Christchurch

Briolette Kah Bic Runga MNZM is a New Zealand pop recording artist whose first solo album, Drive, debuted at number one on the New Zealand RIANZ... charts. She has since become one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists in recent history. Runga has also found success internationally in Australia, Ireland and to some extent in the UK. In January 2006, the Queen made Runga a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Zealand New Year's Honours List. "'You say it Bec, rather than Bic,' explains New Zealand singer-songwriter Bic Runga. 'It's Chinese, it's a strange vowel sound which doesn't seem to translate in Australia. It means the colour of jade, which might mean green.'" The "strange vowel" is a checked tone. For the meaning of "colour of jade", Bic is "碧" in Chinese characters. Runga was born in Christchurch. Her mother, Sophia Tang, was a Chinese Malaysian lounge singer in Malaysia when she met Joseph Runga, a Māori soldier on leave from Vietnam. They moved to New Zealand to live.
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Stephen Paul Fleming ONZM is a New Zealand cricketer, and the former captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, in... Test and one-day cricket. Known for his astute tactical abilities, he is New Zealand's most capped test player with 111 test appearances, longest-serving and most successful captain, having led the side to 28 victories and having won Test match series' against India, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. He retired from international cricket on 26 March 2008. Fleming played in the 2008 Indian Premier League for the Chennai Super Kings after being signed for US$350,000 and currently the coach of CSK. He was particularly noted for his captaincy, having been praised from the likes of Shane Warne as the "best captain in world cricket" and most recently, Graeme Swann who said that Fleming is one of the two true leaders that he's ever seen, alongside Andrew Strauss. A left-handed batsman, Fleming made his Test debut in March 1994 against India winning the Man of the Match award on debut after scoring 92.
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Philip John "Phil" Keoghan is a New Zealand-born television personality, best known for hosting the U.S. version of The Amazing Race on CBS, since... its 2001 debut. He is also the creator and host of No Opportunity Wasted, which has been produced in the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. He has won eight Emmy Awards for his work. Born in the town of Lincoln, New Zealand, 22 km south of Christchurch, Keoghan spent a considerable part of his childhood in Antigua and Canada. He attended St Andrew's College, Christchurch. While completing a TV cameraman apprenticeship, he successfully auditioned for New Zealand children's show Spot On at age 19. After a series of further presenter work on television in New Zealand television, including as a reporter on That's Fairly Interesting, he set off to further his career abroad. Before joining The Amazing Race, he was considered, but not selected, as a host for Survivor.
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Max Merritt is a New Zealand-born singer-songwriter and guitarist who is renowned as an interpreter of soul music and R&B. As leader of Max... Merritt & The Meteors his best known hits are "Slippin' Away", which reached #2 on the 1976 Australian singles charts, and "Hey, Western Union Man" which reached #13. Merritt rose to prominence in New Zealand from 1958 and relocated to Sydney Australia in December 1964. Merritt was acknowledged as one of the best local performers of the 1960s and 1970s and his influence did much to popularise soul music / R&B and rock in New Zealand and Australia. Merritt is a venerable pioneer of rock in Australasia who produced crowd pleasing shows for over 50 years. He has engendered respect and affection over generations of performers which was evident at the 2007 Concert for Max to provide financial support after it was announced he had Goodpasture's syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease. The Australian Recording Industry Association recognised Merritt's iconic status on 1 July 2008 when he was inducted into their Hall of Fame.
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Michelle Ang is a New Zealand film and television actress. Ang was born in Christchurch of Malaysian descent. She got her start in television at a... young age through the hit family series McDonald's Young Entertainers. Here she got to show her skills at singing and dancing, much like the Mickey Mouse Club show on US television. She is best known for her role as Lori Lee in the Australian television soap opera Neighbours, in which she was a major character in 2002 – 2003, and guest-starred in 2004. Also in 2004, she auditioned for the Cho Chang role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but in the end the role was given to Katie Leung. Before that she played Tai-San in the New Zealand post-apocalyptic drama The Tribe, present in the core cast from 1999 to 2001, and featuring in the final episodes of the 2002 series. Ang also starred in the final episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess as Akemi. She played the role of Tracy Hong in seasons 1 and 2 of the New Zealand TV series Outrageous Fortune in 2005 and 2006. Ang was nominated for a Logie at the Australian television awards, for most popular new female talent for her role in Neighbours.
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Tom Hern is an actor from Christchurch, New Zealand. He is best known to a global audience for his role as Ram in The Tribe and Devin Del Valle in... the 2004 television show Power Rangers: Dino Thunder. He also appeared in Shortland Street, Revelations, Interrogation, Maddigan's Quest, as well as in many smaller acting and presenting roles. His filmography also includes various TV and radio commercials and voiceovers. According to his official website, Thomas Hern was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on 10 December 1984. He has two older brothers and one older sister. His favourite hobbies include rapping, cooking, listening to music and rugby league. To his friends Tom is also known by the name of Herndog, a long-time nickname of his. Until 2007, Tom appeared on the long-running South Pacific Pictures New Zealand television series "Shortland Street" as Nurse Baxter Cormack. He is looking for new work opportunities in the United States as well as continuing his band project called Theodore High, with Latham Gaines .
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