Oliver Driver (born 22 November 1974) is a New Zealand actor, director, broadcaster and television presenter.
Television
Driver was the host of ''Let's Be Frank'', and the Creative Director of New Zealand's only alternative music television station,
ALT TV
__NOTOC__
ALT TV was a New Zealand broadcast, privately owned and operated 24-hour live-to-air music TV, which aired from 2006 to 2009 and was seen on SKY Digital channel 065. In March 2009, the company was placed into liquidation and the channel ...
, The channel is now no longer on air. He co-hosted TV3's early morning news show ''
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
Al ...
'', which was cancelled on 8 April 2010.
Driver played
Mike Galloway, a pot smoking nurse on the long-running New Zealand drama ''
Shortland Street
''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...
'' as well as starring in a comedy called ''Serial Killers'', which was based on the lives of six storyliners working on a Shortland Street style hospital based soap. For three years he hosted the
TVNZ
, type = Crown entity
, industry = Broadcast television
, num_locations = New Zealand
, location = Auckland, New Zealand
, area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...
arts programme ''Frontseat''. Driver returned to ''Shortland Street'' in the 2010s as a co-producer and director for numerous episodes.
He finished a three-year contract in 2008 of voicing advertisements for
The Warehouse
The Warehouse Group (TWG) was founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, and is the largest retail group operating in New Zealand. It is a corporate group that consists of The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Torpedo7, Noel Leeming, 1-day and TheMark ...
, a nationwide retail store in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
Driver is known outside of New Zealand as the voice of ''Jenji'' on ''
Power Rangers Mystic Force
''Power Rangers Mystic Force'' is the fourteenth season of the television series ''Power Rangers'', based on the Japanese 29th ''Super Sentai'' tokusatsu series. The season premiered on February 20, 2006 as part of the Jetix block on Toon Disney. ...
'' and as ''Master Swoop'' in ''
Power Rangers Jungle Fury
''Power Rangers Jungle Fury'' is the sixteenth season of the American television series ''Power Rangers'', and is an adaptation of ''Juken Sentai Gekiranger'', the thirty-first Japanese Super Sentai, ''Super Sentai'' series.
The season premiered ...
.'' He returned to the franchise as a director in both ''
Power Rangers Ninja Steel
''Power Rangers Ninja Steel'' is the twenty-fourth season of the television program '' Power Rangers''. The season was produced primarily using footage, costumes, and props from Japanese 39th Super Sentai series '' Shuriken Sentai Ninninger'' ...
''/''
Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel
''Power Rangers Ninja Steel'' is the twenty-fourth season of the television program ''Power Rangers''. The season was produced primarily using footage, costumes, and props from Japanese 39th Super Sentai series ''Shuriken Sentai Ninninger'' wit ...
'' and ''
Power Rangers Beast Morphers
''Power Rangers Beast Morphers'' are the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh seasons of the American television program ''Power Rangers''. The first season premiered on Nickelodeon on March 2, 2019, while the second season premiered on February 22, 20 ...
'' Season 1 and 2.
In 2012 Driver joined the cast of
The Almighty Johnsons
''The Almighty Johnsons'' is a New Zealand fantasy comedy/drama television series, which was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang and was produced by South Pacific Pictures and aired from 7 February 2011 to 23 September 2013.
Production
...
in a recurring role as Eggther during the shows second season.
Driver is also a "Guest Panelist" and "Team Leader" on the
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
version of
Would I Lie to You?
He worked on a television show called "Sunny Skies" as Oscar, which premiered on
TV3 on 8 February 2013.
alongside
Tammy Davis
Tammy Davis is a New Zealand actor, best known for his role as Munter on the hit New Zealand comedy-drama '' Outrageous Fortune''. He grew up in Raetihi, New Zealand. In August 2021, it was announced that he would feature in the 2021 Season of
C ...
.
Radio
Driver used to host the ''Almost Monday'' radio talkback show for
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
's nationwide
Newstalk ZB
Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...
radio station on Sunday evenings. The "Almost Monday" show was back on air on Newtalk ZB as of Sunday 23 January 2011 however it is no longer on the air.
Film
In 2006 Driver starred in the horror comedy film ''
Black Sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...
''. He appeared in
Jonathan King
Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...
's ''
Under the Mountain'', a film adaptation of the
Maurice Gee
Maurice Gough Gee (born 22 August 1931) is a New Zealand novelist. He is one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and has won numerous awards both in New Zealand an ...
book of the same name as Mr Wilberforce, the main villain.
Driver has also appeared in ''A Death in The Family'', ''
Topless Women Talk About Their Lives
''Topless Women Talk About Their Lives'' is a 1997 New Zealand film about a group of twenty something friends. It was based on a TV series.Snakeskin
Snakeskin may either refer to the skin of a live snake, the shed skin of a snake after molting, or to a type of leather that is made from the hide of a dead snake. Snakeskin and scales can have varying patterns and color formations, providing prot ...
'' and ''Toy Love''.
Theatre
He starred in the play ''
The Pillowman
''The Pillowman'' is a 2003 play by British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995, also a final and completed version of the play was publicly read i ...
'' at the Maidment Theatre,
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
; in a season of
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
's ''Betrayal'' fo
Silo Theatre and in Brendan Cowell's ''Ruben Guthrie'' at
Herald Theatre, The Edge, Auckland, New Zealand. Previously he was the Artistic Director of
Auckland Theatre Company
Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) is a professional theatre company in Auckland. It was founded in 1992 and since 2016 has been based in ASB Waterfront Theatre in the Wynyard Quarter in central Auckland.
History
Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) wa ...
.
See also
*
List of New Zealand television personalities
This is a list of New Zealand television personalities, including presenters and journalists. It includes those who left the profession, retired, or died.
A
* Suzy Aiken – television personality and Prime News presenter
* Peter Arnett – te ...
References
External links
*
Sunrise homepageInterview with Oliver Driverfor ScreenTalk, on
NZ On Screen
NZ On Screen is a state-funded online promotional showcase of New Zealand television and film. Funded by NZ On Air, it provides free worldwide access to NZ-produced television, film and music videos. Content is streamed and the webpages provide ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Driver, Oliver
New Zealand male television actors
New Zealand television presenters
1974 births
Living people
People educated at Rangitoto College
New Zealand male soap opera actors