Marshall Napier

Marshall Napier (born James Marshall Napier on 22 October 1951) was a celebrated New Zealand‑born character actor, playwright, and graphic artist whose career spanned nearly five decades across stage, screen, and radio. He grew up in Lower Hutt, attending Hutt Valley High School, and after leaving school he tried a variety of blue‑collar jobs—labourer, factory hand, and truck driver—while also spending a year studying graphic design at Wellington Polytechnic. His first professional acting engagement came in 1975 at Wellington’s Downstage Theatre, where his striking presence quickly earned him a reputation for bringing depth to supporting roles. In 1988 he relocated with his wife and two young children to Australia, a move that opened doors to a broader Australasian market and cemented his status as a reliable and versatile performer in film, television and theatre. Among his many credits, Napier’s work as a playwright is notable; his play Freak Winds toured internationally, appearing in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, while several of his other scripts were broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio network. On screen he delivered memorable performances in productions such as Bellbird (2019), a film that garnered awards at multiple international festivals, and he remained a familiar face on television series throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Beyond his artistic pursuits, Napier was an outspoken animal‑rights advocate; in 2002 he and his daughter, actress Jessica Napier, won $64,000 on the Australian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to support a South Australian animal‑rights group, reflecting his lifelong commitment to vegetarianism and humane causes. He continued to work up until his death from brain cancer on 14 August 2022 in Canberra, leaving behind three children—James Reuben, Jessica, and Rose—and a nephew, filmmaker James Napier Robertson, who acknowledges his uncle’s influence on his own career.