Tom Sainsbury

Hair Brown - Dark
Eyes Green
Height 181cm
Age 42
Location New Zealand - Auckland

Request Actor

Notes

photographs by Andi Crown

Acting

Skills

Aerobics, Comedian (Stand-Up), Contemporary Dancer, Dancer, Hip Hop Dancer, Cross Country Running, Director, Full Licence, Hockey, Swimming, Theatre Sports, Writer, Yoga

Accents

American (standard), RP

Acting Experience

Feature Film

2022Nude Tuesday, 'Commuter'

NT Films Dir: Armagan Ballantyne
2019Baby, Done, 'Stupid Man'

Baby Piki Ltd Dir: Curtis Vowell
2019Lowdown Dirty Criminals, 'Trent'

Lowdown Productions Ltd Dir: Paul Murphy
2018Guns Akimbo, 'Singstar Dude'

Supernova Films Dir: Jason Lei Howden
2018Dead , 'Dane 'Marbles' Marbeck'

Felicity Limited
2017The Breaker Upperers, 'Man 1'

Miss Piki Films Ltd Dir: Jackie van Beek & Madeleine Sami
2016Waru, 'Jason'

Brown Sugar Apple Grunt Productions Limited Dir: Various directors
2016Pork Pie, 'Bongo'

Four Knights Dir: Matt Murphy

Television

2024Spinal Destination, 'Dan'

Great Southern Television, Whitiora Productions Dir: Paula Whetu Jones
19-22Educators: season I - III, 'Rudy Beard (core cast)'

South Pacific Pictures Dir: Jesse Griffin
2022Sweet Tooth: season II, 'Dudley'

Netflix
2022Under the Vines: season II, 'Jeremy'

Libertine Pictures
2021My Life is Murder: season I, 'Brett'

Cordell Jigsaw Productions
2020The Race First @ 11, 'News Station Owner'

South Pacific Pictures Dir: Jesse Griffin
2019Golden Boy: season I, 'Groundskeeper (recurring)'

MediaWorks Dir: Various
2019Shortland Street, 'Sebastian St John '

South Pacific Pictures Dir: Various
2018The Bad Seed , 'Political Panelist'

South Pacific Pictures Dir: Various
2018Wellington Paranormal: season I - IV, 'Constable Parker (recurring)'

TVNZ Dir: Jemaine Clement & Jackie van Beek
2017Jono & Ben (sketch show), 'Various'

MediaWorks Dir: Various
2017Shortland Street, 'Jason Kirkpatrick'

South Pacific Pictures Dir: Various
2017True Story with Hamish & Andy, 'Sam'

Nine Network (AU)
2016Filthy Rich: season II, 'Dylan Mayberry'

Filthy Productions Ltd Dir: Various
2015Jono & Ben, 'Sorry Parody Sketch Dancer'

MediaWorks TV
2013Super City: season II, 'Brendon'

Super Fumes Ltd Dir: Oscar Kightley

Web Series

20-21SIS: season I & II, 'Tom'

Dir: Hanelle Harris
2020Sextortion, 'Darren Bellows'

Stella Maris Productions Dir: Kent Briggs & Kyan Krumdieck
2020Sui Generis: season III, 'Terry'

Rebels & Robots Productions Dir: Roberto Nascimento
2019Shortland Street: webisodes, 'Sebastian St John'

South Pacific Pictures Dir: Various
2019These Two, 'Mel-See'

Gawky Productions

Television Commercials

2019TVNZ On Demand

NZ, 3 months
2020Laser Eye Center

North Island, 6 Months

Online Commercials

2023Door Dash

NZ, 3 months
2022Samsung Z Flip 3, 'Himself'

NZ, 3 months
2022Hello Fresh

6 months, Digital Only
2021Tourism New Zealand

3 months, Online Only
2020Animals Like Us

NZ, Social Only, 3 Months
2020Pizza Hutt

NZ, Social Only, 6 months

Television Appearances

2022The Love Hour, 'Host'

South Pacific Pictures
2022Snackmasters, 'Host'

TVNZ
20227 Days, 'Team Captain'

Discovery NZ
19-22Have You Been Paying Attention?, 'Panelist (regular)'

TVNZ
21-22Give Us A Clue: season I & II, 'Team Captain'

TVNZ
2021The Masked Singer, 'Himself'

Warner Bros NZ
20217 Days, 'Panelist'

Discovery NZ
2020Dai's House Party, 'Comedian'

Kevin & Co

Voice Work

2019Jandal Burn (Animated series), 'Gav'

Mukpuddy

MC / Speaker

Skills

Actor, After Dinner Speaker, Comedian, Director, Entertainer, Host, Improvisor, Live Performance Host, MC, Satirist, Writer
First photo credit: Andi Crown; 2nd and 3rd: Lee Mou; 4th and 5th: Peter Huang

Biography

Tom is an Actor/MC/Comedian/Influencer/Creator and Host – and so much more!

Active in the industry for many years, he exploded onto the mainstream media stage in 2017 after using Snapchat and short form video content to satirise New Zealand politicians during the 2017 election.

He continues to work extensively in this area, parodying New Zealanders from all walks of life in short clips released almost daily on Instagram and Facebook.

Tom is also very active in the local Film and Television space, appearing in many local hits including series Shortland Street & Wellington Paranormal, and feature films Guns Akimbo, & The Breaker Upperers.

Tom loves to entertain, and is an exceptionally engaging host as the testimonials below confirm.

Testimonials

"Tom was an excellent host and had the audience engaged from start to finish, his crowd work is phenomenal…..The audience all looked like they were having a great time and the feedback heard on the floor was really great."

Ralph Corke, MOTAT, 2024

"Tom was a great add on to our gala event. He had the crowd laughing throughout the evening with his very relatable local humour. Would definitely recommend."

Mel Tukapua, MTA, 2022

"Tom was a magnificent MC for our event. He really captured the tone of the evening, made the teams feel special and kept us all laughing. We appreciated his professional approach - he prepared well and was really just a total pleasure to work with."

Ruth Korver, Vista 48 hour Grand Final, 2022

"Tom was great. Very funny and well received. An absolutely lovely guy. Many selfies with him were taken by attendees!"

Josie, Acting Secretary, Canterbury Faculty, RNZCGP, 2022

"We were really happy with how things went on Friday. Tom was an excellent MC, and his humorous and irreverent style really reflected the ‘fresh’ and ‘unexpected’ brand of our museum. Tom was also a real pleasure to have on board – he came fully prepared and knowing the script, he communicated beautifully with the other performers to work out small moments of interaction, and I just generally felt relaxed knowing that the gig was in really safe hands."

Isobel MacKinnon, The Dowse Art Museum 50th Birthday, Hutt City, 2021

"Tom Sainsbury was the Host for our 2020 IAB New Zealand Digital Advertising Awards held on Thursday 12 November at The Wharf. It was an opportunity for over 250 people in the digital advertising industry from advertising agencies, brands, publishers, tech companies and other key stakeholders to get together and not only celebrate Award finalists and winners, but generally network after what has been a difficult year. Digital advertising revenue commands a 45.4% share of total advertising industry revenue in New Zealand, so this event enjoys an increasingly higher profile in the industry each year, and it’s important to us that our host reflects this. Tom hosted the event seamlessly, injecting his own style of humour, which the audience loved. It was a noisy crowd, as everyone was enjoying the opportunity to get together after quite some time, however Tom managed to hold the audience and deliver the Awards show brilliantly, ensuring that the winners received the acknowledgment they deserved. It was a privilege to have him hosting the show."

Gill Stewart, CEO, IAB New Zealand, 2020

"Tom was an absolute pleasure to work with for our awards gala dinner at PINZ 2020. His professional, humorous approach was a real hit with our audience. I would absolutely recommend Tom as an MC for any event."

Nikki Wright, PINZ, 2020

Voice

Voice Characteristics

Retail, Character, Bubbly, Comedy, Energetic, Friendly, Impersonations, Kiwi, Upbeat, Warm

Creator

Biography

Comedian, Actor & Writer Tom Sainsbury was a named ‘Herald Entertainer of the year’ 2020. This came after years of creating comedic social media content, writing the comedy book New Zealanders: A Field Guide and starring in local TV shows Wellington Paranormal and The Educators. The skills these require make Tom the perfect partner for social collaborations. Tom specialises in creating original characters and is a master in placing his unique flavour into campaigns for brands & causes he aligns with. Since then he has become a regular on New Zeland television with Snackmasters and Give Us A Clue.

He came into prominence in 2017 by using Snapchat and short video content to satirise New Zealand politicians. He has since expanded to parodying New Zealanders of all walks of life on his Facebook page. He can cater or originate characters to specific products or causes.

Tom has also written scripts for Wellington Paranormal and the emmy-winning iNside and has been on the writer’s tables for Golden Boy, The Creamerie and Kid Sister. He has also written many theatre shows including Comedy Festival favourites Camping and Giggly Gerties. Tom very much enjoys being at the grassroots of a campaign and likes formulating the whole rollout with the client.