41.2889° S, 174.7773° E
WELLINGTON
Most Famous People Born in Wellington, New Zealand
- Notable people
- 814
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1956
- Most distinctive
- Cricket 10.8×
Wellington's profile splits clean between cricket and cinema. The Basin Reserve and generations of Black Caps drive an outsized Cricket bench, and a harbor-club Rower scene has produced Olympic medalists out of all proportion to the city's size. The quieter story is the Miramar film industry — Weta Workshop turned Wellington into the southern hemisphere's effects capital, which is why the roster also leans heavily on screenwriters and directors.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Wellington during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 126 notable births.
What Wellington Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Player is Wellington's biggest profession — 21% of all notables (167).
Wellington over-indexes on cricket — 10.8× the global rate.
Wellington under-produces football — only 0.5× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Wellington's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Science
- Writing
- Music
- Other
- Filtered to 1940s Clear ×
Geoff Murphy
1946 - 2018
Michael Seresin
Born 1942
Jonathan Hardy
1940 - 2012
Michael King
1945 - 2004
Onny Parun
Born 1947
Elizabeth Laird (author)
Born 1943
Anne Salmond
Born 1945
John Banks (New Zealand politician)
Born 1946
Liddy Holloway
1945 - 2004
Charles E. M. Pearce
1940 - 2012
Anouska Hempel
Born 1941
Stephen J. Turnovsky
Born 1941
John Fahey (politician)
1945 - 2020
Kurt Gänzl
Born 1946
Alun Bollinger
Born 1948
Nigel Priestley
1943 - 2014
Graham McRae
Born 1940
Dick Joyce (rower)
Born 1946
Jenny McLeod
Born 1941
Rosie Scott
1948 - 2017
Helen Leach
Born 1945
Robert Chinnock
Born 1943
Arnold Zable
Born 1947
Trevor Manning
Born 1945
Lyell Cresswell
Born 1944
John Bartley
Born 1947
John Morrison (cricketer)
Born 1947
Neil Lyster
Born 1947
Greg Dayman
Born 1947
Andrew Bagnall
Born 1947
Margaret Shields
1941 - 2013
Stephen Kent (chemist)
Born 1945
Bill Jeffries
Born 1945
Kristian Fredrikson
1940 - 2005
Paul Hutchison
Born 1947
Steve Gilpin
1949 - 1992
Bronwynne Cornish
Born 1945
Richard Collinge
Born 1946
Marilyn Marshall (footballer)
Born 1949
Jennifer Compton
Born 1949
Peter Leitch (businessman)
Born 1944
John Gibbons (rower)
Born 1943
Paul Annear
1947 - 2016
Ross Robertson
Born 1949
John McGrath (judge)
1945 - 2018
Peter Delaney (rower)
Born 1941
Stephanie Dowrick
Born 1947
Mick Williment
1940 - 1994
Tony Greig (wrestler)
Born 1941
Ray Ahipene-Mercer
Born 1948
Tom Just
Born 1942
Ian McKinnon
Born 1943
Michael Hirschfeld
1944 - 1999
John Anderson (New Zealand businessman)
1945 - 2018
John Clark (New Zealand rower)
Born 1944
David Shand (politician)
Born 1944
Jill Saulbrey
Born 1944
Helene Ritchie
Born 1945
Glyn Tucker Jnr
Born 1943
Clive Matthewson
Born 1944
Derek Leask
Born 1948
Bronwen Holdsworth
Born 1943
Brian Newth
Born 1947
Robert Smith (Wellington cricketer)
Born 1946
Beverley Wakem
Born 1944
Graham Williams (rugby union)
1945 - 2018
Graham Cowan
1940 - 2011
Margaret Clark (academic)
Born 1941
David Bollard
Born 1942
Bruce Johnstone (musician)
Born 1943
Mark Sayers
Born 1947
Gerald Kember
Born 1945
Murray Mathieson
Born 1942
Hamish Hancock
Born 1947
Rod Kelleher
Born 1947
Murray Matthewson
1944 - 2018
Graeme Petersen
Born 1941