Philippa Steele

Philippa Steele trained as a nurse in Dunedin before entering the world of journalism as a sub-editor, first at the Sydney Morning Herald, then at The Dominion in Wellington.

In the early 1980s she had dabbled in film, moonlighting as an animation cell painter for company Gnome Productions while working at the Dominion. Soon after, she became fully immersed in the film industry with her partner, cameraman and director Warrick ‘Waka' Attewell.

From 1986, Steele was the Co-Producer/Production Manager and company administrator for Attewell's company Valhalla Productions. Valhalla undertook a huge range of commercial and non-broadcast work, and occasionally made documentaries on the side; Steele was one of the producers of Valhalla documentary When a Warrior Dies, which marks the creation of a sculpture marking the final resting place of Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior.

In the 90s Steele began specializing in props and set decoration. She was the props buyer or set dresser for many TV dramas, feature films and commercials, including Gibson Group detective series Duggan and Gaylene Preston feature Perfect Strangers. On some large international shoots, she ran a department of four people.

More recently, Steele has had a change in lifestyle, leaving the film and television industry to run a 50-acre beef and sheep farmlet with Waka. Some weekends she can be found serving at Otaki's well-known Brown Sugar Café.