Nancy Brunning

Nancy Brunning
Born	1971
Nationality	New Zealander
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1992 - present

Nancy Brunning is an actress and director who has won awards in film and television and has made a major contribution to the growth of Māori in the arts. Her accolades include Best Actress awards on stage and screen. She won Best Actress at the NZ Film Awards for her lead role in the film What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999), the sequel to cult classic Once Were Warriors. In 2000, she won Best Actress in Drama at the New Zealand Television Awards for her lead role in the television series Nga Tohu. Brunning is of Māori descent from the tribes of Ngati Raukawa and Ngai Tuhoe. She was the Acting Coach for the Oscar nominated short film Two Cars, One Night directed by Taika Waititi.

Brunning trained for two years at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School (1990-1991). After graduating, she played many leading roles in theatre, film and television. In 1992, she won the award for Most Promising Female Actor at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for the all Māori women production Nga Wahine. She also became one of the most well known faces on New Zealand television in the role of Jaki Manu in the soap Shortland Street and other programmes. In 1994, she appeared in the classic Nga Tangata Toa play written by Hone Kouka and directed by Colin McColl. Brunning also appeared on stage in major productions for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, the biggest arts event in the country, in productions such as Hide ‘n’ Seek (1992) (NZ and Australian tour) and Waiora (1996) (NZ, Brighton Festival and Hawai'i tours) and Blue Smoke. She played the role of Belle in the UK-NZ co-production of Beauty and the Beast (1998). A speaker of the indigenous Māori language, Brunning also worked as a theatre director, cultural advisor and script consultant. She received a Best Actress nomination at the 2009 Qantas Film & TV Awards for her role in the movie Strength of Water.

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