Cliff Curtis
Biography
Cliff Curtis is a New Zealand actor born on July 27, 1968. He has appeared in various films, including Once Were Warriors, Three Kings, Training Day, Whale Rider, Collateral Damage, Sunshine, Live Free or Die Hard, The Dark Horse, Doctor Sleep, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Curtis has also had roles in television series such as Trauma, Body of Proof, Missing, and Fear the Walking Dead, where he portrayed Travis Manawa from 2015 to 2017. He is the co-owner of the independent New Zealand production company Whenua Films. Curtis has won the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor for his role in The Dark Horse.
Career overview
Cliff Curtis is a New Zealand actor born on July 27, 1968, in Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand. He has appeared in a variety of films, including Once Were Warriors, Three Kings, Training Day, Whale Rider, Collateral Damage, Sunshine, Live Free or Die Hard, The Dark Horse, Doctor Sleep, and Avatar, as well as its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water.
In addition to his film work, Curtis has also had roles in television series, including NBC's Trauma, ABC's Body of Proof and Missing, and the AMC horror drama series Fear the Walking Dead, in which he portrayed Travis Manawa from 2015 to 2017.
Curtis is also involved in the film industry as a producer, being a co-owner of the independent New Zealand production company Whenua Films.
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Frequent co-stars
Career timeline
Full filmography
- Avatar 5 (2031) as Tonowari
- Avatar 4 (2029) as Tonowari
- Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) as Tonowari
- Chief of War (2025) as Keoua
- Chief of War (2025) Co-Producer
- Last Breath (2025) as Andre Jenson (Captain)
- Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films (2025) as Self - "Tonowari"
- KAOS (2024) as Poseidon
- Swift Street (2024) as Robert
- In the Fire of War (2024) as Wi Toka
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023) as Jason Trissop
- Meg 2: The Trench (2023) as Mac
- True Spirit (2023) as Ben Bryant
- A Journey to Sundance (2023) as Self
- Inside Pandora's Box (2023) as Self
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) as Tonowari
- Murina (2022) as Javier
- The Raid (2022) as Tāwharau ‘Taffy’
- The Raid (2022) Executive Producer
- INVINCIBLE (2021) as Paul (voice)
- Reminiscence (2021) as Cyrus Booth
- Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) as Jonah Hobbs
- Doctor Sleep (2019) as Billy Freeman
- Herbs: Songs of Freedom (2019) Producer
- Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (2019) Executive Producer
- The Meg (2018) as James 'Mac' Mackreides
- Risen (2016) as Yeshua
- Fear the Walking Dead (2015) as Travis Manawa
- Last Knights (2015) as Lt. Cortez
- Gang Related (2014) as Javier Acosta
- The Dark Horse (2014) as Genesis
- The Dark Horse (2014) Executive Producer
- Once Were Warriors: Where Are They Now? (2014) as Self
- A Thousand Words (2012) as Dr. Sinja
- Missing (2012) as Dax Miller
- Great Expectations (2012) Executive Producer
- Body of Proof (2011) as FBI Special Agent Derek Ames
- Colombiana (2011) as Emilio
- Saving Grace - Te Whakarauora Tangata (2011) as Himself
- Saving Grace - Te Whakarauora Tangata (2011) Co-Producer
- The Last Airbender (2010) as Fire Lord Ozai
- Boy (2010) Producer
- Push (2009) as Hook Waters
- Trauma (2009) as Reuben 'Rabbit' Palchuck
- Crossing Over (2009) as Hamid Baraheri
- 10,000 BC (2008) as Tic-Tic
- Live Free or Die Hard (2007) as Deputy Director Miguel Bowman
- Sunshine (2007) as Searle
- Fracture (2007) as Detective Flores
- Eagle vs Shark (2007) Producer
- Coffee and Allah (2007) Executive Producer
- Inside The Fountain: Death and Rebirth (2007) as Himself
- The Fountain (2006) as Captain Ariel
- River Queen (2005) as Wiremu
- Traffic (2004) as Adam Kadyrov
- Heinous Crime (2004) as Pizza Delivery Man
- Fracture (2004) as Inspector Franklin
- Tama Tū (2004) Producer
- Spooked (2004) as Mort Whitman
- Runaway Jury (2003) as Frank Herrera
- Whale Rider (2003) as Porourangi
- Collateral Damage (2002) as Claudio Perrini
- Point of Origin (2002) as Mike Camello
- Training Day (2001) as Smiley
- Blow (2001) as Pablo Escobar
- The Majestic (2001) as The Evil But Handsome Prince Khalid
- Jubilee (2000) as Billy Williams
- The Insider (1999) as Sheikh Fadlallah
- Bringing Out the Dead (1999) as Cy Coates
- Three Kings (1999) as Amir Abdullah
- Virus (1999) as Hiko
- Virus: Ghost in the Machine (1999) as Self
- Six Days Seven Nights (1998) as Kip
- Deep Rising (1998) as Mamooli
- Chicken (1996) as Zeke
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995) as Nemis
- Once Were Warriors (1994) as Bully
- Hercules in the Underworld (1994) as Nessus
- Rapa Nui (1994) as Short Ears
- The Piano (1993) as Mana
- Desperate Remedies (1993) as Fraser