Oscar Kightley

Oscar Vai To'elau Kightley was born in 1969 in Apia, Samoa, the youngest of eight children, and was raised in his father's village of Faleatiu. He went 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. == Career ==

After leaving school, Kightley was a cadet at the Auckland Star, and worked as a journalist for four years. 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. 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. Kightley also co-wrote and took a lead role in the highly successful Sione’s Wedding movies. He was a breakfast announcer on Niu FM until January 2007. 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. He is a member of the comedy group the Naked Samoans, who together wrote the animated television series ''bro'Town''. In 2019, Kightley led a panel for Auckland Council on why people should vote in local-body elections. At the 2022 local-body elections, Kightley was elected to the Henderson-Massey local board, representing the Labour Party. Kightley was re-elected in 2025. Kightley made his directorial debut in 2021 with the documentary Dawn Raid, which told the story of Dawn Raid Entertainment, a hip-hop record label founded in South Auckland by Tanielu Leaosavai'i and Andy Murnane. == Honours and awards ==

Anand Satyanand, shortly after his investiture to the New Zealand Order of Merit. 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. In 2016, he was awarded the Senior Pacific Artist Award with Dave Fane at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifka Awards. 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." The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is also where Merata Mita "developed [the] Academy for Creative Media’s indigenous filmmaking program. 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. ==Filmography==