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Taofia Pelesasa

Taofia Pelesasa is of Tokelauan and Samoan heritage, born in Rotorua, New Zealand and replanted in Mt Druitt, Western Sydney. He is 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 and writer in both screen and theatre in New Zealand and Australia.

As a writer Taofia has been mentored by Sima Urale, Louise Tu’u and Victor Rodgers and his short films have screened round the world. His writing has  seen him receive mentorships with Script-to-Screen NZ in Auckland and International & Cultural Exchange in Parramatta, Sydney. His full length play Te Molimau was programmed in Belvoir Theatre’s Independent 25a Season and he was invited back in 2020 to develop his new work Hooka Wooka Fooka as an artist-in-residence. Taofia has worked in writers rooms for Goalpost, Netflix, SBS, ABC, Kojo Stampede and Endomol Shine, among others.

Independently, Taofia has worked on his own works the most significant of which is Polinesia which has had him spend a two-year research project between Sydney and Lima, Peru. Taofia is an associate Artist for Talanoa Storytelling – a Pacific focussed 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. Last year Taofia will made a series of Pacific focused web-series pilots with the support of Screen Australia and Information & Cultural Exchange.