More facts about the New Zealand ‘Kiwi’ accent

Not all New Zealanders have the exact same accent. The British Received Pronunciation (RP) dialect has had an influence too, depending on the locale and education level of the speaker.

“My car’s puckerood!”

There are some fantastic New Zealandisms including: ‘heaps’ to describe an abundance of something; ‘puckerood’ (from a Maori word) to describe something that’s broken; and ‘she’ll be fine’ to say, ‘it’ll be alright’.

There is an abundance of other such colourful idioms, making New Zealanders stand out from other English dialects to the keener ear. Most people outside the region can’t differentiate it from the Aussie accent though. Using their naturally unique lingo can add some spice to your voice-over project!

Acclaimed voice actors with New Zealander accents

Some of the best known actors call New Zealand home:

Sam Neill has appeared in many films and TV dramas with a variety of accents, but his native accent is Kiwi:

Anna Paquin played ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ in TV Drama Series True Blood and is a native New Zealander:

Karl Urban star of Lord of the Rings and Star Trek was originally from Wellington New Zealand!

Lucy Lawless was ‘Number Three’ in the Battlestar Gallactica TV series and has an Auckland New Zealand accent:

Want in?

Above you can listen to esteemed New Zealand voice actors but if this isn’t what you expected to find, please visit the search page. Voquent is a global voice-over agency. So there you can find voice actors speaking with many other English dialects including: RP-English, Irish, American and Australian.