Jemaine Clement

The Dry Humor of the Antipodes

Masterton is a farming town in New Zealand where most people work with sheep or on the land. Jemaine Clement was born there in 1974 and grew up in a household led by his mother and his Maori grandmother. There was not much epic about his surroundings. But at Victoria University of Wellington, he met Bret McKenzie, and the concept of deadpan comedy changed forever.

Clement is not your typical comedian. His grumpy face and deep baritone voice sell the absurd as if it were a Greek tragedy. In 2007, the series Flight of the Conchords premiered on HBO, and American audiences quickly connected with two New Zealanders living in a grimy New York apartment.

And it worked because they weren't trying to be funny.

The series earned ten Emmy Award nominations between 2008 and 2009. Clement wrote the lyrics and composed the melodies alongside McKenzie. The concert tours filled stadiums, but he still carried the air of a bored office clerk who had just missed the bus.

The Vampire Who Didn't Want to Scare

In 2014, he shot a mockumentary about vampires sharing an apartment in Wellington alongside Taika Waititi. What We Do in the Shadows cost just 1.6 million dollars and grossed nearly seven in international box office. But the money wasn't the most important thing. The film built its own mythology, which led to a television series in 2019 where Clement served as executive producer and writer.

He prefers creative control over red carpets.

His style is built on awkward silence. Clement understands that comedy lives in the pause and in characters' inability to communicate normally. In 2012, he played the villain Boris the Animal in Men in Black 3, and it became clear he could hold his own in a Hollywood blockbuster without losing his peculiar essence.

He is often cast in roles that call for an imposing physical presence paired with a ridiculous mental attitude. It's a mix few actors can pull off without slipping into cheap parody. In 2015, he starred in People Places Things and received positive reviews for his ability to handle light drama without relying on the exaggerated gestures of commercial cinema.

From Pandora's reefs to animated film

He voiced the giant crab Tamatoa in Moana in 2016. The song Shiny became a global hit on streaming platforms and introduced his voice to audiences who had never seen his cult series. James Cameron cast him as biologist Ian Garvin in Avatar: The Way of Water, released in 2022.

It was a technical and demanding shoot underwater.

In 2024, he took part in the adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon and is scheduled to release the Minecraft movie in 2025. Clement still lives in New Zealand most of the year. He avoids the noise of Los Angeles and prefers to focus on projects where he can write his own dialogue or collaborate with his trusted circle in Wellington.

In 2023, his return for the Avatar sequels, scheduled through 2031, was confirmed. The contract includes specific clauses covering the use of his digital likeness and his availability for long-term motion capture sessions.