This page uses content from the Lee Tamahori biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Lee Tamahori, born 1950 in Wellington, New Zealand, is best known as a film director although he got his start as a commercial artist and photographer in the late 1970s.

Tamahori is of Māori ancestry on his father's side and of British ancestry on his mother's. His break as a filmmaker came with Once Were Warriors (1994), a gritty depiction of urban Māori life that was phenomenally successful in New Zealand. He then moved to Hollywood and directed the period thriller Mulholland Falls (1996), although this was not received well critically or commercially. This was followed by the successful wilderness film The Edge (1997) and Die Another Day (2002), the twentieth James Bond movie. He also directed numerous episodes of television shows, in particular an episode of The Sopranos during its second season.

Tamahori's next film was the sequel to XXX (2002), entitled XXX: State of the Union/XXX: The Next Level (2005) starring Ice Cube and Willem Dafoe; he replaced the original director, Rob Cohen.

In January 2006, Tamahori was arrested for approaching an undercover LAPD officer and offering to perform a sex act for cash. He was in drag at the time and was released on $2,000 bail. Before appearing in Los Angeles court for arraignment, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor criminal trespass in exchange for 3 years of probation, 15 days of community service, and a $390 fine. Prosecutors dropped solicitation and loitering charges. Tamahori's lawyer was celebrity attorney Mark Geragos.

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