Harry Alan Sinclair (born 1959) is a New Zealand film director, writer and actor. In his early career he was an actor and member of

The Front Lawn The Front Lawn was a New Zealand musical/theatrical duo founded by Don McGlashan and Harry Sinclair in 1985. In 1989 and 1990, they were joined by actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand. The Front Lawn were known for their live performances, and toured e ...

, a musical theater duo. He went on to write and direct several short films, a TV series and three feature films. He is best known for his role as

Isildur Isildur is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, the elder son of Elendil, descended from Elros, the founder of the island Kingdom of Númenor. He fled with his father when the island was drowned, becoming in his turn King of ...

in the first scenes of

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

's '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''.

Early life

Harry Sinclair was born in 1959 in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the son of historian

Keith Sinclair Sir Keith Sinclair (5 December 1922 – 20 June 1993) was a New Zealand poet and historian. Academic career Sinclair was the oldest child of Ernest Duncan Sinclair and Florence Pyrenes Kennedy. Born and raised in Auckland, Sinclair was a stu ...

and brother of writer

Stephen Sinclair Stephen Sinclair is a New Zealand playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the co-author of stage comedy '' Ladies Night''. In 2001, the French version won the Molière Award for stage comedy of the year. Other plays include ''The Bellbird'' a ...

. Sinclair studied acting at the ''Ecole

Philippe Gaulier Philippe Gaulier (born in Paris, 4 March 1943) is a French master clown, pedagogue, and professor of theatre. He is the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a prestigious French theatre school in Étampes, outside Paris. He studied under Jacques Lec ...

'' in Paris, and went on to a career on the stage in Auckland, as well as roles in a number of New Zealand films including working with

, playing the role of Roger in ''

Braindead ''BrainDead'' is an American political satire science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King. The series stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Laurel Healy, a documentary film-maker who takes a job working for he ...

'' and

in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

''.

Career

The Front Lawn

In 1985 he co-founded The Front Lawn (with

Don McGlashan Donald McGlashan (born 18 July 1959) is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for ci ...

), a multi-media comedy music duo. Sinclair and The Front Lawn toured internationally with a series of live shows including: ''Songs and Stories from The Front Lawn'', ''The Reason for Breakfast'', ''The Washing Machine'', and ''The Story of Robert''. They also completed two music albums, ''Songs from The Front Lawn'' and ''More Songs from The Front Lawn''. They performed twice at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...

, in 1988 and 1989, winning

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

newspaper's theatre award for the festival in 1988, and in both years winning inclusion in the "Pick of the Fringe" season at London's

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Mi ...

. The Front Lawn also toured extensively in Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand. Sinclair and McGlashan made several short films: ''The Lounge Bar'' (which was featured in the First Annual International Festival of Short Films in the U.S. as one of the "world's best live-action shorts"), ''Walk Short'' and ''Linda’s Body'' (which won Best Short Film at the New Zealand Film Awards).

Films

After The Front Lawn disbanded in 1990, Sinclair directed two short films, ''Casual Sex'', and ''Avenue Du Maine''. Sinclair's first feature film ''

Topless Women Talk About Their Lives ''Topless Women Talk About Their Lives'' is a 1997 New Zealand film about a group of twenty something friends. It was based on a TV series.Danielle Cormack and Joel Tobeck, was released theatrically in 23 countries and won nine awards at the

New Zealand Film Awards New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

including Best Director and Best Film. It was a spin-off from his TV series of the same name, which was shown on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television * Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by E ...

in New Zealand and on SBS in Australia. Each of the 41 episodes was only 4 minutes long, and featured a different song from Flying Nun Records. His second feature, ''

The Price of Milk ''The Price of Milk'' is a 2000 New Zealand romantic fantasy film. It was directed by New Zealand actor and director Harry Sinclair. Plot In rural New Zealand, a farmer, Rob (Karl Urban), gets engaged to his love, Lucinda (Danielle Cormack ...

'' (2000), starring Danielle Cormack and Karl Urban, was his only film to be released in the US, by Lot 47 Films. It won the Grand Prize at the

Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (), or BiFan, is an international film festival held annually in July in Bucheon, South Korea. Prior to 2015, it was known as the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan. Inaugurat ...

(2001) and the Grand Prize at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival (2001). His third feature was ''

Toy Love Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean. History Chris Knox was the band's front man and other members w ...

'' (2002) starring Dean O'Gorman and Kate Elliott. His three feature films were made in an unconventional manner, with Sinclair casting his lead actors before writing the scripts. The stories were developed during video workshops with the actors, and the final scripts written during the shoots, allowing the stories to develop organically, building on what naturally developed between the actors.

Television

In 2009 and 2010 he was a regular director of the TV series '' 90210''.

The Builders Association

From 2006 to 2008 Sinclair collaborated with the New York-based theatre company Builders Association, touring internationally as an actor in their production ''Super Vision''. He co-wrote their next production, ''Continuous City'', which premiered in November 2008 at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

, and toured through 2010. He also played a lead role in ''Continuous City'', appearing only in projected film sequences.

Kiri and Lou

Sinclair is currently writing and directing an animated children's series, ''Kiri and Lou'', for Television New Zealand and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is collaborating with animation director Ant Elworthy and composer Don McGlashan, and the series is produced by Fiona Copland.

Personal life

Sinclair lives in Los Angeles.

Filmography

References

External links

* http://harrysinclair.com/
Radio interview with Kim Hill, Radio New Zealand, 20 August 2011 (audio only)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Harry 1959 births Living people New Zealand male film actors New Zealand film directors New Zealand musicians

Harry Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...