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.
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.[1] 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.[2]
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.
Like other actors associated with Shortland Street, Wolfe directed episodes of that program.[3] 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.[4] Her first feature-length film, titled Kawa (2010), is an adaptation of Witi Ihimaera's book, Nights in the Gardens of Spain.
Wolfe joined seven other Māori women to direct the omnibus film Waru (2017). Each woman contributed a 10-minute segment 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.[5]
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.[6] [7] [8] [9] 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.[10] 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."[11] It was produced as a film The Haka Party in 2024.[12]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | The Last Tattoo | Rose Mitchell | ||
| 1994 | La vie en rose | Audrey Foggin | ||
| 1995 | Lemming Aid | Short | ||
| 1996 | Planet Man | E.T. | short | |
| 2000 | Bennie | |||
| 2011 | Short | |||
| 2016 | Ukaipo Whenua | Short |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Marlin Bay | Ginny Gannaway | TV series | |
| 1992 | The Ray Bradbury Theater | Anna (age 18-22) | "Some Live Like Lazarus" | |
| 1996 | Cover Story | TV series | ||
| 1997-98 | Shortland Street | Dr. Bridget Hastings | Regular role | |
| 1999 | Duggan | Brenda Marshall | "Food to Die For" | |
| 1999 | Arciana | "Be Deviled" | ||
| 2001-03 | Mercy Peak | Amanda Masefield | Recurring role | |
| 2016 | Nicole | "The Black Widower" |
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-07 | Shortland Street | Director (3 episodes) | |
| 2004 | Living the Dream | Director, TV series | |
| 2008 | This Is Her | Director, short film | |
| 2009 | Go Girls | Director (4 episodes) | |
| 2010 | Redemption | Director & Writer, short film | |
| 2010 | Kawa | Director | |
| 2010-12 | Shortland Street | Producer (59 episodes) | |
| 2017 | Waru | Co-Director & Co-Writer | |
| 2024 | The Haka Party Incident | Director & Producer |
Wolfe has directed a number of plays including:
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Molly | Downstage Theatre | ||
| 2000 | Haruru Mai | Paloma | NZ International Festival | |
| 2001 | Hermia | NZ Actors Company | ||
| 2002 | Queen Leah | Edgmar | NZ Actors Company |
| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | New Zealand Film and TV Awards | Best Female Performance in Supporting Role - Film | The Last Tattoo | ||
| 1995 | New Zealand Film and Television Awards | Best Female Performance in a Supporting Role - Television | Marlin Bay | ||
| 1997 | TV Guide Television Awards | Best Actress | Cover Story, episode 7 | ||
| 2008 | New Zealand Film and TV Awards | Film Award for Best Short Film | This Is Her | ||
| 2008 | Antipodes Film Festival, St Tropez | Nicolas Baudin Award for Best Short Film | This Is Her | ||
| 2008 | Prague International Short Film Festival | Best Audience Film Award | This Is Her | ||
| 2009 | Filmets - Badalona Short Film Festival | Venus de Badalona for Best Short Film | This Is Her | ||
| 2009 | Aspen Shortsfest | Jury Award for Best Comedy | This Is Her | ||
| 2009 | Hamptons International Film Festival[18] | Audience Award for Best Short | This Is Her | ||
| 2009 | Palm Springs Shortfest | Future Filmmaker Award | |||
| 2010 | Show Me Shorts Film Festival | Best Film | This Is Her | ||
| 2010 | ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival | Jury Award for Best Short Drama | Redemption | ||
| 2010 | ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival | Cynthia Lickers-Sage Award for Emerging Talent | Redemption | ||
| 2011 | Sundance Film Festival | Short Filmmaking Award in International | Redemption | ||
| 2021 | Best Play by A Māori Playwright | The Haka Party Incident | Won |
Wolfe married fellow actor Tim Balme in 1994, and together they have two children. Wolfe also has a step-son.[19]