Brian's Biography

Full Name: Brian Clifford Sergent-Shadbolt
Birth Date: 29 December, 1959
Birthplace: Naenae, Wellington New Zealand

Current Residence: Massachusetts, USA
Hair Color: Light brown
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5' 8"
Children: Jean, Jack, and Leo

Brian Sergent is proud to be a born and bred Kiwi.   His active life means he splits his time throughout the world. Born to parents Nola and Charles into a large family;  sisters Pamela, Janice, Robyne, and Fiona and brother Rodney have all been great supporters of Brian’s career and his personal life.

Brian has a natural born desire and award winning talent for acting that is evident in every piece of work his name has been on.  He has appeared in some of New Zealand’s best-loved television series, commercial advertisements, is well known in theatre and his voice is recognized for his voice-overs and radio presentations. 

Brian’s television premier was at the tender age of 15 playing Lionel on the soap opera Close To Home, in the late 1970s.  The 1980's proved to be a prolific time for Brian with appearances on Rock Around The Clock, Jocko, Lynn of Tawa and specially written shows for him on Comedy Playhouse.  Brian has also become well known and loved as a stand up comedian.  His most popular character, cabin steward Gavin Soper, made highly acclaimed appearances on the Pulp Comedy television series.  In the early 1990s he hosted The Armchair Shopper, and had roles in Married and Ray Bradbury Theatre before settling into a four-season stint on the comedy show Skitz.  Brian had guest roles on Shark in the Park, Market Forces, The Strip, Shortland Street, Dark Knight, Atlantis High and has appeared in The Lost Children. Brian also appeared as Eric for the first two years of the award winning television show, Outrageous Fortune.

Brian has a strong association with Circa Theatre, appearing in many productions including: The Big Picture, Closer, This Train I’m On, Speaking in Tongues, The Country Wife, Take a Chance On Me and Dinner. Brian received the Chapman-Tripp award for Best Actor playing Lenny in The Homecoming, Best Supporting Actor as Gary Peter Lefkowitz in I Hate Hamlet and Outstanding New Playwrite for The Love of Humankind. Brian also has many credits at Downstage Theatre including: Charley's Aunt, Unsuitable For Adults, Arsenic Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and Old Lace and Ladies Night.  He has also played Shakespearean roles including Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello at the Court Theatre, Oberon in Midsummer's Night's Dream at Circa, and hugely successful seasons of Chekov's Uncle Vanya. and Anthony McCarten's Four Cities at the Auckland theatre company.

Brian is also applauded for his ability to play multi-roles in a single play.  He performed as five different characters in Time of My Life, ten roles in Greater Tuna,  eleven characters in Travels With my Aunt and several roles in The Duchess of Malfi and Take a Chance on Me.

Brian’s film credits include Peter Jackson’s Meet the Feebles, Braindead and Lord of the Rings as well as Absent Without Leave, Via Satelite and the lead role as Marty in The Shirt.  Most recently Brian starred in Taika Waititi’s first feature film Eagle vs. Shark. Watch for updates on Brian's newest film, The Love of Humankind, about to go into production.

Radio listeners are quite familiar with Brian's reading of short stories, novels and radio plays on Radio New Zealand where he is still actively involved.

Brian is currently enjoying expanding his study of American theatre. In addition, he is working towards a university degree in history with intentions of combining his two interests of performing arts and historical events.

Brian lists his two sons, Jack and Leo and daughter Jean as his greatest accomplishments and source of pride.