Cliff Curtis
Curtis in 2010, photo by Prphotos.com
Birth Name: Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis
Place of Birth: Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
Date of Birth: 27 July, 1968
Ethnicity: Māori, as well as English, Irish, Swedish, and French
Cliff Curtis is a Māori actor from New Zealand. Known for playing a diverse array of ethnic and national backgrounds, his roles include the films Once Were Warriors, Three Kings, The Insider, Training Day, Collateral Damage, Whale Rider, Runaway Jury, Live Free or Die Hard, Sunshine (2007), Colombiana, A Thousand Words, The Dark Horse, The Meg, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Doctor Sleep, Avatar: The Way of Water, and True Spirit, and the series Trauma, Body of Proof, Missing, and Fear the Walking Dead, among many other works.
He is affiliated with the Ngāti Pikiao and Te Arawa. Both of his parents are of Māori and European descent. His uncle was educator and Māori leader Sir Toby Curtis.
He is married and has three children.
Cliff’s paternal grandparents likely were Thomas Tame Pikikotuku Curtis and Makarena Anahera Tukuru/Tu Kuru. They were from Rotoiti, Rotorua.
Cliff’s maternal grandfather was Hector Kelvin O’Halloran (the son of Hector Joseph O’Halloran and Mary Ann “Merama” Lipsey). Hector was the son of Eugene Edward O’Halloran, whose parents were from Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, and of Hildagarde “Hilda” Ulrica Douglass, whose father was from Stockholm, Sweden and whose mother was from East Chinnock, Somerset, England. Cliff’s great-grandmother Mary Ann was the daughter of George Lipsey aka Ripihi, who came to New Zealand around 1870 from Tully North, Newtowngore, Leitrim, Ireland; and of Ema Te Mokena Morgan, daughter of Chief Te Mokena Hou.
Cliff’s maternal grandmother was Teau “Daisy” Potaka (the daughter of Pape Epiha Potaka and Te Whakahi Rangihoapu). Pape Epiha was the son of Utiku Potaka, whose father was Chief Tapui Arapeta Pehitane Potaka, from Rata, Wanganui-Manawatu, New Zealand; and of Rora Te Oiroa Goff, whose father was from Finistere, Brittany, France, and whose mother was Māori.
Sources: Article about Cliff’s mother – https://www.tvnz.co.nz
Genealogy of Cliff’s mother (focusing on her mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Ethnicity:
Mother’s side: 1/2 Māori, 1/8 Irish, 1/32 Swedish, 1/32 French, 1/32 Southern English. (i’m not great at fractions, so these are estimates.)
Father’s side: Unknown but probably of British-Isles descent, perhaps also some Māori.
Cliff Curtis is the son of G. Curtis and C. Curtis nee O’halloran. His mother died in a car crash when he was 3 years old.
C. O’Halloran was the daughter of Hector Kelvin O’Halloran (1909-1979) and Teau (Daisy) Potaka (1908-1980).
Teau (Daisy) Potaka was the daughter of Pape Epiha Potaka (1878–1934) and Te Whakahi Rangihoapu (1878–1928).
Pape Epiha Potaka was the son of Utiku Potaka (1824–1922) and Rora Te Oiroa Goff (1853–1918).
Utiku Potaka was the son of Chief Tapui Arapeta Pehitane Potaka (1800–1883) from Rata, Wanganui-Manawatu, New Zealand.
Rora Te Oiroa Goff was the daughter of William Guillaume Goff (1820-1880), who emigrated to New Zealand in 1840 from Finistere, Brittany, France. William married a Māori native from Hawke’s Bay named Te Oiroa Hohaia.
Cliff’s maternal grandfather was Hector Kelvin O’Halloran, who was the son of Hector Joseph O’Halloran (1885-1968) and Mary Ann (Merama) Lipsey (1890-1984).
Hector Joseph O’Halloran was the son of Eugene Edward O’halloran (1852-1932) and Hildagarde (Hilda) Ulrica Douglass (1859-1950).
Eugene O’halloran’s parents were William O’Halloran (1810–1872) and Sarah Jane Clarke (1807–1877), who came from Bandon, County Cork, Ireland.
Hilda Douglass’ parents were Frederic Adolphus Douglass (1825–1888) born in Stockholm, Sweden and Sarah Ann Pike (1837–1869) from East Chinnock, Somerset, England.
Sarah Pike was the daughter of William Pike (1812–1885) and Elizabeth Harris (1808–1868). Cliff’s oldest found maternal ancestor is William Pike’s great-great grandfather, Samuel Pike (born 1649, East Chinnock, Somerset, England).
Cliff’s paternal great grandmother Mary Ann (Merama) Lipsey was the daughter of George Lipsey aka Ripihi (1846–1913), who came to New Zealand around 1870 from Tully North, Newtowngore, Leitrim, Ireland.
George Lipsey’s wife was Ema Te Mokena Morgan (1851–1906) daughter of Chief Te Mokena Hou (1795–1885) and Rina Touho (1805–1885) from Te Aroha, NZ.
Chief Te Mokena Hou was the son of Koropango and Kirioho.
George Lipsey’s parents were Thomas Lipsey (1820–1890) and Anne Faris (1821–1897) of Aughevore, County Leitrim, Ireland.
Cliff Curtis’ paternal grandparents might have been Stanley Livingstone Curtis and Elizabeth Ferguson or perhaps William Charles Curtis and Mary Sommerville Rowe.
Sources:
Story about his mother: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/cliff-curtis-opens-up-about-childhood-abuse-that-makes-your-toes-crawl-6205798
Genealogy of Cliff Curtis’ grandmother Teau (Daisy) Potaka: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/155483471/family?cfpid=192064747996
Genealogy of Cliff Curtis’ maternal great grandfather, Pape Epiha Potaka: https://www.geni.com/people/Pape-Epiha-Potaka/6000000017577620292
Genealogy of Cliff Curtis’ maternal grandfather, Hector O’Halloran: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/63517690/family?cfpid=222040002476
(pfffffft this took me a while to write. Is it any good?)
Terrific stuff
He’s kinda cute.
LOL
Ahaha
He looks Mexican.
He, like many other Maoris, have European blood. He is NOT a full Maori for sure! You can tell from his Caucasian nose and lips.
Since NZ was settled by the Dutch, Scottish and English, I’m guessing he would be a 1/4 of those.
Capricious,
Why have you mentioned the Dutch? New Zealand was overwhelmingly settled by the British. The amount of Dutch, German, Slavic, or any other European ancestry is absolutely tiny. I agree that Curtis will have some amount of European ancestry — but it will most certainly be English/Scottish.
Fair enough. I just thought that NZ might’ve had some Dutch settlers.
He looks Indian
I know, it’s weird how some Maoris look more Middle Eastern/Indian than like say Aboriginals or other Islanders…
He looks Pakistani/Indian.
He is very handsome btw. :))
He has played Mexican-Americans, Colombians, Arabs, Persians, and Chechens. He is one the most versatile Hollywood character actors
Indians are genetically austaloid and Caucasoid hybrids
I meant to say australoid* lol