Waihoroi Shortland

Māori broadcasting veteran Tainui Stephens describes Waihoroi Shortland as a man who has used his expertise in te reo Māori to "make a profound mark" in Māori broadcasting — "He dispenses forthright opinion, wisdom and gut-bustingly funny humour in equal measure." 

Shortland’s career has encompassed time at the Māori Land Court, reporting for pioneering te reo show Te Karere, and acting roles in acclaimed movies Rain of the Children and Boy. His biggest screen role to date is as Shylock/Hairoka, the moneylender seeking utu for a defaulted loan in The Māori Merchant of Venice. It was the first feature film made entirely in te reo.

Known to many by the nickname Wassie, Te Waihoroi Shortland grew up in the Northland town of Matawaia. His first language was Māori, which has been a bedrock for his future career; Shortland didn’t speak English until he began primary school. He went on to Māori boarding school St Stephen’s, then studied physical education at Otago University. 

The first phase of Shortland’s career involved government jobs: three years as a clerk and interpreter at the Māori Land Court (forerunner to the Waitangi Tribunal), then five years on the J-Team at the Department of Māori Affairs. Made up of Māori Affairs and Social Welfare staff, and police, the J-Team worked with street kids and juvenile offenders.

Soon after moving to Auckland to take the Māori Affairs job, Shortland took a small acting role in colonial TV epic The Governor. In a NZ Herald interview Shortland argued that "mygeneration of Māori actors, we were accidental actors". After his first role as an extra in The Governor, he was "bitten by the bug".

In 1983 Shortland completed a Diploma of Social Work at Victoria University. When the Māori Affairs department was restructured the next year, he joined pioneering te reo news show Te Karere, as a reporter, initially on secondment. Shortland "quickly made his mark as a natural television storyteller", according to fellow Koha reporter Tainui Stephens. "He soon became a full time broadcaster, unique then as he is now, in his eloquent use of language. His reo Māori is earthy, expansive and flavoured with his Ngāti Hine roots. His English can reflect his beliefs in concise or rhetorical fashion." Stephens describes Shortland as a thinker, speaker, teacher and guide.

In 1990 Shortland joined Te Karere founder Derek Fox and others to form Māori news agency and publisher Māori Media. But Shortland soon began moving from print and radio journalism into screen drama. By 1993 he was appearing regularly on screen.

Aside from acting in The Billy T James Show and TV3 drama Homeward Bound (as the local headmaster), Shortland was writing. He scripted two 45 minute dramas for Don Selwyn’s He Taonga Films. They were part of a series of dramas grouped together under the title Ngā Puna. In Touch FM features Vicky Haughton (Whale Rider) as a big city achiever who reluctantly starts managing a popular Māori radio station. Kahu and Maia starred Cliff Curtis and Vanessa Rare (Ruby and Rata) as a carver and a mother who are mystically connected.

Shortland was also a cultural advisor and writer of Māori dialogue for legendary film The Piano — though much of that dialogue did not make it into the film's final cut. In this Marae interview shot during filming, Shortland said his job as a cultural advisor was to "brush Māoridom, at the time, very gently. We were backdrop against the main action of the movie". 

He later took on a similar task for the cross-cultural scrum that was TV series Greenstone, and was a key part of the writing team on 2001 movie Crooked Earth, in which Temuera Morrison and Lawrence Makoare play chalk and cheese modern-day brothers, feuding over who will become chief. In his autobiography, Morrison describes Shortland as "being the real powerhouse behind the script".

Shortland’s acting CV includes Taika Waititi hit Boy (as the strange man who lives under the bridge), Vincent Ward Rain of the Children (playing the older incarnation of Niki, schizophrenic son to Puhi), and half-hour te reo drama Te Ohai a Nihe (1998). Probably his most remarkable screen role to date is in 2002 feature The Māori Merchant of Venice, a longtime dream project for screen taonga Don Selwyn. Selwyn had first directed Shortland in the role back in 1990, for a te reo translation of Shakespeare's play at Auckland’s Koanga Festival.

Performing entirely in te reo, Shortland scored a NZ Film Best Acting award in 2003 — and praise from The Sunday Star-Times ("a commanding performance"), NZ Herald ("a knockout"), and The Listener ("Shortland steals the film").

"Playing Shylock from a Māori perspective is the easiest role", said Shortland, "because you know something about what it is to hang onto your identity and to deal with prejudice, some of it overt, some of it not so overt, in the New Zealand sense anyway." Shortland argued that there was an "openness and an honesty" about the character of Shylock. "He makes the proposition quite openly, he pursues his line quite directly and of course he’s acting not only for himself, but I see him as acting on behalf of his people."

Assistant director Tony Forster said that Don Selwyn rehearsed the Merchant of Venice cast so well that they were filming for at least two weeks "without a single line fluff during any rehearsal or take".  

Post Māori Merchant of Venice, Shortland was the first presenter on Māori Television current affairs programme Te Tēpu. He also worked on bilingual current affairs show Te Hēteri.

In August 2011 the Māori Party announced that Shortland would be the party’s candidate in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate, for the 2011 general election. He was beaten by Hone Harawira, who had recently left the Māori Party and created the Mana Party.

Shortland is chairman of iwi leadership body Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Hine. In May 2015 he joined the board of Māori Television. In October 2016 he was elected to be chair during the establishment phase of Te Mātāwai, the government body established to lead the revitalisation of te reo, on behalf of Māori.

In 2021 he returned to acting: play Te Pō was about a policeman, priest and blind man searching for the missing playwright Bruce Mason. Shortland played the role of the blind man. 

Profile updated on 22 December 2023

Sources include
Marae - The Piano Story (Television Documentary) Director Greg Mayor (TV One, 1993)
Peter Calder, 'Hugely triumphant cultural collision' (Review of The Māori Merchant of Venice) - The NZ Herald, 16 February 2002
Elizabeth Easther, 'Waihoroi Shortland: My story as told to Elisabeth Easther' - The NZ Herald, 28 June 2022
Tony Forster, ‘Don Selwyn 1935 - 2007’ - Onfilm, June 2007,  page 19
Michael Lamb, 'The Māori Merchant of Venice' (Review) - The NZ Herald, 17 February 2002
Philip Matthews, 'A Wretch for all cultures' (The Māori Merchant of Venice review) - The Listener, 9 February 2002
Tamati Tiananga, 'Waihoroi to play Blind Man in Te Pō' (Press release) Te Ao Māori News, 30 July 2021
Temuera Morrison and Paul Little, From Haka to Hollywood (Auckland: Penguin Books, 2009)
Tainui Stephens, 'Māoriland Keynote Address - Te Waihoroi Shortland' Māoriland Film Festival website (broken link). Loaded 18 February 2016. Accessed 18 October 2016
Unknown Author, ‘Māori Party Close to Announcing Candidate for Te Tai Tokerau’ (Press release). Pacific Scoop website. Loaded 22 May 2011. Accessed 30 November 2023
Unknown writer, 'Te Mātāwai announces inaugural leadership' (Press release) Te Puni Kõkiri website. Loaded 6 October 2016. Accessed 30 November 2023 
Unknown writer, 'Waihoroi Shortland' - (broken link) Māori Television website. Accessed 18 October 2016 
Unknown writer, 'Waihoroi Shortland - Shylock (Hairoka)’ The Māori Merchant of Venice press kit