Lee TamahoriBirth Place: Wellington, New Zealand Heritage: New Zealander Famous for: Director of 'Once Were Warriors' (1994) Contact Lee Tamahori | 
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Once Were Warriors Background: “Sex should not be in the movies and should be in the home, and violence should be in the movies and not in the home.” Lee Tamahori Award winning film director Lee Tamahori was a television commercial director in New Zealand before attaining international critical acclaim with his feature film debut “Once Were Warriors” (1994). For his good work, he took home several honors, including the Anicaflash Prize from the 1994 Venice Film Festival. After the success, Tamahori broke into Hollywood cinema with “Mulholland Falls” (1996). Since then, he has directed “The Edge” (1997), “Along Came a Spider” (2001), “Die Another Day” (2002), “xXx: State of the Union” (2005) and “Next” (2007). In January 2006, Tamahori was arrested in Los Angeles after offering to provide an undercover police officer with oral sex.
Childhood and Family: Lee Tamahori was born on June 17, 1950, in Wellington, New Zealand. His father is Maori and his mother is British.
Career: Lee Tamahori entered the cinematic industry in the late 1970s as a boom operator. He became an assistant director in the early 1980s and worked on a number of New Zealand movies, including Derek Morton's “Wild Horses” (1983), Geoff Murphy's “Utu” (1983), “The Quiet Earth” (1985), and the award winning “The Silent One” (1984). He also worked on the indie drama “Bridge to Nowhere” (1986). Tamahori, who once worked as a commercial artist and photographer, branched out to TV commercial directing in the mid 1980s and scored international notice with his work. During his 10 year tenure, he made over 100 commercials, including one that won a 1990 New Zealand Film and a TV for Best Commercial awards. Thanks to his successful TV commercials, Tamahori had the opportunity to direct his first feature film, “Once Were Warriors” (1994). Adapted from a novel by Alan Duff, the drama earned the director a New Zealand Film for Best Director, three Montréal World Film Festival awards, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and Public Prize, the Critics' Award - Special Mention from Fantasporto, an Audience Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and an Anicaflash Prize at the Venice Film Festival. 1996 found Tamahori make his American debut with “Muholland Falls,” a thriller starring Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Chazz Palminteri, Chris Penn and John Malkovich. The film won Griffith a 1997 Best Supporting Actress Razzie. For his follow-up effort, “The Edge” (1997), Tamahori teamed up with writer David Mamet and such notable actors as Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. After completing the films, he took a hiatus and resurfaced in 2000 to direct “Toodle-Fu**ing-Oo,” an episode of the popular HBO TV series “The Sopranos.” The next year, he returned to filmmaking as the director of “Along Came a Spider,” the installment to the successful thriller “Kiss the Girls” (1997). Like its predecessor, the film again put Morgan Freeman in the lead role of detective Alec Cross. In 2002, Tamahori directed the James Bond film “Die Another Day,” which starred Pierce Brosnan as 007 and Halle Berry. Three years later, he directed Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe in “xXx: State of the Union” (2005), from the “xXx” franchise. Tamahori's movie “Next” was released in April 2007. The action film starred Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel and Thomas Kretschmann. His upcoming movie, “The Devil’s Double,” will star Dominic Cooper and Ludivine Sagnier.
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