Tom Sainsbury

Thomas Sainsbury (born 1982) is a New Zealand actor, writer, comedian and filmmaker. Sainsbury began his acting and writing career in theatre. He became well known in New Zealand from 2017 for his short form comedy videos released on social media. As a comedy writer and performer he has contributed to Pork Pie, 7 Days, Jono and Ben, Shortland Street and Wellington Paranormal. With Madeline Sami he co-wrote Super City, which won the SWANZ Scriptwriters Best Comedy Script Award in 2011.

Early life
Sainsbury was born in Matamata and is the youngest of three children. He was raised on a dairy farm and attended Matamata College. Sainsbury was encouraged in acting and drama by his parents, including at age 9, accompanying them to the Matamata Operatic Society rendition of Little Shop of Horrors. He was immediately inspired to write a sequel for his school assembly and thrived in the creative process of writing and performing it.

In 2000, Sainsbury moved to Auckland to study for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Auckland and decided on English literature and Theatre as his major. Throughout his studies, he wrote and produced plays in Auckland theatres including Silo Theatre and The Basement Theatre.

Theatre
After graduating from the University of Auckland in 2004, Sainsbury went on to become a prolific playwright in New Zealand. He has produced over 50 plays and several of them, including And Then You Die, The Christmas Monologues, The Mall, Loser, A Simple Procedure and Sunday Roast have been performed internationally.

Sainsbury is a four-time winner of the Playmarket Young Playwright of the Year. He has also been a three-time finalist for the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. His play The Canary won the Playmarket 2010 Special Prize for an Auckland Playwright.

Film and television
In 2010, Sainsbury and Madeline Sami co-wrote Super City, a TV comedy series set in Auckland, New Zealand. It won the 2011 SWANZ Best Comedy Script award and was optioned by American network ABC in 2012.

Sainsbury has written many New Zealand web series and comedy shows, including International Emmy Awards winner INSiDE.

He has acted in screen work including the character Jason Kirkpatrick in Shortland Street. In 2020, Sainsbury co-wrote and starred in the horror comedy feature film Dead. He also starred in Pork Pie and appeared in local shows including Jono and Ben, 7 Days, Snack Masters, Give Us a Clue, Educators and Wellington Paranormal.

In 2023, Sainsbury released the feature film, Loop Track. He is the director, writer and actor of the film.

Comedian
Sainsbury has performed in New Zealand as a comic since 2014.

As a comedian, he is best known as the 'Snapchat Dude' due to the use of the Snapchat application on his smartphone to create short form comedy videos. The videos are released on social media and satirise New Zealand politicians and parody New Zealand stereotypes and culture. Since 2017, some of his most popular videos are of politicians Paula Bennett, Simon Bridges and Jacinda Ardern. He uses wigs, costumes and Snapchat face manipulation.

He has written, co-written and performed in multiple live comedy theatre shows including The Opening Night Before Christmas, Infectious, Camping, D.O.C.ing, Giggly Gerties, Dynamotion, Gays in Space, and Hauraki Horror. These productions often included other local comedians such as Kura Forrester, Brynley Stent and Chris Parker.

In 2020, Sainsbury was awarded the New Zealand Herald's Entertainment Hero of the Year. During the same year, he released a non-fiction book called New Zealanders: A Field Guide. The book is an extension of his Snapchat videos and provides detailed descriptions of his favourite Kiwi archetypes.

In 2021 and 2022, he was the team captain (regular) on the TVNZ revival of the British game show Give Us a Clue and co-hosted Snack Masters.

He released a fictional comedy murder mystery podcast series called Small Town Scandal that was produced and distributed by New Zealand Media and Entertainment in 2023.

Awards

 * Playmarket Young Playwright of the Year – Four-time winner (2001), (2003), (2005) and (2007)
 * Bruce Mason Playwriting Award – Two-time Nominee (2008) and (2009)
 * Aotearoa Film and Television Awards (2011) – Nominated for Best Script – Drama/Comedy (with Madeleine Sami): for Super City
 * SWANZ Scriptwriters Awards (NZ Writers Guild) (2011) – Best Comedy Script (with Madeleine Sami): for Super City, episode three
 * Aotearoa Filmmaking Competition (48Hours) – Two-time National Winner (2016) and (2018)
 * Billy T Award, New Zealand Comedy Trust (2019) – Nominee
 * New Zealand Herald's Entertainment Hero of the Year (2020)
 * International Emmy (2021) for Best Short-Form Series for INSiDE (and was the only Australasian nominee of the awards)
 * Aotearoa Film and Television Awards (2022) Best Comedy Script: for Wellington Paranormal, series four, Episode four
 * Rielly Comedy Award, Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, 2023
 * New Zealand Podcast Award for Best Fiction Podcast (2023) for Small Town Scandal

Filmography
 Television   Film