---
name: "Rima Te Wiata"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/rima-te-wiata"
fi1m_id: "rima-te-wiata"
imdb_id: "nm0853498"
tmdb_id: 1288797
wikidata_id: "Q51845341"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "12 October 1963"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T23:56:37.407309+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Rima Te Wiata

## Identity

Rima Te Wiata

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/rima-te-wiata
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** rima-te-wiata
- **IMDb ID:** nm0853498
- **TMDB ID:** 1288797
- **Wikidata ID:** Q51845341
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rima_Te_Wiata, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51845341, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0853498/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1288797

Actor. Born 12 October 1963 in London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 12 October 1963, London, England, UK
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rima_Te_Wiata, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51845341, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0853498/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1288797

## Streaming the US now

- **Peacock:** [*Hunt for the Wilderpeople*](https://film.one/film/hunt-for-the-wilderpeople.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Rima Te Wiata

> Rima Te Wiata brings quiet authority to warm supporting parts and finds room for compassion inside the comedy. We rate that unforced kindness, particularly in *Hunt for the Wilderpeople*, even when the film fusses over its quirks.

In *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), Rima Te Wiata’s Bella is a foster aunt whose warmth comes with quiet authority. She can be kind without seeming vague, and the comedy benefits from having someone we can take seriously. We rate Te Wiata for that balance of humour and compassion. It gives a supporting character some weight in a film led by Julian Dennison and Sam Neill, without requiring her to compete with them for attention.

Her route to those parts took in soap, sketch comedy and a sustained return to theatre. After *Sons and Daughters* (1986–87), she worked across New Zealand television and the stage, with more emphasis on theatre after 1999. *Housebound* (2014) brought her greater film recognition as Miriam Bucknell, the mother in a haunted-house comedy. As Miriam, she balances comedy with empathy, an approach that also serves Bella well.

Taika Waititi gets good use from that warmth in *Hunt for the Wilderpeople*, although his fondness for quirks sometimes needs checking. Te Wiata’s contribution sits within a film whose strongest asset is the friendship between Dennison and Neill’s characters. We were moved more than we expected because the pair make that friendship persuasive enough to earn the sweetness. The reservation is with Waititi’s fussing, not with the film’s willingness to be affectionate; Bella is one reason we would not want it made colder.

Supporting work can also keep an actor too neatly assigned to one task. Warm, reassuring figures may suit Te Wiata, but we would be wary of treating those parts as the full measure of an actor whose work also includes impersonation and musical performance. Later roles include Shona in *The Breaker Upperers* (2018) and Sheriam Bayanar in *The Wheel of Time* in 2023. Start with *Hunt for the Wilderpeople*, and allow for a director who occasionally works too hard at being endearing.

## Biography

Rima Te Wiata is a New Zealand actress, singer and comedian. Born in London, England, she is the daughter of opera singer Inia Te Wiata and actress Beryl Te Wiata, and of Ngāti Raukawa descent. She made an early stage debut in Auckland and trained at the New Zealand Drama School, graduating in 1983.

Te Wiata is known for film roles including Miriam Bucknell in *Housebound* (2014), Bella Faulkner in *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), Shona in *The Breaker Upperers* (2018) and Mrs D in *Pork Pie* (2017). Her television credits include Spencer in *My Life Is Murder* (2019), Sheriam Bayanar in *The Wheel of Time* (2021) and appearances in *Westside* and *Golden Boy*. She has a long stage career and earlier worked in Australian television, including a recurring role in the soap *Sons and Daughters*.

In 2017 Te Wiata was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film and television. She won the New Zealand Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for *Hunt for the Wilderpeople*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nzonscreen.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), Fi1m 82, as Bella — [page](https://film.one/film/hunt-for-the-wilderpeople.md)

## Complete filmography (25)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Kiri and Lou Go Raaa!* (2026), as Small / Pania (voice)
- *We Were Dangerous* (2024), as The Matron
- *Madam* (2024), series, as Jules Varma
- *Kiri and Lou ⁠— Grow* (2022), Actor
- *Kiri and Lou ⁠— Hide and Seek* (2022), as Pania
- *The Wheel of Time* (2021), series, as Sheriam Bayanar
- *The Tender Trap* (2021), as Sharon Armstrong
- *Prickly Jam* (2020), as Hedgehog Agatha
- *This Town* (2020), as Janice
- *My Life Is Murder* (2019), series, as Spencer
- *Golden Boy* (2019), series, as Carol
- *Kiri and Lou* (2019), series, as Marzipan
- *Elder Birdsong* (2019), as Tui
- *The Breaker Upperers* (2018), as Shona
- *Pork Pie* (2017), as Mrs. D
- *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), as Bella — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/hunt-for-the-wilderpeople.md)
- *Westside* (2015), series, as Iris
- *Housebound* (2014), as Miriam Bucknell
- *Bliss* (2011), as Miss Watson
- *50 Ways of Saying Fabulous* (2005), as Evey
- *Overnight* (1995), as Mel
- *Cops and Robbers* (1994), as Cop
- *Hinekaro Goes on a Picnic and Blows Up Another Obelisk* (1994), as Apprentice
- *Send a Gorilla* (1988), as Lisa
- *Shearing the Love*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Rima Te Wiata](https://film.one/media/person/125031/gallery-032a2faaad49.jpg) Rima Te Wiata — New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Rima_Te_Wiata_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Rima Te Wiata (left), of Auckland, after her investiture as MNZM, for services to film and television, by the governor-general, Dame Patsy Reddy, on 24 May 2017](https://film.one/media/person/125031/gallery-cbc82854e117.jpg) Rima Te Wiata (left), of Auckland, after her investiture as MNZM, for services to film and television, by the governor-general, Dame Patsy Reddy, on 24 May 2017 — New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Rima_Te_Wiata_MNZM_investiture.jpg/1280px-Rima_Te_Wiata_MNZM_investiture.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Rima Te Wiata](https://film.one/media/person/125031/gallery-21f6db91c926.jpg) Rima Te Wiata — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won

- Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit 2017: Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (won)
- Outstanding Performance 2001: Outstanding Performance (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/rima-te-wiata