His feature directorial debut, Once Were Warriors (1994), was a widespread critical and commercial success, and is considered one of the greatest New Zealand films ever made.
[4] Tamahori had directed a number of shorter dramas for television before he made his feature film debut in 1994 with Once Were Warriors, a gritty depiction of a violent Māori family.
Tamahori moved to Hollywood and directed the period crime drama Mulholland Falls (1996), although this was not received well critically or commercially.
In 2007 he directed Next, a science fiction action film based on The Golden Man, a short story by Philip K. Dick.
The rural-set drama was based on the novel Bulibasha by Witi Ihimaera, and starred Temuera Morrison, whom he had earlier directed in Once Were Warriors.
[4] In January 2006, Tamahori was arrested on Santa Monica Boulevard when, according to Los Angeles police, he entered an undercover policeman's car while wearing a woman's dress and offered to perform a sex act in exchange for money.