Stu Turner

New Zealand native, Stuart Turner is an actor and a casting director. His first appearance in the film industry was in 1992 with Dale G. Bradley's feature film CHUNUK BAIR, in which he played a T ...Show More

New Zealand native, Stuart Turner is an actor and a casting director. His first appearance in the film industry was in 1992 with Dale G. Bradley's feature film CHUNUK BAIR, in which he played a Turk Machine Gunner. NOTE: He was erroneously credited as "Stewart" Turner on the End Credits - only once in his career ! In 1993, he played a "protester" in the new zealander short film directed by Whetu Fala: MOKOPUNA. It was followed by Grant Lahood's movie CHICKEN in 1995 - where he was a member of the Lik'n'Chik Staff (and he is also credited as Casting Assistant on the End Credits).He began his career on television the same year with the episode GLADIATOR (#1.10 - directed by Garth Maxwell) of the HERCULES : THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS series (he portrayed Leutis) and he next played Sphaerus in the sister-series XENA : WARRIOR PRINCESS (in the episode CHARIOTS OF WAR, #1.02 - directed by Harley Cokeliss), both TV-series Opening Season. NOTE: He was present in the opening Credits of Xena's TV-Series from Season 1 to 5 (Television Run: September 95 / May 2000) - with an excerpt from his episode as Sphaerus. PLUS : He played the Drummer in the TV-Commercials for FREIXENET "Celebrate The Difference" (for Black Stump Film Co.), rollover from October 1995 to March 1996.He then starred in 34 episodes of the TVNZ Series SHORTLAND STREET playing Dr. Gary Travis, from October 11, 1996 to March 31, 1997 [Seasons 5 & 6 - from episode 5x205 - #1135 to: 6x51 - #1221]. He followed by playing in two TV-Series Pilots: he was Matthew in Maxine Fleming's THE CHOSEN directed by Mike Smith in 1998 and he portrayed Elyot Barlow in GREENSTONE, an 8-Part Mini-Series of 343 minutes, in the first part - directed by Chris Bailey & Jim Goddard in 1999. He made some core cast short appearances in the TV-Movie FEARLESS directed by Charlie Haskell the same year.His last work as an actor was in AROHA, a New Zealand 6-Part Maori TV-Series exclusively spoken in Maori language, in which he played Brett on the episode 'MATAORA' - #1.06, directed by Sally-Ann Kerr in 2001.After working as a freelance-casting director, Stuart Turner established CATCH CASTING Limited in 2002 on the strength of his street casting and the ability to ascertain quickly which people had the potential to fill the role as briefed. Since then, Catch Casting has been involved with many national and international advertising and feature films projects. Stuart is credited as Casting Director on many recent films including : STICKMEN, a telefeature directed by Hamish Rothwell in 2001 and Niki Caro's film WHALE RIDER (aka PAÏ) in 2002; followed by Eric Hannah & Iren Koster's motion picture MEET ME IN MIAMI in 2005, then Chris Graham's feature film SAMOAN WEDDING (aka SIONE'S WEDDING) and the short film NATURE 'S WAY (aka LES VOIES DE LA NATURE) directed by Jane Shearer, both in 2006. In 2008, he worked on the casting of two New Zealand feature films : APRON STRINGS directed by Sima Urale and Ben Sombogaart's BRIDEFLIGHT. In 2009, he was the casting director of Jonathan King's motion picture UNDER THE MOUNTAIN (aka LE SECRET DES SEPT VOLCANS), of Niki Caro's THE VINTNER'S LUCK (aka LA VEINE DU VIGNERON) and the Great Southern Television Series THE CULT (for Season One's 13 episodes). In 2010, he worked on Katie Wolfe's telefeature NIGHTS IN THE GARDENS OF SPAIN (aka KAWA); Stephen Kang's feature film DESERT and the Philipp Kadelbach short film SONG OF THE WHALE. The same year, he worked on two short films: Aya Tanimura's SWEET AS and Rachel House's THE WINTER BOY; on the feature films : AFTER THE WATERFALL, directed by Simone Horrocks and Ian Sharp's TRACKER. The next year, he was on the Casting of James Barr's short film KORO'S MEDAL. In 2012, he worked on Daniel Joseph Borgman's feature film THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS and on Zia Mandivwalla's short film NIGHT SHIFT. In 2013, he was on the Casting of the Feature Film EVIL DEAD, directed by Fede Alvarez. The same year, Catch Casting also worked on the 6-parts TV-Series TOP OF THE LAKE directed by Jane Campion. In 2014, he worked on two feature films: FANTAIL directed by Curtis Vowell, and THE LAST SAINT directed by Rene Naufahu. He started the year of 2015 by working on the Casting of the new PIKI's feature film directed by Taika Waititi entitled HUNT FOR THE WILDER PEOPLE, followed by Tammis Davis' motion picture : BORN TO DANCE. He also worked on Sam Raimi / Robert Tapert's new TV series ASH Vs. EVIL DEAD - shot in New Zealand since April of 2015 for Season One's 10 episodes, and followed in 2016 by Second Season's new 10 episodes. Then he worked on Pan Nalin's feature film BEYOND THE KNOWN WORLD. During all the year of 2016, Stu was involved in a new Short film : SHADOW CUT, written and directed by Lucy Suess. Then he worked on the casting for ASH Vs. EVIL DEAD Third Season's new episodes - for 2017. Stuart was also the Casting Director of many TV-Commercials.Stuart won a GOLD AXIS at the New Zealand Advertising Awards as Director/Casting Director for his TV-Commercials FROM SCRATCH : INSTANT KIWI SCRATCH & WIN in 2006.Stuart TURNER, blue-eyes/brown hairs (183cm/6'01), is a graduate of TOI WHAKAARI, New Zealand Drama School (from Promo 1989/90). He is also one of the New Zealand's busiest casting directors. He still likes to find time to act when he can. His Relevant Skills are : Sing, Dance, Accents, Para-Sailing, Abseiling, Kayaking, Swim, Percussions, Kapa Haka and Te Reo Maori. His Star Sign is Capricorn (and 'Monkey' in the Chinese Zodiac !). Even if his real name is Stuart Rodger Turner, he is sometimes credited as : Stu Turner (as Casting Director) / Stewart Turner ("Chunuk Bair" End Credits / IMDb). Hide