Gavin Rutherford

Gavin has been fortunate to write, direct, perform and teach all over the country but is proudly based in Wellington, New Zealand.

After graduating from the UNITEC School of Performing and Screen Arts in Auckland his career has enabled him to travel the country while performing in the multi award winning sitespecific.co.nz show Hotel and the Dave Armstrong comedy Le Sud.

Gavin is treasurer of the Circa Council at Circa Theatre and he was the “Dame” in the successful pantomimes at Circa for twelve years.

He has been involved in various voice work including the animated TV show Nori – Rollercoaster Boy and Duncan Sarkies' crazy podcast The Mysterious Secrets of Uncle Bertie's Botinarium. He MC'd the 2021 Wellington Gold Awards.

He has directed for Circa and KidzStuff. In 2019 he started writing the annual Circa Pantomime with Simon Leary.

In 2014 Gavin was awarded Grant Tilly Actor of the Year at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards (sponsored by ECaster and Proactors) for his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge.

Other theatre production credits include This Lime Tree Bower, King Lear, Home Land, Joyful and Triumphant, Kikia te Poa, Rubber Turkey, Wild East, King Lear, An Inspector Calls, The Cherry Orchard, The Winslow Boy, The Facemaker, Happy Coupling, All My Sons, Clybourne Park, Mary Stuart, Hikoi, The Father, The Lie, The Price, Equivocation, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Love Song (for which he was nominated as Best Actor / Outstanding Performance in the 2008 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards ), Uncle Vanya (for which he received the Chapman Tripp Award for Best Supporting Actor), Ken Duncum’s West End Girls (for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2012) and the sellout season of La Casa Azul as Diego Rivera (for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Wellington Theatre Awards). His film and television credits include Mistress Mercy, Catching the Black Widow, Field Punishment, Top of the Lake for Jane Campion, Rage for Danny Mulheron and Tom Scott , Tin Tin for Steven Spielberg, Home By Christmas for Gaylene Preston and the Daffodils. He has worked as a motion capture performer for Weta Digital and Wingnut on various films.

He recently directed PSA : Election 2020 and wrote and performed in Alice in Wonderfland, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid at Circa Theatre.

He lives with his partner Gina in Johnsonville and has two daughters, Cat and Mikalya.