Talofa Lava!

Image by Emele Ugavule

Tommy Misa is a Samoan Australian artist, writer and award winning performer.

Working across screen, theatre, live performance and community engagement Tommy’s work is about finding heart and humour in community, place and people. He dabbles in a bit of this and a bit of that.

He sold out 3 seasons of his critically acclaimed solo play ‘They took me to a Queer bar’ and in 2024 premiered a sold-out season ofWorking Class Clown’ a new commission for the 24th Biennale of Sydney, co-presented by Performance Space. Tommy has created original performance works for First Draft Gallery, Performance Space, Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of NSW and has completed writing residencies with Belvoir Theatre, Co-Curious and PACT.

Tommy has had work published for SBS Australia and Archer Magazine and was a brainstorming writer/notetaker and Associate Producer on upcoming SBS digital originals series ‘Moni’ and SBS digital originals participant and co-conceiver of ‘Scrubbers. Tommy is an experienced notetaker having worked with Matchbox Pictures, Confidante Pictures and Arts and Cultural Exchange.

As a performer, Tommy has pranced the stages of Belvoir Theatre, National Theatre of Parramatta, The Old Fitz Theatre and in the world premiere of Kalaga Atu at the Art Gallery of NSW. On screen he has worked on shows for SBS, Amazon Prime, Tik Tok. Tommy was a regular performer and sketch writer for Buzzfeed.

Tommy has facilitated workshops for young Queer people for Wear it Purple organisation as well as being a volunteer assessor of Wear it Purples annual creative grants for Young Queer People. He was the community engagement lead on the Australian premiere of ‘Overflow’ for Darlinghurst Theatre and worked in artist services and programming for Brand X. Tommy has spoken on various panels and was the 2022 opening keynote speaker for AUPAC (Australian Universities Pacific Conference).