1973–2014: Film and music Morrison's film debut is the 1973 film ''
Rangi's Catch, playing the title character. He trained in drama under the New Zealand Special Performing Arts Training Scheme. One of his earliest starring roles was in the 1988 film Never Say Die, opposite Lisa Eilbacher. After this he played Dr. Hone Ropata on the television soap opera Shortland Street'' from 1992 to 1995. In 1994, he received attention for his role as the violently abusive Māori husband Jake "The Muss" Heke in
Once Were Warriors, a film adaptation of
Alan Duff's novel
Once Were Warriors. The film became the most successful local release in New Zealand, and sold to many countries. The role won him international acclaim and he received the award for best male performance in a dramatic role at the 1994
New Zealand Film and Television Awards. He reprised the role in the sequel,
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, for which he received the Best Actor award from the New Zealand Film Awards. Morrison said in 2010 that he felt typecast by the role, to the point that it was "a millstone round my neck". In 1996, he appeared in the Pamela Anderson film
Barb Wire. He has appeared in supporting roles in
Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and
The Beautiful Country (2004). In 2005, Morrison became the host of the talk show
The Tem Show on New Zealand television. In the
1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, Morrison was appointed a Member of the
New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to drama. He started writing an autobiography in 2009, which he hoped would inspire others to "reach for the stars". He released his debut album,
Tem, through Sony Music Entertainment NZ in late November 2014. It consists of covers of songs that his father, and uncle
Sir Howard Morrison, had performed at local venues when he was growing up.
2002–2023: Star Wars films, video games and television Morrison became widely known outside of New Zealand with his role as bounty hunter
Jango Fett in the 2002 film
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Part of the plot involves an
army of clones created with Jango's DNA, so Morrison also provided the voice acting for the clones. He reappeared as several clones in
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and re-recorded the lines of the character
Boba Fett (Jango's clone "son") in the 2004 DVD re-releases of the original
Star Wars trilogy, replacing the voice of
Jason Wingreen. Morrison has since portrayed Jango Fett and his clones in several
Star Wars video games, all produced by
LucasArts. He played the clone commando "
Boss" in
Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005), voiced all the troopers in
Star Wars: Battlefront (2004), and voiced both Jango and Boba Fett in its sequel,
Battlefront II (2005). Morrison reprised his role as Jango in
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002), a game centered around the character, and
LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (2005), along with his clones, but was uncredited in the latter. He voiced Boba in the 2006 game
Star Wars: Empire at War, and
DICE's
Star Wars Battlefront (2015) and
Battlefront II (2017), the latter of which were produced by
EA. Morrison physically portrayed Boba Fett for the first time in the
second season of
The Mandalorian (2020). In the show, Morrison portrays an aged, weathered version of the character. Morrison's Fett has heavy scars on his face, and wears dark robes before reclaiming and restoring his armor. Morrison says that with the physically worn appearance, he adjusted his voice to be more gravelly, as if Boba's vocal cords were affected by his past traumas. With the role, Morrison was also able to bring a bit of his own Māori culture to Fett's portrayal. In an interview with
The New York Times, he said that he "wanted to bring that kind of spirit and energy, which we call wairua, [to the role]" following Fett's life after the events of the 1983 film
Return of the Jedi. The series premiered on 29 December 2021. In 2022, Morrison made a cameo appearance as a homeless veteran clone trooper in the
Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series. In 2018 he played lighthouse keeper Tom Curry, the father of
the title character, in
Aquaman. Morrison reprised the role in
The Flash, released in 2023, and
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which released in December 2023. Morrison also provided the voice of Moana's father, Chief Tui, in the
2016 animated Disney film of the same name. He reprised the role in the
2024 sequel, and also provided Tui's singing voice instead of
Christopher Jackson. He portrayed
Kahekili in the 2025 Hawaiian period drama miniseries
Chief of War executive produced and co-starred by
Jason Momoa for
Apple TV+. ==Personal life==