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, 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 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 ( ...
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
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 ( ...
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), 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 c ...
''.
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 ...
), 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 Fe ...
, 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 publishe ...
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 M ...
.
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 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 EPTV ...
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
Flying Nun Records is a New Zealand independent record label formed in Christchurch in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the world's great independent labels", Flying Nun is notable for bringing ...
.
His second feature, '' The Price of Milk'' (2000), starring Danielle Cormack and
Karl Urban
Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and TV series such as '' Xena: Warrior Princess''. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film ''Ghost Ship''. Since t ...
, 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. Inaugurated ...
(2001) and the Grand Prize at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival (2001).
His third feature was '' Toy Love'' (2002) starring Dean O'Gorman and
Kate Elliott Kate Elliott may refer to:
* Kate Elliott (actress)
Kate Elliott (born 30 December 1981) is a New Zealand television and film actress. She was born in and currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand.
Kate played the role of one of the "Libera ...
.
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.