Fear the Walking Dead

Cliff Curtis

A successful film and television actor with a varied body of work, Cliff Curtis’s body of work encompasses a wide range of compelling performances spanning more than two decades. Curtis is currently in production on the Warner Bros. sci-fi action-thriller Meg. His most recent releases include the Sony feature Risen, the epic Biblical story of the Resurrection, opposite Joseph Fiennes; and the Broad Green release, The Dark Horse, an inspirational true story which he also executive produced. In The Dark Horse, directed by James Napier Robertson, Curtis plays Maori chess prodigy Genesis Pontini, who coached underprivileged, at-risk youth while suffering from bipolar disorder. The Dark Horse won the Audience Best Picture Award at the San Francisco Film Festival and the Seattle Film Festival, as well as, the Best Actor Award for Curtis at the Seattle Film Festival. Cliff Curtis was born in Rotorua, New Zealand and is of Maori descent. He attended the New Zealand Drama School, and then the Teatro Dmitri Scoula in Switzerland. After returning to New Zealand from Europe, his first ever role was in the Academy Award-winning film, The Piano. Subsequent roles in New Zealand include: the camp melodrama Desperate Remedies; the grueling urban drama Once Were Warriors; and the lighthearted comedy Jubilee. In Hollywood, Curtis has played an array of diverse roles and ethnicities ranging from a Colombian in Blow, opposite Johnny Depp; an Arab in Three Kings, opposite George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg; and a Latino in Training Day, opposite Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. Other film credits include: The Insider, alongside Al Pacino and Russell Crowe; Runaway Jury, alongside John Cusack; Martin Scorsese’s Bringing out the Dead; and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender. Curtis also played the role of Paikea's father, Porourangi, in Whale Rider. In 2007, Curtis turned his hand to producing, and among his credits are Taika Waititi¹s debut feature, the geek comedy Eagle vs Shark, starring Jermaine Clement and, later, another Waititi feature, Boy, which became the highest grossing local film in New Zealand history. On television, Curtis appeared in Fox’s Gang Related as Javier Acosta and as FBI Agent Dax Miller on ABC’s Missing.