Katie Wolfe

Katie Wolfe (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Toa Rangatira) is an award-winning director, actor and writer working across film, television and theatre.

Growing up in Taranaki, Katie studied English at Victoria University of Wellington then trained at Toi Whaakari: NZ Drama School as an actor, graduating in 1990. Since then, her career has concentrated primarily on New Zealand material, acting in shows such as: Marlin Bay, Cover Story, Mercy Peak and Vegas, and films The Last Tattoo, The Irrefutable Truth about Demons and Daffodils. Katie has performed in many New Zealand plays including Glorious Ruins, Sunset Café, The God Boy and Haruru Mai. She also portrays the popular character Nanny Fanny on the Whakaata Māori hit comedy The Ring Inz.

In 2000 she turned her attention to directing. Some of her notable theatre directing includes The Mooncake and the Kūmara for the Auckland Arts Festival 2015, the world premiere of Rendered for Auckland Theatre Company, Anahera for Circa Theatre, Luncheon for Basement and The Women for Silo.

Her short films This is Her and Redemption both premiered at Sundance and went on to screen in the Berlinale, New York and Telluride, Colorado Film Festivals, garnering numerous awards including Qantas Awards for both films. Redemption won Best Short Drama at the ImagineNative Festival 2010 where Katie also received the award for Emerging Talent.

Katie was the inaugural recipient of the WIFT Mana Wāhine Award in 2011 and Te Aupounamu Māori Screen Excellence Award in 2018.

Waru, her most recent portmanteau feature film as a writer/director premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2017 as well as opening ImagineNative. Waru won the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding International Narrative Feature) and the SWANZ award in 2017 for Best Feature Film Script.

Her first telefeature Kawa, an adaptation of Witi Ihimaera’s book Nights in the Gardens of Spain, won Best Narrative Feature at the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival 2011 as well as playing Frameline35 and Hawai‘i International Film Festival. For Whakaata Māori she has written and directed the documentaries Artefact – Te Hokinga Mai, Artefact – The Road to War and He Māngai Wāhine. Her network television drama directing credits include: Shortland Street, Go Girls, Kōrero Mai, Whanau, Under The Vines, Head High, My Life is Murder and she has directed multiple feature-length episodes of The Brokenwood Mysteries.

The Haka Party Incident is Katie’s first full-length play. It premiered with Auckland Theatre Company and received three awards at the 2021 Adam New Zealand Play Awards: Runner-Up, Best Play by a Māori Writer and the Dean Parker Award.