Profile Text
Tamahori in 2016, photo by Denis Makarenko /Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Warren Lee Tamahori
Date of Birth: 17 June, 1950
Place of Birth: Wellington, New Zealand
Date of Death: 7 November, 2025
Place of Death: Auckland, New Zealand
Ethnicity: * father – Māori, as well as 1/16th English, some Scottish * mother – English
Lee Tamahori was a New Zealand filmmaker. He directed the films Once Were Warriors , Mulholland Falls , The Edge (1997), Along Came a Spider , Die Another Day , XXX: State of the Union , Next (2007), The Devil’s Double , Mahana , and The Convert (2023), which he also co-wrote; and episodes of the show The Ray Bradbury Theater .
Lee was the son of Patricia and Philip Tamahori. He had been married, and had two children.
Lee’s paternal grandfather was Pineamine “Pine” Tamahori (the son of a father surnamed McLeod, and of Heni Kai Ngata). Pineamine was born in Karkariki, East Coast, New Zealand, and was an Anglican minister, of Ngāti Porou descent. His father was a Pakeha, white geologist. His mother was Māori. Pineamine changed his name from McLeod to Tamahori.
Lee’s paternal grandmother was Mareana/Mereana Muheni Goldsmith (the daughter of Edward James “Ted/Tete” Goldsmith and Meri Waihuka Huriwhenua “Mere” Matauru). Mareana was born in Rangitukia, Tikitiki, Waiapu, Gisborne, New Zealand. Edward was the son of Charles George Goldsmith, who was a trader and sailor from Liverpool, England, and of Makere Te Ngongohau Poito, who was Māori. Lee’s great-grandmother Meri was Māori, and was the daughter of Wikiriwhi Matauru and Nakunaku Ripeka Hinekino.
Lee’s maternal grandfather was Cyril Cecil Francis Thompson (the son of Francis Louis Thompson and Catherine Garland). Lee’s great-grandfather Francis was the son of Charles Abel Thompson and Sophia Matilda Lough, who were from Middlesex, England. Catherine was the daughter of Alex Garland and Ellen.
Lee’s maternal grandmother was Lulu Reta/Rita Margaret Prentice (the daughter of John William Archibald “Jack” Prentice and Ivy Alfreda Rose Smith). John was the son of John Prentice and Nora. Ivy was the daughter of William John Smith and Ellen Waterson, who had partial roots in Stratford, Essex, England.
Sources: Genealogy of Lee Tamahori (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Article about Lee’s paternal grandfather, Pineamine “Pine” Tamahori – http://www.sharechat.co.nz