Production Designer
47 years
After finishing Art school, Ra trained under his father as a sculptor and scenic artist on small New Zealand film and television projects.
As a contemporary Maori artist his public sculpture can be seen around Wellington and parts of New Zealand marking significant heritage sites introducing people to the history of the land.
It wasn’t until his role as sculptor on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy that he discovered the process of big budget film making with an international film community and with that an opportunity to broaden his skill base.
Ra worked as Set Decorator on the ‘Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey’ which earned him an Oscar nomination in 2012, his Set Decoration paintings are included in the Margaret Herrick Academy Library.
A collaboration in 2013 with New Zealand Directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi on the comedy ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ would take Ra into Production Design.
He has continued designing film projects such as, ‘Thor Ragnarok’, ’Next Goal wins’ and TV projects including ‘The Letter for the King’, ‘Wellington Paranormal’, ‘Our Flag Means Death’, ‘Time Bandits’ and ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ for the US market.
He was nominated for an Oscar for a second time for his work on Taika Waititi’s ‘Jojo Rabbit’.
Now helping produce a few film for his other favourite film maker, daughter Ruby Vincent.