Oscar Wilson

Oscar was born in Wellington, New Zealand to parents Michael Wilson and Joanne Simpson. Both Michael and Joanne were actors working in the Wellington theatre circuit. They moved house a number of times before settling in the hilly suburb of Ngaio where Oscar first went to school with his older sister, Ellen. Oscar's early school life was full of creativity, culture and music. His school, Ngaio Primary, put great emphasis on Maori (indigenous NZ) culture and he learned traditional song and dance (Kapa Haka/Waiata) as well as Te Reo (Maori language). At age 7, the family moved again, this time to the Wairarapa, a quieter more rural community, further north of the nation's capital city. Over the next 12 years, Oscar continued to enjoy his cultural and creative pursuits as well as sports. He became a skilled soccer and tennis player. He studied martial arts and fencing. At age 8, inspired by Michael Jackson, he took up dancing. At age 19, he moved to Sydney, Australia to study dance full time. After a year of intense training at Sydney's Urban Dance Centre, Oscar worked as a dancer and Hip Hop dance teacher. He performed with various crews and appeared on a number of music videos as well as performing on TV shows, "X Factor", "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Australia's Got Talent". A highlight of his early career was winning "World of Dance" in New York with his Australian crew, "Psyde Project". After developing some great friendships with a couple of acting graduates from Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art, Oscar was reminded of just how much he loved and missed acting. At high school, he had always enjoyed being on stage in Shakespeare plays, musicals and improv. Inspired by his friends, he started studying Meisner at "The Actor's Pulse". In 2012 after a grueling 70 day journey across Australia's outback as part of "The Run of Awareness" (his friend ran, Oscar drove) he decided to move back to New Zealand and study acting full time. He auditioned and was accepted into "The Actors' Program" where he studied under NZ acting greats, Sara Wiseman, Michele Hine, Cameron Rhodes and John Callen. Since his studies, Oscar has enjoyed various theatre roles and some minor TV roles in New Zealand. In 2016 he moved to Los Angeles where he lives now. Credits to his name in LA so far: "Roy" where he played the title role in a short film about a troubled painter, and "The Land I Once Knew" as Sam, the lead in a trailer set in 1976 at military academy, West Point. Oscar also continues to work as a dancer, most recently in a series of commercials for Cointreau.