Byron Coll

Christchurch-raised Byron Coll abandoned theatre and film studies at university because he was just "too smitten by acting". Since graduating from drama school Toi Whakaari in 2007, he has worked in theatre, television and film. He is often recognised for a series of Mastercard adverts, in which he plays an over-enthused All Blacks fan. In 2013 Coll starred in web comedy Woodville, as a hapless filmmaker chronicling a small-town legal battle. Then came award-winning short film Dive, in which Coll's character spontaneously doubles. He also appears in TV movie Field Punishment No. 1, and Jane Campion's Top of the Lake. 

It's got me exposure to other things, but in a sense it's almost pigeon-holed me into this comic character with really frantic energy, and that's just one string I have in my bow. Byron Coll on playing All Blacks fan Tim in a series of Mastercard adverts, Stuff website, March 2017