Michele Hine has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to performing arts education.
Hine has been a professional actor, director and acting teacher for 40 years.
She has taught both nationally and internationally, including at Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka Unitec, Toi Whakaari/New Zealand Drama School and Auckland and Victoria Universities.
Hine was a co-founder of and lecturer in the acting department of the Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts at Unitec for 17 years. She has developed and taught courses in characterisation, improvisation and introduction to acting techniques.
She is co-founder of and has been artistic manager at The Actors’ Program in Auckland since 2011.
Hine has overseen students who have gone on to perform internationally in Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. She was a founding board member of the Basement Theatre not-for-profit performing arts venue from 2010 to 2017 and served as chair from 2010 to 2016.
In 1996, Hine received an ASB Trust Teaching Award and in 2012 won an Auckland Theatre Award for her performance in the play ‘The Idea of America’.