Oscar Kightley

MNZM
Kightley in 2008
Born
Oscar Vai To'elau Kightley

(1969-09-14) 14 September 1969
Apia, Samoa
NationalityNew Zealand, Samoan
Alma materRutherford College
Occupation(s)Actor, presenter, writer, director, comedian
Political partyLabour Party

Oscar Vai To'elau Kightley MNZM (born 14 September 1969) is a Samoan-New Zealander actor, television presenter, writer, journalist, director, and comedian. He acted in and co-wrote the successful 2006 film Sione's Wedding.

Biography

Kightley was born in 1969 in Apia, Samoa, the youngest of eight children, and was raised in his father's village of Faleatiu.[1] He came to New Zealand after the death of his father, when he was 4 years old and was adopted by his aunt and uncle, who lived in West Auckland. He attended Rutherford College, where writing was his favourite subject.

After leaving school, Kightley was a cadet at the Auckland Star, and worked as a journalist for four years.[1] "I thought that was going to be me until I retired."[2] He moved to Christchurch in 1991 to be a presenter for the children's television show Life in the Fridge Exists (L.I.F.E), where he met Tanya and Mishelle Muagututi'a, Erolia Ifopo, and Simon Small.[1]

Professional career

Small had written his first full-length play, Horizons, about the Samoan experience in New Zealand, and invited Kightley to perform in it in his first acting role, along with Muagututi'a and Ifopo. Horizons opened the Performing Arts Theatre on 19 October 1991 in a production directed by Christina Stachurski. The play was re-workshopped and recast (but still with Kightley) and in August–September it played at Galaxy Theatre in Auckland, Taki Rua Depot, and the Castle Theatre at the University of Otago before returning to Christchurch.[1]

Pacific Underground members in 1994 during the season of Fresh Off The Boat at the Herald Theatre in Auckland. From left: Michael Hodgson, Erolia Ifopo, Tanya Muagututi'a, David Fane, Mishelle Muagututi'a, and Kightley

The success of Horizons inspired Kightley to form Pacific Underground theatre company in Christchurch alongside Small, Muagututi'a, Ifopo, and Michael Hodgson, a mixture of people from palagi and Pacific Island identities. In just two months Kightley and Small (who wrote as Francis Serra) had written the play Fresh off the Boat.[2] The play was workshopped by Playmarket, and directed by Nathaniel Lees with David Fane as the lead. The play opened at the Rolleston Ave Theatre in Christchurch in November 1993, toured to the New Zealand Fringe Festival in Wellington in 1994, and also played for three weeks at Downstage in 1995. It later went to Auckland, Apia, and Brisbane. It won a Media Peace Award and was published in 2005.[1]

As well as Pacific Underground, Kightley co-founded the Island Players theatre company. He won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 1998[3] and has worked as a performer and writer for a number of television shows including Skitz, Telly Laughs, The Panel, Sportzah, and TV3's rugby coverage. His plays include Dawn Raids, Island Girls, A Frigate Bird Sings (co-written with Dave Fane and Nathaniel Lees), and Niu Sila (co-written with Dave Armstrong). Dawn Raids was reissued in 2018 by Playmarket.[4] Kightley also co-wrote and took a lead role in the highly successful Sione’s Wedding movies.[5]

He was a breakfast announcer on Niu FM until January 2007.[6] He has also been on RNZ National/Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa National as a guest, as well as guest-hosting Kim Hill's Saturday Morning show during Summer 2007–2008. In 2006 he received a Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand.[7] He is a member of the comedy group the Naked Samoans, who together wrote the animated television series bro'Town.[7]

In 2013, Kightley played the title character in the police drama Harry, which he also co-wrote. He directed Madeleine Sami's TV3 comedy Super City, and co-directed a US pilot of it with Taika Waititi.[8]

In 2019, Kightley led a panel for Auckland Council on why people should vote in local-body elections.[9][10] At the 2022 local-body elections, Kightley was elected to the Henderson-Massey local board, representing the Labour Party.[9][11]

Honours and awards

In the 2009 New Year Honours, Kightley was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to television and the theatre.[12] In 2016, he was awarded the Senior Pacific Artist Award with Dave Fane at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifka Awards.[13]

In 2019, Kightley received the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency, "a unique opportunity for a New Zealand writer of Pacific heritage to work on a creative writing project exploring Pacific identify, culture, or history."[2] The significance of this award is the place it has in the development of contemporary Maori and Pacifica culture, and of Kightley's stature within the history of that development. The Residency, located at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa,[2] was inaugurated by film director, writer, and educator Sima Urale in 2004; other film and theatre artists who have received the award include Victor Rodger (2006), Toa Fraser (2009), and Makerita Urale (2010).[14] The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is also where Merata Mita "developed [the] Academy for Creative Media’s indigenous filmmaking program.[15]

In October 2019, Kightley was presented with a Scroll of Honour from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand for his contribution to New Zealand entertainment.

In November 2020, Kightley was named one of the best dressed men in show business on David Hartnell's best-dressed list.[16]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes Source
2006 Sione's Wedding Albert
2012 Sione's 2: Unfinished Business Albert
2013 Harry Harry Anglesea
2016 Hunt for the Wilderpeople Andy
2016 Moana Fisherman (voice)
2021 Dawn Raid Director
2022 Duck Rockers Director/Writer/Isaac [17]
2023 Next Goal Wins Tavita

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Warrington, Lisa; O'Donnell, David (February 2018). Floating Islanders : Pasifika theatre in Aotearoa. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press. pp. 75–88. ISBN 978-1-988531-07-6. OCLC 994638351.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Empson, Madelaine (23 July – 6 August 2019). "Close-up: The Simple Act of Storytelling". Regional News. p. 9.
  3. ↑ "Bruce Mason Playwriting Award". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  4. ↑ "Oscar Kightley - Dawn Raids revisited". Radio New Zealand. 27 January 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  5. ↑ "Oscar Kightley | Playmarket". www.playmarket.org.nz. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  6. ↑ McKenzie-Minifie, Martha (23 January 2007). "Breakfast off for Oscar Kightley". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Oscar Kightley gets $50,000 award". New Zealand Herald. 31 October 2006. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
  8. ↑ "Producers". Piki. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  9. 1 2 Earley, Melanie (9 May 2022). "Actor Oscar Kightley running for Henderson-Massey local board in Auckland elections". Stuff. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  10. ↑ OurAuckland. "Voting: Why bother? – Oscar Kightley to lead Auckland Conversations panel". OurAuckland. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  11. ↑ "Odd Auckland vote outcomes: Viv Beck amasses almost 6000 votes in abandoned mayoral campaign; Lisa Lewis gets votes". NZ Herald. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  12. ↑ "New Year honours list 2009". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Arts Pasifika Awards". Creative New Zealand. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency". University of Hawaiʻi Center for Pacific Island Studies. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  15. ↑ "Faculty Obituaries". Malamalama, The Magazine of the University of Hawaiʻi System. 11 October 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "The best dressed Kiwis list is out, who makes the cut?". Stuff. 22 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  17. ↑ "Duckrockers". South Pacific Pictures. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
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