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{{Short description|New Zealand film director, writer, actor (born 1959)}}
{{for-multi|the American industrialist|Harry Ford Sinclair|other people}}
{{BLP sources|date=September 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Harry Sinclair
| image              = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = Harry Alan Sinclair
| birth_date         = {{birth year and age|1959}}
| birth_place        = [[Auckland]], New Zealand
| education          = [[École Philippe Gaulier]]
| occupation         = {{Hlist | Film director | writer | actor}}
| years_active       = 1987–present
| known_for          = Playing [[Isildur]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]''
}}

'''Harry Alan Sinclair''' (born 1959) is a New Zealand film director, writer and actor. In his early career he was an actor and member of [[The Front Lawn]], a musical theatre duo. He went on to write and direct several short films, a TV series and three feature films.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0801625/|title=Harry Sinclair|website=IMDb|access-date=2018-03-16}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=October 2022|reason=IMDb is *not* a reliable source for this information (see [[WP:IMDB]], [[WP:IMDB/RS]] and [[WP:IMDB-EL]]).}} He is best known for his role as [[Isildur]] in the first scenes of [[Peter Jackson]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]''.

==Early life==
Harry Sinclair was born in 1959 in [[Auckland]], New Zealand. He is the son of historian [[Keith Sinclair]] and brother of writer [[Stephen Sinclair]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/harry-sinclair/biography | title=Harry Sinclair &#124; NZ on Screen }}</ref>

Sinclair studied acting at the [[Ecole Philippe Gaulier]] in Paris, and went on to a career on the stage in Auckland, as well as roles in a number of New Zealand films including working with [[Peter Jackson]], playing the role of Roger in ''[[Braindead (1992 film)|Braindead]]'' and [[Isildur]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|The Lord of the Rings]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=School |first=Westlake Boys High |title=Westlakers Writers Project - Harry Sinclair |url=https://www.westlake.school.nz/westlakers-writers-project-harry-sinclair |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=Westlake Boys High School |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=June 2024}}

===The Front Lawn===
In 1985 he co-founded The Front Lawn (with [[Don McGlashan]]), a multi-media comedy music duo. Sinclair and The Front Lawn toured internationally with a series of live shows including: ''Songs and Stories from The Front Lawn'', ''The Reason for Breakfast'', ''The Washing Machine'', and ''The Story of Robert''. They also completed two music albums, ''Songs from The Front Lawn'' and ''More Songs from The Front Lawn''. They performed twice at the [[Edinburgh Festival]], in 1988 and 1989, winning [[The Independent]] newspaper's theatre award for the festival in 1988, and in both years winning inclusion in the "Pick of the Fringe" season at London's [[Donmar Warehouse]].

The Front Lawn also toured extensively in Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand.

Sinclair and McGlashan made several short films: ''The Lounge Bar'' (which was featured in the First Annual International Festival of Short Films in the U.S. as one of the "world's best live-action shorts"), ''Walk Short'' and ''Linda’s Body'' (which won Best Short Film at the New Zealand Film Awards).

===Films===

After The Front Lawn disbanded in 1990, Sinclair directed two short films, ''Casual Sex'', and ''Avenue Du Maine''.

Sinclair's first feature film ''[[Topless Women Talk About Their Lives]]'' (1997), starring [[Danielle Cormack]] and [[Joel Tobeck]], was released theatrically in 23 countries and won nine awards at the [[New Zealand Film Awards]] including Best Director and Best Film. It was a spin-off from his TV series of the same name, which was shown on [[TV3 (New Zealand)|TV3]] in New Zealand and on [[Special Broadcasting Service|SBS]] in Australia. Each of the 41 episodes was only 4 minutes long, and featured a different song from [[Flying Nun Records]].

His second feature, ''[[The Price of Milk]]'' (2000), starring Danielle Cormack and [[Karl Urban]], was his only film to be released in the US, by Lot 47 Films. It won the Grand Prize at the [[Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival]] (2001) and the Grand Prize at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival (2001).

His third feature was ''[[Toy Love (film)|Toy Love]]'' (2002) starring [[Dean O'Gorman]] and [[Kate Elliott (actress)|Kate Elliott]].

His three feature films were made in an unconventional manner, with Sinclair casting his lead actors before writing the scripts. The stories were developed during video workshops with the actors, and the final scripts written during the shoots, allowing the stories to develop organically, building on what naturally developed between the actors.

===Television===
In 2009 and 2010, he was a regular director of the TV series ''[[90210 (TV series)|90210]]''.

===The Builders Association===
From 2006 to 2008 Sinclair collaborated with the New York-based theatre company Builders Association, touring internationally as an actor in their production ''Super Vision''. He co-wrote their next production, ''Continuous City'', which premiered in November 2008 at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]], and toured through 2010. He also played a lead role in ''Continuous City'', appearing only in projected film sequences.

===Kiri and Lou===
Sinclair is currently{{when|date=June 2024}} writing and directing an animated children's series, ''Kiri and Lou'', for Television New Zealand and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is collaborating with animation director Ant Elworthy and composer Don McGlashan, and the series is produced by Fiona Copland.

==Personal life==
Sinclair lives in Los Angeles.

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Production company
|-
| 1987 || ''Walk Short'' || Lead || Front Lawn Films
|-
| 1989 || ''The Lounge Bar'' || Lead || Front Lawn Films
|-
| 1990 || ''Linda's Body'' || Lead || Front Lawn Films
|-
| 1992 || ''[[Braindead (film)|Braindead]]'' || Roger || WingNut Films 
|-
| 1997 || ''The Footstep Man'' || Seskau || Hibiscus Films
|-
| 2001 || ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' || Isildur || WingNut Films 
|-
| 2003 || ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'' || Isildur || [[WingNut Films]]
|-
| 2012 || ''[[Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)|Lego The Lord of the Rings]]'' || [[Isildur]] || [[TT Games]]
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* http://harrysinclair.com/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205122509/http://harrysinclair.com/ |date=5 February 2011 }}
* [https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2496145/harry-sinclair-life-in-l-a%20 Radio interview with Kim Hill, Radio New Zealand, 20 August 2011 (audio only)]
*{{IMDb name|id=0801625|name=Harry Sinclair}}

{{Harry Sinclair}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Harry}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:New Zealand male film actors]]
[[Category:New Zealand film directors]]
[[Category:New Zealand musicians]]
[[Category:Sinclair family|Harry]]