Taofia Pelesasa

Taofia Pelesasa is a Samoan/Tokelauan Filmmaker, writer & actor from Mt Druitt, Western Sydney & Fordblock, Rotorua. A graduate of the Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts (Auckland, Aotearoa) as an acting and writing student, he has worked as an actor, producer, writer and director both in screen and theatre in New Zealand and Australia. Highlights of his career thus far have been a cast member of SIS the first Pasifika show on the Comedy Central network, Young Shakespeare's performance of "Julius Caesar" at the Globe Theatre in London, Auckland Theatre Company's productions' of 'Mary Stuart', 'A Frigate Bird Sings', 'Disorder' and most recently the National tour of 'My Own Darling'. He was also core cast on the International tour of "The Factory Musical" throughout Australia and Scotland as well as the Australian and New Zealand tour of the Victor Rodger hit "Black Fagg*t" and the return season of "At The Wake" at the Herald Theatre. His recent theatre performances included the Auckland Theatre Company's National New Zealand tour of Grace Taylor's "My Own Darling" . Taofia also wrote and co-produced short-films "The Promise of Piha" and "Maria" both of which successfully traveled the International film festival circuit. "Piha" receiving a special mention at the prestigious 'imagiNATIVE Film Festival' in Toronto and 'Maria' receiving funding from the New Zealand Film Commission, being selected to represent New Zealand as part of the Department of Tourism's cultural road show of South America and winning the 'Most Popular Film' award as part of the PBS Online Film Festival. As a writer Taofia has been mentored by Sima Urale, Louise Tu'u and Victor Rodgers with his first short-film "Fish'n'Chip Friday" screenplay being short-listed for the 2012 Fresh Shorts initiative for the New Zealand Film Commission. His writing has also seen him receive mentor-ships with Script-to-Screen NZ in Auckland and International & Cultural Exchange in Parramatta, Sydney. He has also been a writing contributor on many both Independent & network - the most recently significant being writers tables for ABC Australia (Sydney) & Culture Factory (Auckland). His full length play "Te Molimau" was selected by the prestigious Belvoir Theatre Company in Sydney to be programmed in their Independent 25a Season in August 2019. He was invited back in August 2020 to develop his new work "Hooka Wooka Fooka" as an artist-in-residence & most recently was selected as a 2021 studio-artist in residence at the prestigious Griffin Theatre in Sydney. Independently, Taofia founded and runs a Pasifika-centered Production company 'Pelesasa Pictures' out of Mt Druitt, West Sydney. Which recently produced pilot episodes of successful online series 'Parramatta' & 'Deity'. His company continues to produce work from the Pasifika diaspora of Australia with the upcoming short film 'Urchin' & also "Polinesia" a project which has had him spend a three-year research journey between Sydney and Lima, Peru. Taofia is an associate Artist for Talanoa Storytelling - a Pacific focused storytelling platform based out of Sydney, Australia which has seen him work on projects such as the AV Series "The Places we Call Home" in collaboration with Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIIC), Cowbird & PBS based out of Hawaii, United States of America. Taofia was also recently staff for Pasifika Film Festival 2020. Taofia has acting and literary representation from Liberty Management (Sydney, Australia), Johnson and Laird (Auckland, New Zealand) & Luber Roklin Entertainment (Los Angeles, California).