Toa Fraser
Toa Fraser (born 1975) is a New Zealand filmmaker, playwright, and director renowned for his work spanning theatre, feature films, and television, often exploring themes of family, culture, and identity through a lens informed by his Fijian and English heritage and his deep connections to Māori and Pacific cultures.[1][2][3][4] Born in London to an English sound technician and a Fijian seaman with Samoan family connections, Fraser was raised in Buriton before moving to Auckland in 1989, where he graduated from the University of Auckland.[1][2] His early career in theatre included acclaimed plays such as Bare (1998), which earned him the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award and Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards, and No. 2 (1999), which received the Edinburgh Fringe First Award.[1] Fraser transitioned to film with his directorial debut No. 2 (2006), an adaptation of his play starring Ruby Dee, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.[1][5] Subsequent feature films include Dean Spanley (2008), which garnered seven Qantas Film and Television Awards; Giselle (2013), a ballet drama; The Dead Lands (2014), a Māori warrior action film; 6 Days (2017), depicting the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege; and The Free Man (2017).[1][5] In television, Fraser has directed episodes of acclaimed series such as Penny Dreadful, Daredevil, Into the Badlands, and the Golden Globe-winning The Affair.[1][3] He gained international recognition for directing multiple episodes of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Sweet Tooth (2021–2024), including its third and final season, which was filmed entirely in Auckland using local crew and diverse locations like forests and urban settings to portray a post-apocalyptic world.[1][5][3] In 2025, he directed episodes of Apple TV+'s Murderbot as co-executive producer.[6] Fraser has praised Auckland's production capabilities, noting that 95% of the Sweet Tooth crew were local hires and that the city's variety of backdrops enhanced the series' global appeal.[3] Diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's disease around 2015, Fraser kept his condition private for five years before publicly sharing his experience in 2020, viewing it as a catalyst for a more authentic life despite initial challenges.[6] He continues to work actively as a director and advocate, speaking at events like the 2025 Parkinson's Pacific Awareness Day to address stigma in Pacific communities.[6]Early life and education
Family background and heritage
Toa Fraser was born in London, England, in 1975 to parents of mixed English and Fijian heritage.[1] His father, Eugene Fraser, was a Fijian-born broadcaster who had immigrated to New Zealand as a child in the late 1940s or early 1950s; originally a seaman, he transitioned into radio announcing, working for the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC), the BBC, and TVNZ, where he collaborated with Māori and Pasifika colleagues.[4][1] His mother, Linda Jennings, was an English sound technician from Essex, whom Eugene met through their shared work in broadcasting.[4] The Fraser family, part of a large Fijian lineage—Eugene was one of 13 siblings—initially lived in an English village before relocating to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1989.[4][1] This move from Buriton, England, immersed young Toa in Auckland's vibrant multicultural environment, broadening his early cultural exposure to Pacific Islander and Māori communities after years in a more insular English setting.[1] Fraser's mixed heritage profoundly shaped his personal identity, blending English restraint with the expressive storytelling traditions of his Fijian roots, which were enriched by family tales from his father's side and possible Samoan connections through his naming after a Samoan neighbor.[4][1] This duality fostered a sense of navigating "different waters," as he has described, influencing his worldview and later creative pursuits rooted in familial narratives.[4]Schooling and early influences
Fraser attended Sacred Heart College in Auckland beginning in 1989, a Catholic institution known for fostering artistic endeavors among its students. During his time there, he was part of a close-knit group of Māori and Pacific boys, engaging in informal activities like barefoot touch rugby, which contributed to his early social and creative environment.[4] He later enrolled at the University of Auckland, joining the nascent film studies program in its second year of operation.[4] To supplement his studies, Fraser worked for four years at the Village 8 cinema, gaining practical exposure to a wide range of films that shaped his understanding of storytelling and visual narrative.[4] He graduated in 1998 with a degree in English Literature and Media Studies from the Faculty of Arts.[7][1] Fraser's initial foray into theatre and writing emerged through university activities and early collaborations, culminating in the development of his first play, Bare, workshopped under the guidance of director Michael Robinson.[8] This period marked Fraser's foundational exposure to dramatic writing, influenced subtly by his Fijian-English heritage in exploring themes of identity and cultural duality.[4]Theatre career
Playwriting and productions
Toa Fraser's playwriting career began with his debut work, Bare, which premiered in June 1998 at the Silo Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand.[9] The play, a two-hander featuring actors Ian Hughes and Madeleine Sami, presents a series of interlinked monologues portraying 16 diverse characters in a loose narrative that explores themes of multicultural identity and human connection across social boundaries through urban poetry, streetwise dialogue, and topics like body image, films, and graffiti.[10] Bare received critical acclaim for its innovative structure and vibrant portrayal of New Zealand's multicultural landscape, earning Fraser the Best New Play and Best New Playwright awards at the 1999 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards.[10][1] Fraser's second play, No. 2, premiered in 1999 as a solo performance starring Madeleine Sami, who portrayed multiple members of a Fijian-New Zealand family.[1] Described by Fraser as a "love letter to family," the work centers on an elderly Fijian matriarch who, upon deciding her time has come, summons her extended family for a final celebratory gathering marked by humor, conflict, and cultural rituals.[1][11] The play's intimate focus on familial bonds and Pacific immigrant experiences resonated widely, securing the Sunday Star-Times Bruce Mason Playwriting Award and a Fringe First Award at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[1] No. 2 was later adapted into a feature film, marking an early transition in Fraser's oeuvre from stage to screen.[12] In 2001, Fraser premiered Paradise in Wellington, a play delving into themes of cultural displacement and personal heritage through the story of a Fijian-New Zealander returning to Fiji to search for his birth mother, confronting complex family dynamics and identity issues along the way.[13] Later that year, in September, Fraser received the University of the South Pacific Writer in Residence Fellowship, which supported his ongoing exploration of Pacific narratives.[14] Throughout his early plays, Fraser's theatre style emphasizes intimate family stories interwoven with Pacific cultural identity, migration, and multicultural New Zealand life, often using solo or small-cast formats to highlight rhythmic dialogue, humor, and emotional depth in portraying diaspora experiences.[1][14]Adaptations and transitions to film
Fraser's transition from theatre to film began with his adaptation of the successful stage play No. 2 into a feature film, marking his directorial debut.[12] The screenplay adaptation took nearly four years, during which Fraser collaborated closely with producers and script consultants to expand the original one-woman show into an ensemble narrative while preserving its intimate family dynamics.[15] Key creative decisions included subverting stereotypes of Pacific Island families by emphasizing universal themes of legacy and conflict, achieved through a diverse Pan-Pacific cast that blended local New Zealand actors with international talent.[16] Notable casting featured American actress Ruby Dee in the lead role of Nanna Maria, alongside Mia Blake as Charlene, Tuva Novotny as English Maria, Rene Naufahu as Erasmus, and Miriama McDowell, whose performances balanced theatrical polish with naturalistic delivery to suit the film's scope.[12][16] The film premiered internationally at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic category, highlighting Fraser's successful pivot to screen storytelling.[17] This adaptation process underscored challenges in shifting from theatre's confined intimacy to film's expansive visual and logistical demands, including directing a large crew—contrasting his solo playwriting experience—and harmonizing actors with varying styles under tight production constraints.[16] Despite these hurdles, Fraser described the transition as relatively smooth, leveraging theatre-honed techniques like physical blocking to maintain performance authenticity on set.[17] Prior to directing No. 2, Fraser gained his first screenwriting credit on River Queen (2005), co-writing the screenplay with director Vincent Ward based on Ward's original story.[18][19] This collaboration immersed him in film narrative structures, focusing on historical drama set during New Zealand's colonial wars, and served as a crucial stepping stone in his move toward cinema.[18] Supporting this career shift, Fraser received the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship in 2003, a prestigious award providing financial support and dedicated writing time to emerging New Zealand artists.[20] The fellowship aligned with his adaptation efforts, allowing focus on screenplay development amid the demands of transitioning mediums.[21] Overall, these experiences highlighted Fraser's deliberate navigation of theatre's emotional immediacy versus film's broader technical and collaborative scope, shaping his hybrid creative approach.[16]Film career
Feature films as director
Fraser's second feature film, Dean Spanley (2008), a whimsical comedy-drama set in Edwardian England that explores themes of reincarnation, familial reconciliation, and the spiritual bond between humans and animals. The film follows a reserved son who uncovers his father's past life as a dog through conversations with an eccentric dean played by Peter O'Toole, blending subtle fantasy with poignant emotional depth in Fraser's restrained style that prioritizes character-driven introspection over overt spectacle. Featuring an international cast including Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, and Jeremy Northam, the production was a New Zealand-United Kingdom co-effort that highlighted Fraser's ability to helm nuanced ensemble performances, earning him the Best Director award at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards for his elegant handling of the source material's metaphysical undertones.[22] In Giselle (2013), Fraser ventured into a dance-film hybrid, collaborating closely with the Royal New Zealand Ballet to adapt the classic 19th-century romantic ballet into a cinematic experience that intertwines live performance with narrative intimacy. The story centers on a peasant girl whose love leads to tragedy and supernatural redemption, captured through Fraser's fluid directorial approach that emphasizes the physicality of movement and emotional vulnerability, using close-up cinematography to bridge stage and screen. Produced in tandem with the ballet's 2012 national tour, the film premiered in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the Toronto International Film Festival, showcasing Fraser's innovative fusion of theatrical traditions with filmic storytelling while spotlighting dancers like Gillian Murphy and Qi Huan in dual roles as performers and characters.[23][24] Fraser's The Dead Lands (2014) marked a shift to visceral action rooted in Māori mythology, directing a tale of revenge where young warrior Hongi (James Rolleston) journeys to a cursed realm to challenge a fearsome outcast (Lawrence Makoare) after his tribe's massacre. Employing a raw, choreography-intensive style inspired by martial arts and traditional haka, Fraser crafted innovative fight sequences that integrate cultural authenticity with high-stakes drama, all shot entirely in te reo Māori to immerse audiences in pre-colonial New Zealand's spiritual and warrior ethos. As a New Zealand-Germany co-production, the film topped the local box office upon release and underscored Fraser's commitment to indigenous narratives, blending folklore with physical intensity to explore themes of honor, exile, and ancestral legacy.[25][26] The Free Man (2016) is a documentary feature that follows New Zealand Olympic freestyle skier Jossi Wells as he ventures into extreme sports such as base jumping and highlining with the French group The Flying Frenchies, capturing the adrenaline-fueled risks and personal growth involved in pushing physical and mental limits. Directed in a dynamic style that combines high-octane action footage with introspective interviews, the film explores themes of adventure, mortality, and the pursuit of thrill in diverse global locations, highlighting Fraser's versatility in nonfiction storytelling.[27] 6 Days (2017) saw Fraser return to historical events, directing a tense thriller based on the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London, interweaving perspectives from SAS operative Rusty Firmin (Jamie Bell), negotiator Max Vernon (Mark Strong), and journalist Kate Adie (Abbie Cornish). Fraser's precise, multi-threaded style builds suspense through parallel editing and authentic procedural details, emphasizing the psychological toll of crisis management and media scrutiny without sensationalism, while consulting survivors ensured historical fidelity in depicting the six-day standoff and eventual storming. A New Zealand-United Kingdom co-production, the film highlights Fraser's versatility in scaling intimate human conflicts against real-world urgency, focusing on themes of duty and restraint in high-pressure scenarios.[28][29]Writing and other film contributions
Toa Fraser contributed to the screenplay of the 2005 film River Queen, directed by Vincent Ward, collaborating with Ward and Kely Lyons on an original story by Ward.[18] The script centers on themes of colonial conflict in 1860s New Zealand, depicting an Irish woman's entanglement in the war between British forces and Māori communities amid cultural clashes and personal loss.[19] In his early film writing career, Fraser developed several unproduced screenplays, including a second draft of an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Beach at Falesá, set in colonial Samoa.[30] This project emerged from his 2009 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, a NZ$30,000 award supporting established New Zealand writers of Pacific heritage in developing major works.[31] The residency enabled Fraser to refine cinematic narratives drawing on Pacific histories and colonial legacies, though the screenplay remains unproduced.[32] Fraser's writing style evolved from the dialogue-heavy, performative structures of theatre to more visual, concise cinematic forms that prioritize imagery and subtext over exposition.[33] This transition emphasized image-driven storytelling to convey emotional and cultural depth, as seen in his screenplay adaptations that influenced projects like No. 2.[17]Television career
Directed episodes in series
Fraser's entry into television directing began in 2016 with the horror series Penny Dreadful, where he helmed the season 3 episode "A Blade of Grass," noted for its intense psychological hypnosis sequences exploring character trauma.[34] In 2017, he directed two episodes of the fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles season 2—"Paranor" and "Wilderun"—emphasizing high-stakes action and interpersonal conflicts in a post-apocalyptic world.[35][36] His work on Into the Badlands spanned 2017 to 2018, including three episodes: season 2's "Red Sun, Silver Moon" and "Palm of the Iron Fox," and season 3's "Leopard Snares Rabbit," showcasing his expertise in choreographing intricate martial arts fights and building tension through visual storytelling.[37] Transitioning to superhero genres, Fraser directed episodes for Marvel's Netflix series in 2018. He handled Iron Fist season 2 episode 3, "This Deadly Secret," focusing on character-driven intrigue and subtle power dynamics among allies.[38] For Daredevil season 3 episode 7, "Aftermath," he crafted pivotal action sequences, including a brutal public confrontation that heightened the protagonist's isolation and moral ambiguity.[39] That same year, Fraser directed the pilot "Home" and episode 2 "Orphans of L'Attente" of the Australian supernatural thriller Tidelands, blending mystery with coastal folklore elements to deepen ensemble relationships.[40][41] In 2019, Fraser's portfolio expanded across genres. He directed Swamp Thing season 1 episode 6, "The Price You Pay," emphasizing horror-tinged environmental themes and creature effects to advance the central transformation narrative. For Wu Assassins, he helmed season 1 episodes 5 "Codladh Sámh" and 6 "Gu Assassins," delivering dynamic fight choreography that integrated cultural mysticism with urban action.[42][43] In The Terror season 2 episode 8, "My Sweet Boy," his direction amplified historical tensions and family secrets within a WWII internment camp setting.[44] He also directed The Affair season 5 episodes 4 and 10, contributing to nuanced explorations of regret and reconciliation through intimate, perspective-shifting scenes.[45][46] For DC's Titans season 2 episode 8, "Jericho," Fraser focused on emotional flashbacks and team dynamics, revealing backstory that propelled the season's vendetta arc.[47] Fraser continued with procedural and superhero fare in 2020. He directed Deputy season 1 episode 7, "10-8 Search and Rescue," highlighting high-tension rescue operations and departmental conflicts.[48] In Stargirl season 1 episode 12, "Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One," he built climactic team confrontations, underscoring themes of legacy and heroism in the season finale.[49] From 2021 to 2024, Fraser served as a key director and co-executive producer on Netflix's Sweet Tooth, helming multiple episodes across all three seasons, including season 1's "When Pubba Met Birdie" and season 2's "The Three Little Piggies."[50] His contributions emphasized post-apocalyptic survival themes, blending adventure with emotional depth in hybrid-human character arcs, while incorporating Pacific Islander representation through New Zealand filming locations and diverse casting that reflected his Fijian-Māori heritage.[3][4] Fraser's episodic approach often prioritized actor collaboration and visual metaphors to enhance storytelling, as seen in his handling of action and quiet character moments across these series.[51] In 2025, Fraser directed two episodes of Apple TV+'s sci-fi series Murderbot, including "Escape Velocity Protocol," contributing to the adaptation of Martha Wells' The Murderbot Diaries with his signature blend of action and character depth. He also directed episode "Flowback" of Fox's action drama Rescue: HI-Surf, integrating high-stakes rescue sequences with authentic cultural elements.| Year | Series | Episodes Directed |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Penny Dreadful (Season 3) | "A Blade of Grass" |
| 2017 | The Shannara Chronicles (Season 2) | "Paranor," "Wilderun" |
| 2017–2018 | Into the Badlands (Seasons 2–3) | "Red Sun, Silver Moon," "Palm of the Iron Fox," "Leopard Snares Rabbit" |
| 2018 | Iron Fist (Season 2) | "This Deadly Secret" |
| 2018 | Daredevil (Season 3) | "Aftermath" |
| 2018 | Tidelands (Season 1) | "Home," "Orphans of L'Attente" |
| 2019 | Swamp Thing (Season 1) | "The Price You Pay" |
| 2019 | Wu Assassins (Season 1) | "Codladh Sámh," "Gu Assassins" |
| 2019 | The Terror (Season 2) | "My Sweet Boy" |
| 2019 | The Affair (Season 5) | Episode 4, Episode 10 |
| 2019 | Titans (Season 2) | "Jericho" |
| 2020 | Deputy (Season 1) | "10-8 Search and Rescue" |
| 2020 | Stargirl (Season 1) | "Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One" |
| 2021–2024 | Sweet Tooth (Seasons 1–3) | Multiple, including "When Pubba Met Birdie" (S1), "The Three Little Piggies" (S2) |
| 2025 | Murderbot (Season 1) | Multiple, including "Escape Velocity Protocol" |
| 2025 | Rescue: HI-Surf (Season 1) | "Flowback" |