One-half of the musical comedy duo, Flights of the Conchords, Jemaine Clement is a popular New Zealand comedian, actor, writer, director, and multi-instrumentalist.

Early Life
Born in Masteron, New Zealand, Jemaine Clement was raised by his Maori mother. The actor went to Makoura College in Masteron and after completing his graduation he moved to Wellington to study drama and film at the Victoria University of Wellington. It was at Victoria University that he met Taika Waititi and together they formed The Humourbeasts, a musical comedy group. In 2004, the two toured New Zealand in a stage show titled, The Untold Tales of Maui. For their outstanding work, the duo was honored with Billy T Award, New Zealand’s highest comedy honor. The anti-romantic comedy film, which was filmed in mockumentary style was about filming a reality dating show where the lead characters are so incompatible that crew of the film was forced to lie to them to keep them together.

Personal Life
In 2008, Jemaine Clement married his longtime girlfriend, Miranda Manasiadis, a theater actress and playwright. Together the couple has one named Sophocles Iraia Clement who was born in October 2008.

Movie Career
As an Actor/Voice Artist
Jemaine Clement made his acting debut in a feature film with Tongan Ninja, which released in November 2002 in North America. The kung-fu action-comedy film directed by Jason Stutter was a parody of the English-dubbed martial arts films and the plot is based on Hong Kong martial arts film, Way of the Dragon. After his debut, the actor starred in the 2004 New Zealand film, Futile Attraction, which garnered media attention for being funded by web donations.

After her first two films, the actor had no releases until 2007 when he starred in the New Zealand romantic comedy Eagle vs Shark, which was directed by Taika Waititi. It premiered at the Sundance in the World Cinema Dramatic section of the festival and it received mixed critical reviews. In 2009, the actor had two releases, Gentlemen Broncos and Diagnosis: Death. The former directed by Jared Hess also featured Michael Angarano, Jennifer Coolidge and Sam Rockwell in the lead role and although the film got negative reviews, Clement for his role won a nomination for Best Supporting Male at the Independent Spirit Award.

In 2010, Jemaine Clement lent his voice to Jerry, one of Gru’s Minions in the computer-animated 3D comedy film, Despicable Me directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renauld. Upon release it earned wide positive reviews and emerged to be a blockbuster, grossing more than 540 million USD worldwide. Later in the same year, director Jason Stutter cast Clement alongside Hayden Frost, Heath Franklin, and Tim Finn in the comedy horror film, Predicament, which was based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Ronald Hugh Morrieson. His other film of the year was Dinner for Schmucks, an American comedy directed by Jay Roach and it emerged to be a box office it; grossing about 86.4 million USD.

After having a fairly successful year in 2010, Jemaine Clement collaborated with director Carlos Saldanha for his 2011 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure-comedy film, Rio. He lent his voice to the character Nigel, a sadistic Sulphur-crested cockatoo. Upon release, the film garnered mostly positive reviews from the critics and earned 143 million USD at the box office. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song but it lost to The Muppets. In his only release of 2013, the actor starred in the 3D sci-fi action film, Men in Black 3, which was directed By Sonnenfeld. The film starring Will Smith, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones received mostly positive reviews and emerged to be one of the highest grossing films in the MIB series. For his stellar performance as Boris the Animal, the actor not only won special appreciation from the critics but also won a nomination for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain.

In 2014, the actor reprised his role as Nigel in Rio 2, the sequel to 2010 film of the same name. The film directed by Carlos Saldanha also featured Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Andy Garcia and Bruno Mars in pivotal roles. Upon release, Rio 2 got critical appreciation and won several award nominations including Favorite Animated Movie at the Kids’ Choice Awards and Favorite Family Movie and the People’s Choice Awards. Clement’s 2016 releases include The BFG, which was directed by the acclaimed director, Steven Spielberg and Moana, a computer-animated fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker.

As a Writer/Director
Jemaine Clement made his debut as a writer in 2002 with Tongan Ninja, a Kung-fu-action-comedy film where he also starred in the lead role. After having acted in several films and lent his voice to several characters in various animation films he made his direction debut in 2014 with What We Do in the Shadows. The horror comedy film, which was shot in a mockumentary style was based on a group of vampires who lives together in Wellington. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014 and upon release, it earned 6.9 million USD.

TV Career
Jemaine Clement made his acting debut in a TV series in 1996 as he appeared in a single episode of The Enid Blyton Adventure Series. After his TV debut, he focused more on acting in films and he no work in TV for four years until he made his comeback 2002 with a small role in The Tribe, a New Zealand-British fictional post-apocalyptic series, which was mainly aimed at teenagers.

Whilst two of his first TV appearances did not gain him any attention or recognition, he got his major breakthrough in 2007 as he appeared in Flight of the Conchords for which he was also a writer and executive producer. It was broadcast on HBO and ran for two years. The show stars the real-life duo of Clement and Bret McKenzie who play the fictionalized versions of themselves and the series received positive critical reception and won 10 Emmy Award nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

After 2007, Jemaine Clement got several offers in series’ and he starred in a singular episode of The Drink Crow Show (2008), The Simpsons (2010), Out there (2013), Rick and Morty (2015) and Milo Murphy’s Law (2016).