Matt Kinsman

Matt Kinsman was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1986. Matt grew up in Hornby with his parents, 3 brothers and sister. After High School he studied Audio Engineering at Mainz trying to follow his dream of being a rapper but dropped out realizing his heart lay in the spotlight and not behind the scenes in technical departments. Matt was working in a store-man role for a local produce company on and off since 2002 but after 7 years he decided he needed a change of career. So answering an ad in a local newspaper in 2009, he worked as a door to door salesman working as a self defense consultant for GKR Karate, selling memberships and teaching Karate. Following the recession in that year he changed jobs and worked in Civic Video shop as a customer service rep. Seeing action films being one of the most popular genres to rent consistently, Matt knew, that to follow the footsteps of his heroes Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Donnie Yen, he needed to make a move. Realizing that nothing would happen in Christchurch he packed his things and moved to the biggest city in New Zealand in 2011 to attain his film making diploma at SAE Institute in Auckland. Though leaving Christchurch, his family, friends and the effects of the 2011 Earthquake was tough, the move eventually paid off. He completed the Diploma in 2012 and it was during this period that he also got his first taste of the film industry in New Zealand. Matt worked on a few NZ television shows and commercials as an extra, learning about the industry and making contacts. He also worked as an extra playing a soldier on a US film "Emperor" He also studied for a year and a bit on and off in Jeet Kune Do during this time. After graduating Matt struggled for 6 months or so to find a full time job but he eventually found a career in the banking profession which he is still currently employed with. Now that Matt has settled in Auckland and still firm in his belief in his dream of being New Zealand's first martial arts action star, he created "The Bullet List" ,a web series in which he originally wanted to play the lead but couldn't find a cameraman who would work for free for the no budget project. So he filmed it himself with his friend Steve in the lead role instead to great effect. As of July 2016 Matt is currently working on two independently funded feature projects which should be released 2016/2017, and hopefully you can finally see his name alongside his heroes on those video store shelves he worked at so long ago.