Jamie McCaskill - Ngāti Tamaterā - was born in Thames in 1979. Before getting into theatre Jamie worked as a fisherman. Jamie began his acting career at UCOL in Palmerston North and has appeared onstage throughout New Zealand. In 2006 he performed at the Victoria Arts Centre and the Sydney Opera House in the acclaimed Capital E production of Hinepau (based on the novel by Gavin Bishop). Jamie is also a composer and performer in the band Smokey Feel.
Jamie’s first play was Wassup Bro?, a musical set in the Coromandel which premiered at BATS Theatre in 2003. Wassup Bro? went on to win the ‘Hot New Thing’ award at the NZ Fringe Awards 2003.
Jamie co-wrote his second play It’s A Whanau Thing with Kelly Kilgour. It premiered at BATS Theatre in 2005. Jamie co-wrote the music with Kane Parsons and both were nominated for Best Composer at the 2005 Chapman Tripp Awards. His 2012 play, Manawa, was nominated for The Playmarket and Capital E National Theatre for Children Award for The New Zealand Play of the Year at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards.
Jamie was the winner of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2013.
His latest writing credits are The Biggest, Te Kuia Me Te Pungawerewere, Company Kamupene and Not in our Neighbourhood, which won Best new New Zealand Play at the Wellington Theatre Awards in 2015. Jamie is one half of an Aboriginal/Māori Collaboration of a new show called Hide the Dog, co-written with award-winning Aboriginal Playwright, Nathan Maynard. Jamie is a founding member of The Māori Sidesteps and also produced, wrote and starred alongside the other sidesteps boys in Māori Television's, Hari with The Māori Sidesteps.