Peter David BroughtonCNZM, generally known as Rawiri Paratene, is a New Zealand stage and screen actor, director and writer. He is known for his acting roles in Whale Rider (2002) and The Insatiable Moon (2010).
Biography
Paratene was born at Motukaraka,[2] near Kohukohu, Hokianga, New Zealand, and is of Ngāpuhi descent.[3] He grew up in the south Auckland suburb of Ōtara, and attended Hillary College as David Broughton, the English form of his name.[2] Paratene's parents were Boyd Alex Broughton and Patricia Charlotte Hancy.[4]
Paratene initially struggled with reading and writing at school, but went on to be the first Māori graduate of the New Zealand Drama School.[5] He graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting).[6]
As a young student in the 1970s, Paratene was a member of Ngā Tamatoa, an activist organisation which fought for Māori rights, land, language and culture. Paratene was president of the Wellington chapter, and was one of those who presented the 1972 Te reo Māori petition to parliament.[7] Today, working in the arts, Paratene aspires to have more Māori stories on film.[8]
Career
Theatre
Paratene was selected as a Shakespeare's Globe International Actor's Fellow in 2007.[9] Paratene is an actor, director and writer and appeared as Friar Lawrence in the 2009 London Globe Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet.
The New Zealand Festival commissioned Paratene and Murray Lynch to write a play called Blue Smoke that premiered in 2000. It is set in the 1950s and is a musical featuring music from the era.[10] The title of the play is also the title of a famous song Blue Smoke, which was the first record wholly produced in New Zealand and became a hit in the United States.[11]
In 2014, Paratene joined the cast of the London Globe Theatre's two-year world tour of Hamlet, visiting 205 countries. He was the only non-British based actor in the cast.[12]
Paratene's selection as the University of Otago's Burn's Fellow for 1983 was based on his television work as writer, director, and actor. During that year he wrote Erua (1988), which won him the New Zealand Film and Television Award for Best Writer in 1989,[17] and the teleplay/screenplay Dead Certs (1995), for which he received the New Zealand Film and Television Award for Best Actor in 1996.[18]
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