Jackie Van Beek

Van Beek was born and raised in Wellington and attended Onslow College. She studied contemporary dance at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre, then completed a linguistics degree at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating in 1998. Throughout her studies she wrote and produced plays in Wellington theatres and schools. In 1999 van Beek moved to Auckland and worked on theatre productions, and she spent a year at Ohio Northern University as the writer-in-residence. In 2006 van Beek moved to Australia and began making short films. Her first feature film was The Inland Road, which was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival, followed by her second feature film, The Breaker Upperers. Van Beek has won a number of filmmaking awards, including SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year in 2013, as well as acting awards. In 2014 she won Best Supporting Actress at the New Zealand Film Awards for her performance in What We Do in the Shadows. She is co-creator, with Jesse Griffin and Jonny Brugh, of the award-winning 2019 TV sitcom about teachers in a secondary school, called Educators. She also stars in the show. In 2024, she co-created the Australian adaptation of The Office with Julie De Fina.