Dean Cornish

If there is a Kiwi filmmaker whose screen career embodies the great Kiwi OE, it's Dean Cornish: the director, producer and cameraman has worked in over 80 countries.

Cornish grew up in Christchurch, and studied journalism at the New Zealand Broadcasting School. He cut his screen teeth working in children’s television — including  kids' TV staple What Now?, which he describes as a “free-flowing and creative environment that allowed me to try my hand at directing, writing, presenting...the lot if you wanted.” 

In the late 90s the wanderlust that would come to define Cornish’s career struck, and he embarked on a backpacking OE, including time living in Cambodia. Toting an early model Mini DV camera, he started making travel stories, some of which aired on What Now? and Squirt.

In 2001 Cornish was invited to host the award-winning travel.co.nz, with Petra Bagust. In each episode the pair headed to an exotic destination for a whistle-stop 72 hour tour, and tossed a coin to see who would follow the luxury or backpacker route (more often than not, Cornish ended up travelling budget). This formative work led to overseas commissions. 

These included a documentary on dirt bike riders in the Cambodian jungle (Runaway Generation) for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, two Discovery Channel docos on adventure sports (Extreme Tribes), and a film for global campaign ECPAT on reducing child trafficking in Southeast Asia. While based in Asia, Cornish was also location producing for top-rating international productions like The Amazing Race and Treasure Hunt.

Cornish’s swag of air miles and adaptability made him a natural pick for Kiwi travel shows, from the short-lived Working Holiday (on Kiwis working overseas) to epic Jam TV series Intrepid Journeys — which he ended up producing for three seasons (and often directing).

Intrepid Journeys took Kiwi celebrities far from their comfort zone. Starting with a 2004 episode which he directed in East Timor, Cornish would become a mainstay over six seasons of the show, wrangling the likes of Jeremy Wells and Te Radar as they explored far-flung locations. It’s work he is especially proud of: filming in exciting and adventurous destinations, while pushing the importance of travelling "in a culturally and ecologically sound way". En route Cornish held his breath as Pam Corkery tested a bulletproof vest in Colombia, and visited an ancient Malaysian rainforest with Lisa Chappell.

Intrepid Journeys scored multiple television awards, including Best Observational Reality Series at the 2010 Qantas Film and Television Awards, and a nomination in the same category in 2011.

Asked about his best place to film in a 2007 Sunday interview, Cornish replied, “I'm fond of places that leave car wrecks by the side of the road as a warning to other motorists — far more effective than speed cameras.”

Along with ‘on the road’ stories, the other topic prominent on Cornish’s eclectic credit reel is music. An early credit was directing and helping shoot Pepsismokefree Rockquest 2000 (featuring Nesian Mystik and Evermore). He has shot music videos (Boh Runga, Che Fu, Shapeshifter), and was one of the three directors behind 2006 Qantas award-winning documentary Dave Dobbyn - One Night in Matata).

In 2010 Cornish combined music and travel for two seasons of Making Tracks. He shared a Best Director award with Nick Dwyer at the Aotearoa Film and TV Awards as a result. The acclaimed travel show embeds Kiwi musicians in a foreign music culture. “Musicians are fantastic to work with because they’re already expressing themselves," says Cornish. "I love what happens at the intersection of musical and visual storytelling, and with Making Tracks the music was a strong part of the cultural and historical context of our destinations.” The show sold to the BBC and National Geographic.

Back in New Zealand, Cornish took on camera and field direction duties on Great Southern TV satire shows Eating Media Lunch and The Unauthorised History of New Zealand. As a senior director on the local version of business pitching show The Apprentice, he led a crew of over 100.

Further Kiwi directing gigs include Road to Athens, a TV1 series on athletes for the 2004 Olympics, Human Potential, a doco on the human body; and episodes of media review show Media 7 (later known as Media Take). Even at home Cornish has barely sat still: his extended jam with company Jam TV included This Town, based on people living in small towns.

Cornish invested his love of architecture and design into The Art of the Architect, presented by Peter Elliott. The eight episodes followed the design and build of projects by leading architects, over a three-year period.

Although he continues to travel the globe, Cornish made Los Angeles his base soon after completing The Art of the Architect in 2014. Further roaming has seen him investigating global sex trafficking for one-off documentary Undercover Rescue, and directing docos on everything from octogenarian cheerleaders in Japan to same-sex marriage in Ireland, for Australian network SBS Viceland. He has also worked on adverts and web campaigns for Toyota, Vodafone and Mexico's Tarahumara tribe.

In 2015 Cornish developed and directed the pilot episode for Rachel’s Tour of Beauty, which followed Kiwi supermodel Rachel Hunter on a globetrotting exploration of fashion and beauty. The first season screened on American network Ovation TV.

In 2020 Cornish shared Covid-19 lockdown north of Auckland with comedian Rhys Darby and friends. To help fill in the time, the team created comical web series The Alone Rangers. Darby, Kiwi actor Jonno Roberts and comedian Jamie Bowen play a bickering trio of park rangers. The same year saw the debut of TV series Rhys Darby: Big in Japan, in which Cornish follows as Darby explores Japanese culture and comedy. 

Cornish was cinematographer on 2017 award-winner 40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie. The feature-length documentary was produced by fellow Kiwi Fleur Saville, and directed by Two and a Half Men co-creator Lee Aronsohn. Cornish says it explores the reunion of "one of those great bands who never really made it. So we hunted them down and put the band back together".

Profile updated on 23 December 2020

Sources include
Dean Cornish
Dean Cornish website. Accessed 28 July 2020
'The Wanderer' - The Sunday Star-Times (Sunday magazine pullout), 13 May 2007, page 47
'Producer/director Dean Cornish' (broken link) TVNZ website. Accessed 26 January 2016
Jo McCarroll, 'You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em' - The Sunday Star-Times, 30 June 2002, page F7
Nicole Saunders, 'Making It In Hollywood' - Mindfood, May 2017, page 40
Unknown writer, 'Seeing best of both worlds'- The Dominion Post (TV Week liftout), 1 July 2002, page 3
'Dean Cornish' LinkedIn website. Accessed 7 April 2020