Biography

Rachel House

Early Life and Education

Rachel House was born in 1971 in New Zealand. She was brought up in Kamo in Whangarei. John and Sheila, her parents are a Glaswegian immigrant. She is of Pakeha/European and Maori descent. She holds a New Zealander nationality.

Rachel House completed graduation from the Toi Whakaari, a New Zealand national drama school in the year 1992. After completing her graduation from the Auckland Theater Company and the Pacific Underground Theater Rachel started her stage work.

Career

For her performance in the one-woman show named Nga Pou Wahine, Rachel House won the Chapman Tripp Most Promising Female Newcomer award of the Year in 1995. She along with Carol Anne Duffy’s UK/New Zealand co-production of Beauty and the Beast and Hone Kouka’s Waiora has worked with various productions which have toured her both nationally as well as internationally.

Rachel House has worked in a number of films which include Eagle vs Shark, White Lies, and Whale Rider. She has also appeared in many television series including Gaylene Preston’s series named Hope and Wire and Maddigan’s Quest.

In the year 2016, Rachel House appeared in a film name Hunt for the Wilder people, a Taika Waititi’s feature film. The film was the top-grossing film in New Zealand of all the time in the New Zealand box office. She has given her voice to the character of Gramma Tala in an animated film Moana. The film was released in 2016.

Rachel House has also acting coached many actors on Everything We Loved, Top of the Lake, Hunt of the Wilder people, Taika Waititi’s Boy and The Rehearsal.  

Besides her acting career, she is also a director and she has directed several theatrical performances as well as films. Rachel House has also won awards for her direction. In the year 2008, she went to Prague Film school. During her school, she made two short films for which she has won Best Director and also the Best Film Audience Award.  

Rachel house directed a short film named The Winter Boy in 2010. The film was Kylie Meehan’s and it was produced by Hineani Melbourne. After two years in 2012, she has also directed Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida. 

In the year 2016, Rachel House directed a Silo Theatre’s production of Medea. It was Auckland based and created by an Australian theater maker Anne-Louise Sarks and Kate Mulvany. It was about the retelling of the Euripides myth.

Awards and Achievements

In the year 2012, Rachel received the New Zealand Arts foundation Laureate Award. She received the award for her outstanding potential for future growth and the excellence across a range of art forms.

In the year 2016, Rachel House received Women in Film and Television NZ Mana Wahine Award. The award was for her prolific contribution to the film and theater, both in front as well as behind the camera.

Personal life

Rachel House is possibly single at present and has not married till now. She may have dated in her early days, however, has not revealed the details. She seems to be very careful about her personal life. Rachel is more focused on her career these days.