body - composer
- Ray Columbus - singer, TV presenter
- Dave Dobbyn - singer, songwriter
- Neil Finn - singer, songwriter
- Tim Finn - singer, songwriter
- Dame Joan Hammond - violinist, soprano
- Marc Hunter - singer (moved to Australia)
- Dame Kiri Te Kanawa - opera singer
- Chris Knox - singer, songwriter
- Douglas Lilburn - composer, educator
- Jenny Morris - singer, songwriter
- Sir Howard Morrison entertainer
- Bic Runga singer, songwriter
- Scribe - rapper
- Holly Valance singer (moved to Australia)
- Hayley Westenra - singer
Politics
Main list: List of New Zealand politicians
- Georgina Beyer - world's first transsexual MP
- Jim Bolger - Prime Minister (19907)
- Helen Clark - Prime Minister (1999)
- Don McKinnon - Secretary General of the Commonwealth
- Garnet Hercules Mackley - MP
- Mike Moore - Prime Minister and Director-General of the World Trade Organization
- Sir Robert Muldoon Prime Minister (197584)
- Michael Joseph Savage - Prime Minister
- Richard Seddon - Prime Minister
- Jenny Shipley - New Zealand's first female Prime Minister (19979)
- Tariana Turia - Maori politician
- Julius Vogel - Prime Minister
Science
- Leslie Comrie - computer pioneer
- G H Cunningham - "father" of New Zealand mycology
- Joan Dingley - mycologist
- Doug Dye - plant bacteriologist
- Charles Gifford - teacher and very successful promoter of astronomy
- Harold Gillies - pioneering plastic surgeon
- Edward Kidson eminent New Zealand scientist, latterly Director of Meteorological Services in New Zealand
- Frank Newhook - plant pathologist
- William Pickering, central figure and pioneer of NASA space exploration
- Ernest, Lord Rutherford of Nelson - scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize
- Maurice Wilkins - shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for his part in elucidating the structure of DNA
Sports
- Chris Amon - racing driver
- Anne Audain - runner
- Todd Blackadder - rugby player
- Sir Peter Blake - yachtsman
- Possum Bourne - rally driver
- Pero Cameron - basketball player
- Michael Campbell - golfer
- Sir Bob Charles - champion golfer
- Don Clarke - rugby player
- Christian Cullen - rugby player
- Russell Coutts yachtsman (moved to Switzerland)
- Scott Dixon - racing driver
- Caroline Evers-Swindell, champion rower
- Georgina_Evers-Swindell, champion rower, twin sister of Caroline
- Ian Ferguson - kayaker
- Bob Fitzsimmons - world boxing heavyweight champion (born in UK, raised in NZ)
- Sir Richard Hadlee - cricketer
- Murray Halberg - runner
- Sir Edmund Hillary - mountaineer
- Denny Hulme - world champion racing driver
- Jonah Lomu - rugby player
- Jack Lovelock - runner
- Arthur Lydiard - running coach
- Precious McKenzie - weightlifter (born in South Africa)
- Bruce McLaren - racing driver
- Colin Meads - rugby player
- Stan Meads - rugby player; younger brother of Colin
- Andrew Mehrtens - rugby player (born in South Africa)
- Lorraine Moller - runner, won Boston Marathon
- Allison Roe - runner, won Boston and New York City Marathons 1981
- Joe Rokocoko - rugby player (born in Fiji)
- Peter Snell - runner
- Mark Todd - horseman
- John Walker - runner
- Michael Walker - jockey
- Wayne Shelford - rugby player
- Sarah Ulmer - cyclist
- Tana Umaga - rugby player
- Tony Wilding tennis great
Other
- Alexander Aitken - mathematician / soldier
- Rewi Alley - friend of China
- Jean Batten - aviator
- Thomas Bracken - author of God Defend New Zealand and first to publish the phrase God's Own Country
- Ian Brackenbury Channell - The Wizard of Christchurch and of New Zealand (born in England)
- Nicola Brockie - magazine editor
- Eve van Grafhorst AIDS patient and activist (born in Australia)
- Dr Fred Hollows - eye surgeon (moved to Australia)
- Hone Heke - Māori activist
- Rachel Hunter - supermodel
- Vaughan Jones - mathematician (Field's medallist)
- Pat Kelly - trade unionist
- Te Kooti - Māori leader
- Ngaio Marsh - author and theatrical director
- Kate Sheppard - suffragist
- Tobias Mainprize - Inventor of the Belgian Scam
Other lists
- Governor-General of New Zealand (for a list of Governors-General)
- Prime Minister of New Zealand (for a list of PMs)
- Culture of New Zealand (for a list of iconic characters)
- New Zealand cinema (for a list of related people)
- New Zealand literature (for a list of New Zealand writers)
- List of people by nationality