NZ TV Awards Names 2021 TV Legend And TV Personality Of The Year Finalists

(Auckland - 27 January 2022) The New Zealand Television Awards is thrilled to announce actor, writer and director Ian Mune as the recipient of the 2021 New Zealand Television Legend Award*. The New Zealand Television Awards also reveals finalists for the Television Personality of the Year Award category.

 Presented to a television professional, programme or organisation who has made a significant contribution to the television industry in New Zealand over the span of their career, the prestigious TV Legend award is a special honour given at the discretion of the New Zealand Television Awards Committee. Previous TV Legend honourees include Andrew Shaw (2020), Shortland Street (2019), Tini Molyneux (2018) and John Barnett (2017).
 
Ian, who began his illustrious TV career over six decades ago, will be presented with the award at the New Zealand Television Awards on Tuesday, 1 March in recognition of his contribution to the New Zealand screen industry.
 
An impassioned advocate for telling homegrown stories, Ian has brought an authentically Kiwi voice to New Zealand screens. With more than 100 screen acting, writing and directing credits to his name, Ian has been a constant presence in our performing landscape, earning a raft of accolades throughout his career, including being honoured with an OBE in for services to Film and Theatre.
 
Following his on-screen debut in pioneering drama series Pukemanu in 1971, Ian dominated New Zealand television in the seventies. He enjoyed great success collaborating with Roger Donaldson to create eight one-off television dramas, including Feltex Award-winning titles Derek (1974) and anthology series Winners & Losers (1977), as well as the landmark film Sleeping Dogs (1977).
 
Ian went on to co-write Kiwi cult classic Goodbye Pork Pie and embarked on an impressive career directing films, making his directorial debut with the multi-award-winning conman caper Came a Hot Friday (1984), followed by New Zealand Film Award-winning films The End of the Golden Weather (1991) and The Whole of the Moon (1996). Other directorial triumphs include Once We Were Warriors sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999) – a film that won nine NZ Film Awards, including Best Director – and Ian’s first documentary, Billy T: Te Movie, exploring the life and comedy of Billy T James. Ian’s TV directing credits include drama series The Tribe and Mercy Peak.
 
Concurrent to his directing endeavours, Ian continued to act. He took home the Listener Film and Television Award for Best Male in a Dramatic Role for his starring role in TVNZ’s 1987 mini-series Erebus: The Aftermath and, in 1994, the prolific actor took home another New Zealand Television Award for his turn as Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon in mini-series Fallout. Ian has appeared in many New Zealand feature films, including A Song of Good, Savage Honeymoon and I'm Not Harry Jenson, and played Winston Churchill in US telemovie Ike: Countdown to D-Day and Buster Keaton in CBS’s Lucy: The Lucille Ball Story. More recently, Ian has starred in TV dramas including Agent Anna, Burying Bryan, Wanted and The Pact.
 
The New Zealand Television Legend Award is brought to you by NZ On Screen. Stephanie Hopkins, Executive Director of the Digital Media Trust says: “NZ On Screen supports the recognition of our screen sector contributors and is delighted that Ian Mune is the recipient of the 2021 New Zealand Television Legend Award. The diversity and extent of Ian’s career in the New Zealand screen sector is nothing short of extraordinary.”
 
The 2021 Television Personality of the Year finalists are:

• Anita Wigl'it – Ru Paul’s Drag Race Down Under (TVNZ 2)
• Chris Parker – Celebrity Treasure Island (TVNZ 2), Instagram
• Edna Swart – Celebrity Treasure Island (TVNZ 2), Boss Babes (TVNZ OnDemand)
• Eric Young – Prime News (Prime)
• Jenny-May Clarkson, Jenny Suo, Matty McLean – Breakfast (TVNZ 1), TikTok
• Moana Maniapoto – Te Ao with Moana (Māori Television)
• Nix Adams – Terei Tonight (Māori Television)
• Reuben Milner – Shortland Street (TVNZ 2)
• Ruby Tui – Olympic Games Tokyo 2021 (TVNZ 1)
• Ryan Bridge – The AM Show (Discovery, Three)
• Sharyn Casey – The Masked Singer (Discovery, Three)

The TV Personality of the Year is the only publicly-voted category within the New Zealand Television Awards. Online voting is now open and concludes on Sunday, 20 February. Previous recipients of the award include Hilary Barry (2020), Matty McLean (2019), Hayley Holt (2018) and Toni Street (2017).  Visit www.nztvawards.co.nz/tvpersonalityoftheyear to vote. 
 
All the winners of this year’s New Zealand Television Awards will be announced on Tuesday, 1 March, 2022.  Details on how the NZ TV Awards will be presented in line with Aotearoa’s COVID Protection Framework will be released soon.
 
The New Zealand Television Awards Event Partners are NZ On Air, Images & Sound, Te Māngai Pāho and Screen Auckland with Supporting Partners Discovery, Māori Television, Sky and TVNZ.  With special thanks to NZ On Screen.

*The 2021 New Zealand Television Awards event was postponed to March 2022 due to COVID restrictions.

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