He’s a man of many guises.
Ironically, prior to moving here he’d only acted once before, 32 years earlier playing Fagan in Oliver Twist while in year 8 at an English boarding school.
Justin was born in the then-British colony of Hong Kong 55 years ago to an Aussie father — “hence my support of the Wallabies [rugby team] which has led to untold amounts of grief and pain in the years I’ve lived here” — and a Scottish mum.
Like hundreds of kids, he flew — in his case, from the age of nine — to England “for what was considered a world-class education”.
He went to Harrow and then, thanks to a teacher, “scraped” into Oxford where he studied geography for three years.
He got a job stockbroking in London’s ‘the City’, “but it was apparent the future was out east”.
After a year and a-half, he returned to Hong Kong, where he was in equity capital markets as a stockbroker from ’93 to 2015.
Justin became great friends with “a terrific bloke”, George Burdon, whose parents Jane and Mick then farmed Royalburn, near Arrowtown.
He explains there was a tradition amongst his parents’ friends of hosting Christmas carols, which he decided to do himself one year.
George asked if he could bring a friend who turned out to be a Wairarapa farmer’s daughter, Caroline Blundell, who then worked for Merrill Lynch.
Justin had eyes for her and followed her to London when she went there about six months later.
“I said, ‘look, I’m not coming back to London, but you should come out to Hong Kong’ — she came and we got married.”
Burdon also introduced him to Queenstown, and he, Caroline and their three kids would come for ski holidays.
They even bought a Lake Hayes section in 2011 and built three years later — “it’s in north Bendemeer”.
Justin says by 2015, when their children were 12, 10 and eight, “it was important for Caroline they got their Kiwiana” — her brother Guy also lived in Queenstown.
He blames Guy’s wife Tracy for setting him up with Showbiz Queenstown.
“No one was auditioning for the men’s roles in Annie, and she knew I used to sing in a band in Hong Kong, really badly.
“She submitted my name without telling me, then I got a message, ‘we’re delighted you’re coming to audition’ — I almost had a heart attack.”
Justin was duly chosen to play fraudulent alcoholic, Rooster, “and I really, really enjoyed that”.
“I needed to make friends, and Showbiz enabled me to meet so many wicked people.”
The next year he played Bill, “the real dad”, in Mamma Mia!
He was “a great Cockney geezer” in Remarkable Theatre’s One Man, Two Guvnors, and then within a year played two “fabulously funny” roles in the theatre group’s Blackadder and Showbiz’s Spamalot.
Then followed last month’s role as the “selfish, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” Franklin Hart in 9 to 5.
“It’s been laid on my feet more than once I wouldn’t have to dig deep, which I found highly offensive.”
Uttering some terribly sexist remarks, “there was wave after wave of silent hatred rolling on to the stage, then the last night people had the courage to stand up and yell obscenities at me”.
Explaining his addiction to the stage, Justin concedes “for many, many people, that is their idea of hell, and I feel very, very alive”.
“It’s the thrill, the challenge, the fear, all of it bundled together, and I really enjoy it.”
Off stage, apart from a short stint as sales manager for a real estate company, he’s continued stockbroking.
He’s honoured to have been chosen this year for the board of The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust, whose founder Dame Catriona Williams is a lifetime friend of Caroline’s — “I’ve got large shoes to fill as the treasurer”.
Dame Catriona’s going to wheel across the United States from December, which Justin says will be a “defining” opportunity for the charity.
For recreation, he’s a keen snowboarder, mountain biker and golfer.
“The trouble is, I’ve got myself locked in with some very, very good golfers who continuously make me pay for lunch.”
He went fly fishing with guide Henare Dewes and caught four rainbow trout.
“He said, ‘listen, mate, maybe fly fishing’s not for you because you’ve got to be quiet’.”
Justin also says he’s very proud of his family and calls Caroline “an incredible catch”.
