Mark Selwyn Hadlow (born 1957) is a New Zealand

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

, perhaps best known internationally for playing the roles of Harry in ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

'' and Dori, a dwarf, in ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'' series.

Early life

Hadlow was born in Australia, in the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

town of

Walgett Walgett is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of Walgett Shire. It is near the junctions of the Barwon and Namoi Rivers and the Kamilaroi and Castlereagh Highways. In 2021, Walgett had a population of 1,377. In the ...

, the son of a New Zealand-born vicar and an Australian mother. They moved to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, and then spent three years in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, before moving to New Zealand when Hadlow was nine years old. They lived in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, and Hadlow attended boarding school.

Career

Hadlow's early film appearances were in serious roles, such as in ''

Beyond Reasonable Doubt Beyond (a) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of t ...

'', but he is perhaps better known in New Zealand for his comedy roles, particularly in the television sitcom '' Willy Nilly'', and some of the voices for the 1989 Peter Jackson puppet film, ''

Meet the Feebles ''Meet the Feebles'' (also known as ''Frogs of War'' in New Zealand as the film's English fake working title) is a 1989 New Zealand adult puppet musical black comedy film directed by Peter Jackson, and written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Stephen ...

'' (including Heidi the hippo and Robert the hedgehog). He also starred alongside New Zealand

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

comedian, Billy T James in "The Billy T James Show". Hadlow has also released an audio CD called "Tall Tales". It consists of classic children's stories narrated and performed with a Kiwi twist. Between films and television, Hadlow works in Christchurch's Court Theatre, where he has directed, produced, and acted in many plays. Hadlow is known for interacting with the audience whenever possible. This was made easy in the theatre's intimate, 200-seat setting, where the audience was literally next to the stage. In 2009, Hadlow campaigned for the historic Odeon Theatre in Christchurch to be turned into an arts complex for an estimated NZ$60m. The earthquake-prone building was severely damaged in the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

, and later in 2012, the rear of the building was demolished. While appearing in a one-man play, he met his ex-wife. They met in the audience before the start of the play because Hadlow always started off in the audience. In his wife's words, "this nice man who I didn't recognise sat next to me and we started chatting. Within minutes he knew a lot about me. Suddenly he got up and started acting in the play." In 2021 he appeared on TV as ''Brian'' in "The Garotte and the Vinkelbraun", an episode of '' The Brokenwood Mysteries'', Series 7 No 25. LTCDR Mark Hadlow

In addition to his acting career, Hadlow is a commissioned lieutenant commander in the

Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNZNVR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). History Early history The first Naval Volunteer Force (New Zealand), Volunteer units were formed in Auckland and Nels ...

. In the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours, Hadlow was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts. In 2022 he was presented with a Scroll of Honour from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand for his contribution to New Zealand entertainment.

Filmography

Films

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadlow, Mark 1957 births 20th-century New Zealand male actors 21st-century New Zealand male actors Living people Royal New Zealand Navy personnel New Zealand male comedians New Zealand male stage actors New Zealand male television actors Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit People from the Orana (New South Wales) Australian emigrants to New Zealand Comedians from Perth, Western Australia 20th-century New Zealand comedians 21st-century New Zealand comedians