Lee Tamahori, born 17 June 1950 in Wellington, New Zealand, is best known as a film director, although he got his start as a commercial artist and photographer in the late 1970s.
Tamahori is of Māori ancestry on his father's side and of British ancestry on his mother's. His break as a filmmaker came with Once Were Warriors (1994), a gritty depiction of urban Māori life that was phenomenally successful in New Zealand. He then moved to Hollywood and directed the period thriller Mulholland Falls (1996), although this was not received well critically or commercially. This was followed by the successful wilderness film The Edge (1997) and Die Another Day (2002), the twentieth James Bond movie. He also directed numerous episodes of television shows, in particular an episode of The Sopranos during its second season.
Tamahori's next film was the sequel to XXX (2002), entitled XXX: State of the Union/XXX: The Next Level (2005) starring Ice Cube and Willem Dafoe; he replaced the original director, Rob Cohen.
His latest film is Next (2007), a science fiction action film based on The Golden Man, a short story by Philip K. Dick. The film starred Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, and Jessica Biel.
On January 8, 2006, Tamahori, dressed as a woman, was arrested for allegedly soliciting in Los Angeles, by offering an undercover Police officer Oral Sex. . However, he was only charged with Criminal Trespass; having pleading no contest in exchange for other charges being dropped.
