Temuera Morrison

Temuera Derek Morrison (born 26 December 1960) is a New Zealand actor who first gained recognition in his home country for playing Dr. Hone Ropata on the soap opera Shortland Street. He garnered critical acclaim for his starring role as Jake "The Muss" Heke in the 1994 film Once Were Warriors and its 1999 sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

Outside of New Zealand, Morrison is best known for his work in the Star Wars multimedia franchise, playing the roles of Jango Fett as well as his many genetic clones, including the clone troopers and Jango's clone son Boba. He originated the role of Jango in the 2002 film Attack of the Clones. Morrison would go on to provide the voice of Boba Fett in the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, various Star Wars video games, and he would portray Boba fully in the second season of The Mandalorian (2019–present) and the spin-off show The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022). In 2022, he also had a recurring role in the black ops thriller series Echo 3. Morrison is also known for voicing Chief Tui, the father of the title character in Disney's Moana (2016), and for playing Arthur Curry's father Tom Curry in the DCEU films Aquaman (2018), The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (both in 2023).

Early life
Morrison was born on 26 December 1960 in the town of Rotorua, on the North Island of New Zealand. He is the son of Hana Morrison (née Stafford), and musician Laurie Morrison. He is Māori, of Te Arawa (Ngāti Whakaue) and Tainui (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Rarua) whakapapa, and also has Scottish and Irish ancestry. His sister was performer Taini Morrison and his uncle was musician Sir Howard Morrison. His secondary education took place at Wesley College, Auckland, and Western Heights High School, Rotorua.

Career
Morrison made his film debut in the 1973 film Rangi's Catch, playing the title character. He trained in drama under the New Zealand Special Performing Arts Training Scheme. One of his earliest starring roles was in the 1988 film Never Say Die, opposite Lisa Eilbacher. After this he played Dr. Hone Ropata on the television soap opera Shortland Street from 1992 to 1995; he was immortalised when another character rebuked him with the line "You're not in Guatemala now, Dr. Ropata!"

In 1994, he received attention for his role as the violent and abusive Māori husband Jake "The Muss" Heke in Once Were Warriors, a film adaptation of Alan Duff's novel of the same name. The film became the most successful local title released in New Zealand, and sold to many countries overseas. The role won him international acclaim and he received the award for best male performance in a dramatic role at the 1994 New Zealand Film and Television Awards. He reprised the role in the sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, for which he received the Best Actor award from the New Zealand Film Awards. Despite the acclaim he received for his performance, Morrison said in 2010 that he felt typecast by the role, to the point that it was "a millstone round my neck". In 1996 he co-starred with Pamela Anderson as Axel in the film Barb Wire.

He has appeared in supporting roles in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and The Beautiful Country (2004). In 2005, Morrison became the host of the talk show The Tem Show on New Zealand television.

In the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, Morrison was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to drama.

He started writing an autobiography in 2009, which he hoped would inspire others to "reach for the stars".

He released his debut album, Tem, through Sony Music Entertainment NZ in late November 2014. The album consists of covers of songs that his father, and uncle Sir Howard Morrison, used to perform at local venues when he was growing up.

Star Wars
Morrison became widely known to audiences outside of New Zealand with his role as bounty hunter Jango Fett in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Part of the film's plot involves an army of clones created with Jango's DNA; Morrison also provided the voice acting for the clones. He reappeared as a number of clones in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and re-recorded the lines of the character Boba Fett (Jango's clone "son") in the 2004 DVD re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy, replacing the voice of Jason Wingreen.

Morrison has since portrayed Jango Fett and his clones in a number of Star Wars video games, all produced by LucasArts. He played the clone commando "Boss" in Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005), voiced all the troopers in Star Wars: Battlefront (2004), and voiced both Jango and Boba Fett in its sequel, Battlefront II (2005). Morrison reprised his role as Jango in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002), a game centered around the character, and LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (2005), along with his clones, but was uncredited in the latter. He also voiced Boba in the 2006 game Star Wars: Empire at War, and DICE's Star Wars Battlefront (2015) and Battlefront II (2017), the latter of which were produced by EA.

Morrison physically portrayed Boba Fett for the first time in the second season of The Mandalorian (2020). In the show, Morrison portrays an aged, weathered version of the character. Morrison's Fett has heavy scars on his face, and wears dark robes before reclaiming and restoring his armor. Morrison says that with the physically worn appearance, he adjusted his voice to be more gravelly, as if Boba's vocal cords were affected by his past traumas. With the role, Morrison was also able to bring a bit of his own Māori culture to Fett's portrayal. In an interview with The New York Times, he said that he "wanted to bring that kind of spirit and energy, which we call wairua, [to the role]" and used that influence in his on-screen fight scenes, both in the hand-to-hand combat and while wielding weapons.

In 2020, a spinoff of the hit series The Mandalorian was announced, titled The Book of Boba Fett. Morrison reprises his role as Boba Fett, following Fett's life after the events of the 1983 film Return of the Jedi. The series premiered on 29 December 2021.

In 2022, Morrison made a cameo appearance as a homeless veteran clone trooper in the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series, and voiced Rex and other clones in an episode of Ahsoka.

Other roles
Morrison returned to Shortland Street for six weeks in June/July 2008 to reprise the role of Dr. Hone Ropata.

In 2008, Morrison also appeared on New Zealand skit comedy television show Pulp Sport, where he appeared in a sketch that made fun of him being cloned.

Morrison has appeared in several DC Comics-related films. In the 2011 film Green Lantern, he portrayed Abin Sur. In 2018 he played lighthouse keeper Tom Curry, the father of the title character, in Aquaman. Morrison reprised the role in The Flash, released in 2023, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which released in December 2023.

Personal life
Morrison lives in New Zealand, and divides his time between filming there, Australia, and the United States. He has an adult son from a relationship in the late-1980s with singer Kim Willoughby from the all-girl group When the Cat's Away; and a daughter with Peata Melbourne. Morrison's partner is Ashlee Howden-Sadlier, who is of Māori descent (specifically Tūhoe and Ngāti Porou descent).