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 Scuola in Switzerland.
After returning to New Zealand from Europe, he was cast in
Das Piano (1993). Subsequent roles in
New Zealand include the camp melodrama
Desperate Remedies (1992), the
grueling urban drama
Die letzte Kriegerin (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 - Es ist schön König zu sein (1999) and
Insider (1999), a Latino in
Training Day (2001) and
Das Urteil - Jeder ist käuflich (2003), and a drug
dealer of ambiguous ethnicity in
Bringing Out the Dead - Nächte der Erinnerung (1999).
However, he is probably best known for his role as Paikea's father
Porourangi, in Whale Rider (2002).
