Katie Wolfe (born 1968) is an actor, film and stage director from New Zealand. She appeared in television series including Marlin Bay (1990s), Shortland Street (late 1990s), and Mercy Peak (2000 - 2001). Her screen directing work has won awards, including Redemption at the ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival and This Is Her at the Prague International Short Film Festival. Wolfe wrote and directed a stage play, The Haka Party Incident that was presented in 2023 in New Zealand.
Biography Katie Wolfe, the daughter of Neil Wolfe and Raewyn Wolfe, was born in New Plymouth in 1968, she has three siblings. Wolfe is Māori and is affiliated with the Taranaki iwi Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama. After enrolling at Victoria University of Wellington in 1986, she graduated with a BA in English, and stayed in Wellington to study at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Acting School, graduating in 1990.
Career
Acting Wolfe's first professional acting job was at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre, followed by the role of presenter for several episodes of NHNZ's children's nature series Wild Track.
Her first television role, as Ginny Gannaway on the series Marlin Bay, was in 1992 began in 1992 and lasted three years. Her feature film debut came in the New Zealand film The Last Tattoo (1994), a murder mystery set in Wellington during World War II directed by John Reid and starring Rod Steiger and Tony Goldwyn along with a large cast of established and soon to be established local actors, including Tim Balme, Danielle Cormack, Kerry Fox, and Robyn Malcolm.
Directing and writing Like other actors associated with Shortland Street, Wolfe directed episodes of that program. Her first two films, the short films This is Her (2008) and Redemption (2010), both premiered at Sundance, and then screened at other international festivals including Telluride (USA), the Berlinale (Germany), the Melbourne International Film Festival, the San Tropez Antipodes Film Festival (France) and the New York Film Festival. Her first feature-length film, titled Kawa (2010), is an adaptation of Witi Ihimaera's book, Nights in the Gardens of Spain.
Wolfe joined eight other Māori women to direct the omnibus film Waru (2017), comprising eight 10-minute segments of events circling around the tangi of a boy named Waru. After its debut at the 2017 New Zealand International Film Festival, Waru screened at the Toronto Film Festival and ImagineNATIVE festivals.
Wolfe's work as a theatre director includes The Haka Party Incident, a verbatim play about race relations based on a confrontation that occurred between Māori activists and a group of engineering students doing a mock haka at the University of Auckland in 1979. Wolfe, also the author, presented an early version in 2017, leading to its being programmed by a number of festivals throughout New Zealand (Te Tairāwhiti Festival, Auckland Festival, Tauranga Arts Festival, RESET Festival in Taranaki, Nelson Arts Festival) that were affected by Covid 19 restrictions. It premiered in 2021 and toured New Zealand in 2023 presented at the Kia Mau Festival, Wellington; Sir Howard Morrison Centre, Rotorua; Taranaki Arts Festival, New Plymouth; Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, Gisborne; Tauranga Festival and the Court Theatre in Christchurch. Critic Nga-Atawhainga Hineāmore said of the play: "...having the actors performing the haka both as a farce and in its full and rightful glory proves to be a strongly emotive way of tracking the obvious social and cultural divide." The play was produced as a documentary film The Haka Party Incident in 2024, Documentary film of duration 01:30:00. . Embedded video includes clips of Wolfe talking about the film. due for release on or about . YouTube of duration 00:02:27.
Filmography - screen credits
Film Year Title Role Notes1994The Last TattooRose Mitchell1994La vie en roseAudrey Foggin1995Lemming AidShort1996Planet ManE.T.short2000Bennie2011Short2016Ukaipo WhenuaShort
Television Year Title Role Notes1992Marlin BayGinny GannawayTV series1992The Ray Bradbury TheaterAnna (age 18-22)"Some Live Like Lazarus"1996Cover StoryTV series1997-99Shortland StreetDr. Bridget HastingsRegular role1999DugganBrenda Marshall"Food to Die For"1999Hercules: The Legendary JourneysArciana"Be Deviled"2001-03Mercy PeakAmanda MasefieldRecurring role2016Nicole"The Black Widower"
Other work Year Title Notes2003-07Shortland StreetDirector (3 episodes)2004Living the DreamDirector, TV series2008This Is HerDirector, short film2009Go GirlsDirector (4 episodes)2010RedemptionDirector & Writer, short film2010KawaDirector2010-12Shortland StreetProducer (59 episodes)2017WaruCo-Director & Co-Writer2024The Haka Party IncidentDirector & Producer
Theatre
Directing Wolfe has directed a number of plays including:
Luncheon (2014) by Aroha Awarau, at the Basement Theatre, Auckland. Starring Jennifer Ward-Lealand The Haka Party Incident (2017) written and directed by Katie Wolfe. Verbatim theatre, produced by Auckland Theatre Company. Anahera (2017) by Emma Kinane. Circa Theatre, Wellington. The Haka Party Incident (2020) (revision) written and directed by Katie Wolfe. Produced by Auckland Theatre Company.
Acting Roles Year Title Role Notes1999MollyDownstage Theatre2000Haruru MaiPalomaNZ International Festival2001HermiaNZ Actors Company2002Queen LeahEdgmarNZ Actors Company
Awards and nominations Year Association Category Work Result1995New Zealand Film and TV AwardsBest Female Performance in Supporting Role - FilmThe Last Tattoo1995New Zealand Film and Television AwardsBest Female Performance in a Supporting Role - TelevisionMarlin Bay1997TV Guide Television AwardsBest ActressCover Story, episode 72008New Zealand Film and TV AwardsFilm Award for Best Short FilmThis Is Her2008Antipodes Film Festival, St TropezNicolas Baudin Award for Best Short FilmThis Is Her2008Prague International Short Film FestivalBest Audience Film AwardThis Is Her2009Filmets - Badalona Short Film FestivalVenus de Badalona for Best Short FilmThis Is Her2009Aspen ShortsfestJury Award for Best ComedyThis Is Her2009Hamptons International Film FestivalAudience Award for Best ShortThis Is Her2009Palm Springs ShortfestFuture Filmmaker Award2010Show Me Shorts Film FestivalBest FilmThis Is Her2010ImagineNative Film + Media Arts FestivalJury Award for Best Short DramaRedemption2010ImagineNative Film + Media Arts FestivalCynthia Lickers-Sage Award for Emerging TalentRedemption2011Sundance Film FestivalShort Filmmaking Award in InternationalRedemption2021Adam NZ Play Award Best Play by A Māori PlaywrightThe Haka Party IncidentWon
Personal life Wolfe married fellow actor Tim Balme in 1994, and together they have two children. Wolfe also has a step-son.
References
External links
Katie Wolfe Website