List of people from Wellington

This is a list of notable people who were born in Wellington, New Zealand, or who spent a significant part of their lives living in the region. (Alphabetically by surname)

Comedy

 * Raybon Kan – comedian

Drag

 * Pollyfilla (Colin McLean) – drag queen

Drama

 * Russell Crowe – Oscar-winning actor
 * Kerry Fox – actress
 * Anna Paquin – Oscar-winning actress
 * Antonia Prebble – actress
 * Emmett Skilton – actor
 * Antony Starr – actor
 * Karl Urban – actor

Film

 * Jane Campion – Oscar winning film-maker
 * Peter Jackson – Oscar-winning film-maker
 * Clive Revill – film and theatre actor
 * Richard Taylor – head of film prop and special effects company Weta Workshop; multiple Oscar winner
 * Fran Walsh – Oscar-winning screenwriter
 * Taika Waititi – film director, screenwriter, actor, and comedian

Music

 * Jemaine Clement – musician, member of Flight of the Conchords
 * Brooke Fraser – multi-platinum selling singer
 * Anthony Jennings — harpsichordist, organist, choral and orchestral director, and academic
 * Andy Kent – bass player for You Am I
 * Ben Lummis – singer, 2004 New Zealand Idol winner
 * Tina Matthews – musician (The Crocodiles), puppeteer, writer
 * Bret McKenzie – musician, member of Flight of the Conchords
 * John Psathas – composer
 * John Charles - composer
 * Eddie Rayner – musician – Crowded House, Split Enz
 * Frankie Stevens – entertainer, singer and judge of New Zealand Idol
 * Jon Toogood – singer and guitarist for the rock band Shihad
 * Rosita Vai – singer, 2005 New Zealand Idol winner

Visual arts

 * Tom Scott – cartoonist, political commentator

Writing

 * Ann Shulgin – author
 * Ivan Bootham – novelist, short story writer, poet and composer
 * Neil Cross – writer
 * Richard Curtis – movie and TV writer and director
 * Lauris Edmond – poet
 * Robin Hyde – poet
 * John Gallas – poet and educator
 * Patricia Grace – writer
 * Lloyd Jones – writer
 * Elizabeth Knox – author
 * Katherine Mansfield – writer
 * Bruce Mason – playwright
 * Christopher Pugsley – writer
 * Sydney Goodsir Smith – Scots language poet

Broadcasting

 * John Campbell – broadcaster and news journalist
 * Selwyn Toogood (dec.) – broadcaster
 * Dan Wootton – broadcaster and news journalist

Business

 * Mark Dunajtschik – Property developer and philanthropist
 * Sam Morgan – founder of online auction site TradeMe
 * Peter Vincent – entrepreneur, founder/CEO of Vincent Aviation
 * Dame Therese Walsh – chief operating officer for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and head of the organising body for the 2015 Cricket World Cup
 * Jack Yan – publisher and graphic designer

Politics and public service

 * Lettie Annie Allen – public servant and political activist
 * Robin Cooke, Baron Cooke of Thorndon (dec.) – barrister and jurist
 * Francis Fisher – politician, tennis player
 * Jessica Hammond – The Opportunities Party politician
 * Bill Hastings – lawyer, Chief Censor
 * Joe Mack – trade union leader
 * Jack Marshall (dec.) – former Prime Minister
 * Gerald O'Brien – public servant and politician
 * Nancy Wake (dec.) – World War II British agent
 * Fran Wilde – Mayor, Member of Parliament
 * Michael Wilford – diplomat

Religion

 * Francis Douglas – Catholic missionary priest killed in World War II
 * Thomas Stafford Cardinal Williams (1930–2023) – Cardinal-Priest of Gesù Divin Maestro alla Pineta Sacchetti (1983–2023); Fifth Catholic Archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand (1979–2005)

Science and technology

 * Rod Drury – technology entrepreneur
 * Alan MacDiarmid (dec.) – scientist
 * Richard Cockburn Maclaurin (dec.) – physicist, foundation professor of Victoria University and president of MIT
 * William Hayward Pickering (dec.) – electrical engineer, former head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California
 * Matt Visser – physicist and mathematician

Sport

 * Leo Bertos – footballer
 * Jim Cassidy – jockey
 * Murray Chandler – chess grandmaster
 * Russell Coutts – professional sailor
 * Anton Down-Jenkins (born 1999) – diver
 * Phillip Drew (born 1986) – international croquet player
 * Simon Elliott – footballer
 * Chris Killen – footballer
 * Ezi Magbegor – WNBA center for the Seattle Storm
 * Melissa Moon – two-time world mountain running champion
 * Jeetan Patel – cricketer
 * Wynton Rufer – footballer
 * Jonathan Sarfati – chess master and author, raised in Wellington
 * Ross Taylor (born 1984) – cricketer
 * Ruby Tui (born 1991) – rugby sevens player.
 * Tana Umaga – former captain of the All Blacks
 * Rob Szabo – darts player

Other

 * Ben Hana – a well-known homeless man
 * Harold Jack Underwood (1908–1979) – clerk, farmer, toy-maker, and manufacturer
 * Heinrich Franz Vosseler – engineer and oil refinery owner