Biography
Chelsea Winstanley is a New Zealand film producer and director of Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāi Te Rangi descent. Born in Tauranga in 1976, she has produced short films and documentaries celebrating Indigenous stories, and co-founded production companies including Matewa Media and This Too Shall Pass.
She is best known for producing What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Jojo Rabbit (2019), the latter earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture as the first Indigenous woman nominated in that category. Other producing credits include Night Raiders (2021) and the documentary Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (2018). She has also directed segments of the anthology film Waru (2017) and her feature debut documentary TOITŪ Visual Sovereignty (2025).
Winstanley was previously married to filmmaker Taika Waititi, with whom she collaborated on several projects. In 2022 she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the screen industry and Māori.
