Stan Walker Author

Stan Walker is a trans-Tasman musician, performing artist and actor. He was born in Melbourne and grew up between Tauranga, New Zealand, and Ocean Shores, New South Wales. Walker was the winner of the seventh and final season of Australian Idol in 2009, and was a judge on the first and second season of The X Factor NZ, in 2013 and 2015. Over the past decade Walker has become one of Aotearoa's most respected figures, and continues to devote much of his life to his family, his people, and to maoritanga. Stan has earned eight gold and five platinum singles as well as one double platinum and one triple platinum single in New Zealand. Along the way, Walker has received eight New Zealand Music Awards and five ARIA Music Award nominations. He's won the Waiata Maori Award for Radio Airplay Record of the Year five times, in 2010, 2011 and then three consecutive years in a row from 2013 to 2015. Walker has also appeared in the feature films Mount Zion (2013), Born to Dance (2015) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). He currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand.