Tom Sainsbury

Tom Sainsbury is a comedian, filmmaker, actor and playwright from New Zealand whose career began in theater, where he wrote and produced over 50 plays and took the Playmarket Young Playwright of the Year honor four times. With Madeleine Sami he wrote the television comedy Super City, which earned the SWANZ best comedy script prize in 2011. His acting credits include the soap Shortland Street and the comedy series Wellington Paranormal and Educators. He shared writing duties on the horror comedy Dead (2020), in which he also performed, and he appeared in Pork Pie (2017). For Loop Track (2023) he took on writing, directing and acting. Since 2017 he has been widely known for short-form character videos on social media, and in 2023 the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand gave him the Rielly Comedy Award. His Small Town Scandal podcast won two prizes at the 2024 New Zealand Radio and Podcast Awards.