Jemaine Clement Bio
Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement, born on 10 January 1974, is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker whose career spans stage, television, film, and animation. He first gained international attention as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords alongside Bret McKenzie, with whom he co-created the BBC and HBO comedy series of the same name. The series earned six Primetime Emmy nominations and established Clement as a distinctive voice in alternative comedy.
Beyond television, Clement has built a varied film résumé that includes live-action comedies, voice performances in major animated features, and his own directorial work. He is recognised for blending deadpan humour, satire, and musical performance, often exploring New Zealand culture and identity in the process. He continues to work across multiple creative disciplines from his home base in Wellington, New Zealand.
Early Life and Background
Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement was born on 10 January 1974 in Masterton, a town in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand, and was raised there in a working-class family by his mother and his grandmother Maikara, alongside his two brothers. He is of Māori descent through his mother, with links to the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi, and is a direct descendant of the rangatira Iraia Te Ama-o-te-rangi Te Whaiti. His Pākehā father, Robert, worked at the local freezing works, struggled with alcoholism, and left the family home when Jemaine was still a child. Robert later became a stained glass artist in Midhirst, Taranaki, and the two rebuilt their relationship in adulthood.
His mother and grandmother were the strongest influences on his childhood, encouraging his sense of humour from an early age. Although he visited relatives on various marae, bans on te reo Māori being spoken in schools meant he grew up speaking almost entirely English, a regret he has spoken about publicly. He attended Makoura College in Masterton before moving to Wellington to study drama and film at Victoria University of Wellington.
At university, Clement met Taika Waititi, and the two went on to form the comedy groups So You’re a Man and The Humourbeasts. The Humourbeasts toured New Zealand with a 2004 stage show titled The Untold Tales of Maui, a reworking of traditional Māori legends about the demigod Māui, and the pair received the Billy T Award, New Zealand’s highest comedy honour. It was also at university that he met Bret McKenzie, the partnership that would eventually become Flight of the Conchords.
Path to Celebrity
Clement’s entry into the entertainment industry began in the mid-1990s through live performance and writing. His early stage work with The Humourbeasts helped him develop the deadpan style that would later define his on-screen persona, while his writing for radio shows such as Trashed and The Sunglass Store earned him New Zealand Radio Awards recognition in 1999 and 2000.
His first screen appearance came in the kung fu comedy Tongan Ninja, directed by Jason Stutter, and he continued to work with Stutter on Diagnosis: Death and the drama Predicament, based on a novel by New Zealand writer Ronald Hugh Morrieson. These early New Zealand productions gave him practical on-set experience and connected him to a small but active local film scene.
The pivotal move in Clement’s career came when he and McKenzie took their two-man act to Edinburgh, where they began performing as Flight of the Conchords. In 2005 the duo produced a six-part comedy radio programme on BBC Radio 2, followed by an appearance on HBO’s One Night Stand that led to a 12-part television series on HBO. The show’s American success from 2007 onward turned Clement into an internationally recognised comedian and opened the door to broader film work.
Jemaine Clement Career
Early Career (1994–2005)
During the 1990s, Clement focused on stage comedy, radio writing, and small New Zealand film productions, building a foundation in sketch and character work. His early voiceover and television commercial work in New Zealand helped him reach a local audience, while his writing on shows such as Skitz and Tellylaughs established him within the country’s comedy community.
The release of the Flight of the Conchords debut Folk the World Tour in 2002, followed by the duo’s BBC Radio 2 series in 2005, marked his transition to international projects. These years of steady live performance, radio writing, and festival appearances laid the groundwork for the major television deal that followed.
Breakthrough (2007–2014)
The launch of Flight of the Conchords on HBO in June 2007 was Clement’s breakthrough moment, introducing him to a wide American audience alongside Bret McKenzie. The series ran for two seasons, and Clement received six Primetime Emmy nominations for his work on the show. The 2008 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, won for the EP The Distant Future, added a major music industry accolade to his résumé.
On the film side, he appeared in Eagle vs Shark in 2007 and earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male for Gentlemen Broncos in 2009. He voiced characters in Despicable Me (2010) and Rio (2011) and took on the primary antagonist role of Boris the Animal in Men in Black 3 (2012), demonstrating his range in studio productions. In 2014, he made his directorial debut with What We Do in the Shadows, which he co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred in with Taika Waititi; the vampire mockumentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was later adapted into a long-running FX series.
Notable Works and Milestones
Beyond What We Do in the Shadows, Clement’s signature live-action roles include People Places Things (2015), Humor Me (2017), The Festival (2018), and appearances in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and A Minecraft Movie (2025). His animated voice work spans Moana (2016), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), Thelma the Unicorn (2024), and Moana 2 (2024), including a memorable performance as the coconut crab Tamatoa, modelled on David Bowie.
Jemaine Clement Award Nominations
Jemaine Clement has received multiple nominations across television, film, and music for his work as a performer and writer. He earned six Primetime Emmy nominations for Flight of the Conchords and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male for his role in Gentlemen Broncos. These nominations reflect recognition from both American television academies and the independent film community.
Jemaine Clement Awards Won
Clement’s most prominent win is the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, awarded to Flight of the Conchords for The Distant Future EP. Earlier in his career, he and Taika Waititi received the Billy T Award, New Zealand’s highest comedy honour, for their work with The Humourbeasts. He also won a New Zealand Radio Award in 1999 as a writer for the show Trashed and received a Special Radio Awards Commendation in 2000.
Jemaine Clement Family
Clement was raised in Masterton by his mother and his grandmother Maikara, alongside his two brothers. His mother and grandmother were central to his upbringing and were the strongest influences on his early sense of humour. His father, Robert, was of Pākehā descent, worked at the freezing works, and later became a stained glass artist in Taranaki.
Through his mother, Clement is of Māori descent (Ngāti Kahungunu) and traces his ancestry to the rangatira Iraia Te Ama-o-te-rangi Te Whaiti. His son, Sophocles Iraia, born in October 2008 in New York City, is named after both Manasiadis’s Greek great-grandfather and Clement’s own ancestor Iraia.
Personal Life
Clement married theatre actress and playwright Miranda Manasiadis in August 2008, and the couple’s son Sophocles Iraia was born two months later. The family lives in Wellington, New Zealand, where Clement continues to base much of his creative work. He has spoken publicly about never having learned to drive because his family did not own a car when he was growing up.