Lee Tamahori (; born 17 June 1950) is a New Zealand filmmaker best known for directing the 1994 film Once Were Warriors, the 2001 film Along Came a Spider and 2002's James Bond film Die Another Day.

Upbringing and early career

Born Warren Lee Tamahori, in Wellington, New Zealand, he is of Māori ancestry on his father's side and British on his mother's.

Tamahori grew up in Tawa, a northern suburb of Wellington, North Island, New Zealand. Educated at Tawa School and Tawa College, he began his career as a commercial artist and photographer. He moved into the film industry in the late 1970s, initially getting in the door by working for nothing, then working as a boom operator for Television New Zealand, and on the feature films: Skin Deep, Goodbye Pork Pie, and Bad Blood.

In the early 1980s Pork Pie director Geoff Murphy promoted Tamahori …Read more on Wikipedia