Together at home and at work - meet five couples who put a spring in one another’s step and complement each other’s careers in politics, entertainment and hospitality.
Politically connected
Fresh Labour List MP Camilla Belich has a great adviser for her new life in Parliament in Andrew Kirton, whowas the 2017 Labour Party campaign manager and the party's former General Secretary.
Andrew Kirkton and Camilla Belich
He left the role in 2018 to become Air New Zealand's head of government relations and is now head of the airline's corporate affairs.
Belich, who stood for Labour in the Epsom seat won by David Seymour, is a lawyer and practised as a volunteer solicitor at Community Law for many years.
She and Kirton live in central Auckland with their two primary school-aged children and are expecting another child.
Health and Diplomacy
Another new Labour Party List MP, Dr Ayesha Verrall, also has a partner who complements her work.
Verrall came to national prominence when the infectious disease specialist audited New Zealand's contact tracing system and recommended improvements during our first Covid-19 lockdown.
Dr Ayesha Verrall and Alice Revell
Her partner, Alice Revell, has an equally impressive resume as an international lawyer and New Zealand diplomat.
Revell was lead negotiator for New Zealand for the UN treaty on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. She was also a former legal adviser for the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
Lovers on Screen and Off
They were once a married couple on A Place to Call Home and real-life husband and wife Sara Wiseman and Craig Hall are both up for gongs at this year's New Zealand Television awards.
Wiseman is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in One Lane Bridge, and Hall is up for Best Actor for Head High.
It's been a busy year for the talented acting duo. Wiseman has also starred in the Kiwi mini-series The Sounds and the Aussie TV series Between Two Worlds, in which Hall also starred. He has also been in Aussie mini-series Halifax: Retribution, and Bondi Slayer.
Also up for a gong at the NZTV Awards is behind the scenes husband and wife Claire McCarthy and Denson Baker.
McCarthy is nominated for Best Director for the TV mini-series The Luminaries and Baker best cinematographer for the adapted Eleanor Catton Man Booker prize-winning book.
Claire McCarthy and Denson Baker
Collaborations are nothing new for the couple. They worked together on the romantic film The Waiting City, which was shot in India and the 2018 film Ophelia, which is based on a reimagined Hamlet. Baker also worked on The Dark Horse.
McCarthy is about to start work directing Naomi Watts in US movie The Burning Man.
Hospo Husband and Wife
2020 has been the year when celebrity chef Josh Emett and Helen Cranage have fulfilled their long-held dream of opening restaurants together.
While Emett has spent the past decade forming partnerships in various restaurants, he and Cranage came home from England this year and joined forces in two Auckland establishments, the Oyster Inn on Waiheke, and newly-opened Onslow on Princes St in the central city.
Josh Emett and Helen Emett at the opening of their new restaurant, Onslow Spy October 2020
Cranage, who formerly worked in international finance, has been beside Emett at every one of their openings and as they have raised their sons. But the time was finally right to put both their names equally on these projects.
Onslow is the place the couple wanted to create together since they first met. At last week's opening, it was Cranage's chance to shine as the pair shared the podium greeting guests.
English-born Cranage welcomed guests in beautifully articulated te reo and her husband was proud as punch of his business partner. They will be busy this summer tending to both their restaurants across the Waitematā.
