Shortland Street - Characters

Characters

See also: Current Shortland Street Characters, and List of Shortland Street characters, and List of original Shortland Street characters

Shortland Street stars an ensemble cast. Most of the characters are either employees of Shortland Street Hospital, or relations to employees of the hospital.

Since 1992, many notable faces have appeared on the soap with the only still remaining character from the original cast being that of Chris Warner. Though taking a 4 year break, Chris has been on the show the longest of the current cast and outstayed all of his family who either died or left. Rachel McKenna is another current long standing character, arriving to the soap in 1993 and making regular appearances since. Nick Harrison was also a long running character being on the show till 2005.

Characters on the show attribute and portray numerous different demographics found in New Zealand. These range from the rich and well off (such as Chris Warner) to the struggling and poor (Wendy Cooper). Other areas that are covered are groups such as ethnicities with Asian, Polynesian, Romanian and even Zimbabwean characters appearing on the show. In the first year of the show, it was decided CEO Michael McKenna's personal assistant Jenny, should be a solo mother to help draw in that demographic who statistically would be watching TV at 7pm. The show has also had a long string of families, such as the Warners, McKennas, Harrisons, Crombies, Hudsons, Jeffries, Valentines, McKays, and currently the Coopers and Avia-Levis, teenagers, helping young audiences and families relate to the show.

Several past cast members have made a name for themselves on the international scale with the likes of Temuera Morrison who portrayed Dr. Hone Ropata from 1992–1995 and a guest appearance in 2008, being cast in several Hollywood films and being recognized as Jango Fett in Star Wars. Martin Henderson who portrayed Stuart Neilson from 1992–1995 went on to star in The Ring and starred alongside James Franco in Flyboys and Cate Blanchett in Little Fish. Karl Urban who portrayed the recurring role of gay paramedic Jamie Forrest went on to play Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 2009 Star Trek remake and is set to star as Judge Dredd in the upcoming superhero blockbuster Dredd. Marton Csokas who played Leonard Rossi-Dodds from 1993 to 1994, then again from late 1994 to 1995, went on to star in films such as The Bourne Supremacy alongside the previously mentioned Karl Urban and Alice in Wonderland. Besides these breakout stars, Shortland Street has also produced a number of successful actors who participate in successful homegrown material.