Jim Moriarty

{{about||the American luger|Jim Moriarty (luger)|the other people named Jim Moriarty|James Moriarty (disambiguation){{!}}James Moriarty}}

{{short description|Actor from New Zealand}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2015}}

James Moriarty {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MNZM|size=100%}} (born 20 June 1953) is a New Zealand actor and theatre director, who began acting professionally in 1967. He came to national attention and is probably best known for his role as the school teacher Riki Winiata in the 1970s soap opera Close to Home.{{cite news | title=Theatre work recognised | date=4 June 2001 | work=The Evening Post | page=2 | first=Bernie | last=Napp}} His work has toured nationally and internationally. Moriarty is from the Māori tribes of Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Koata and Ngāti Kahungunu.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nzonscreen.com/person/jim-moriarty|work=NZ On Screen|accessdate=9 November 2009|title=Jim Moriarty}}

He is also known for his performance as a Vietnam War veteran in John Broughton's solo work Michael James Manaia which toured New Zealand and played at the Edinburgh Festival in 1991.{{cite journal|author=Stachurski, Christina|journal=Journal of New Zealand Literature|page=125|title=Michael James Manaia - The Personal is Political}}

Moriarty is the artistic director of Te Rakau Hua O Te Wao Tapu Trust, a performing arts organisation that works with at-risk communities, creating and performing theatre in schools, marae and prisons, as well as professional theatres.{{cite web|url=http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/742 |work=The Lumiere Reader |accessdate=9 November 2009 |title=Scars on the Heart: Jim Moriarty, interview with Alexander Bisley |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522225418/http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/742 |archivedate=22 May 2010 }}

In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours, Moriarty was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to drama.{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2001 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2001 |date=4 June 2001 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=2 July 2020}}

Moriarty has eight children and his partner is playwright Helen Pearse-Otene.{{Cite web|date=2016-02-26|title=Mahana star Jim Moriarty: being a better man|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/77283883/mahana-star-jim-moriarty-being-a-better-man|access-date=2021-08-21|website=Stuff|language=en}}