Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie, ONZM is a New Zealand comedian, actor, musician
and producer, best known for being one half of the Grammy Award winning musical
comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy
and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American
television series, which aired for two seasons on HBO. McKenzie served as music
supervisor for two Muppet films, The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted, the
former of which won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "Man
or Muppet". As an actor, he is known for portraying
Lindir in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies,
respectively: in the first he remained unnamed with fans naming him Figwit, a
character originally cast as an extra who gained attention thanks to the
trilogy's fan community, and in The Hobbit is credited as Lindir, a small
character who originally appears in the book of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Background McKenzie was born in Wellington, New
Zealand. He is a former member of The Black Seeds. He released an album called
Prototype as Video Kid and is a member of the Wellington International Ukulele
Orchestra. McKenzie attended Clifton Terrace Model School, Wellington College
and then Victoria University of Wellington where he met Jemaine Clement
who was also studying film and theatre. Together, they were members of So You're
a Man and they later formed Flight of the Conchords.
As Flight of the Conchords they have toured internationally and released four
CDs: Folk the World Tour in 2002,The Distant Future in 2007, the Grammy
nominated Flight of the Conchords in 2008, and I Told You I Was Freaky in
2009. The Conchords produced a six-part improvisational comedy radio program for
the BBC and have appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with
David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. After a successful
appearance in 2005 on HBOs One Night Stand, the Conchords were offered their
own 12-part HBO series Flight of the Conchords. Its first season ran from
June to September 2007, and its second season premiered on HBO 18 January 2009.
McKenzie has appeared in the first and third films in Peter Jackson's The Lord
of the Rings trilogy. His silent role in the first film as Figwit achieved some
minor internet fame, which led to Jackson giving him a line in the third
film. In April 2011, McKenzie was cast as the elf Lindir for The Hobbit. His
father Peter McKenzie played the role of Elendil in Lord of the Rings.
Along with Clement, McKenzie was featured as one of 2008's "100 Sexiest
People" in a special edition of the Australian magazine Who.
McKenzie and fellow Conchord Clement guest starred as a pair of camp
counselors in "Elementary School Musical", the season premiere of the
22nd season of The Simpsons, which aired on 26 September 2010.
During the summer of 2010, McKenzie flew to Los Angeles to serve as the music
supervisor for the The Muppets. He went on to write four of the five original
songs from the film's soundtrack including "Man or Muppet" and "Life's a
Happy Song" both of which were nominated for Broadcast Film Critics Association
Awards and Satellite Awards for Best Original Song.
At the 84th Academy Awards in 2012 his song, "Man or Muppet", won the Academy
Award for Best Original Song. McKenzie, together with Australian
comedian Hamish Blake starred in a New Zealand feature film, Two Little Boys,
finished in late 2011 and released in New Zealand on March 2012.
McKenzie wrote the original songs for the 2014 movie Muppets Most Wanted.
Personal life He is married to New Zealand publicist
Hannah Clarke and currently maintains residences in Los Angeles, New York City
and Wellington, New Zealand. They have two children; daughter Vita, born in
2009 and son Leo, born in 2011. Selected filmography
References External links
Bret McKenzie at the Internet Movie Database
Flight of the Conchords Official Site What The Folk! Flight of the Conchords
fan site BBC Radio 2
Flight of the Conchords Official MySpace