{{Short description|New Zealand actress and playwright}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Jess Sayer''' (born 1990{{efn|Age 35 as of August 2025.<ref name="auto1"/>}}) is a New Zealand actress and playwright.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=NZ On Screen|date=|title=Jess Sayer {{!}} NZ On Screen|url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/jess-sayer|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-16|website=www.nzonscreen.com|language=en}}</ref> In 2015, she won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award, and in 2020, she won the Adam NZ Play Award.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-05-24|title=Adam Play award winner Jess Sayer talks up hope for a screen led recovery|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018747750/adam-play-award-winner-jess-sayer-talks-up-hope-for-a-screen-led-recovery|access-date=2020-08-16|website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Magazine|first=Viva|title=Favourite Things: Actor & Playwright Jess Sayer - Viva|url=https://www.viva.co.nz/article/culture-travel/favourite-things-actor-playwright-jess-sayer/|access-date=2020-08-16|website=www.viva.co.nz|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Biography == Sayer attended Kamo High School in Whangārei, New Zealand.<ref name=":0" /> After high school, she began a degree in communications and journalism at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |last=Easther |first=Elisabeth |url=https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/shorty-star-jess-sayer-quit-social-media/ |title=Shorty star Jess Sayer on why she quit social media |publisher=Now to Love |date=23 August 2025 }}</ref> She later became interested in theatre and moved into studying drama at The Actors' Program, graduating in 2012.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Graduates|url=https://www.theactorsprogram.co.nz/graduates|access-date=2020-08-16|website=The Actors' Program|language=en-US}}</ref>
Sayer has appeared in the television soap opera ''Shortland Street'' as nurse Maeve Mullins,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/123272601/shortland-street-makes-tv-history-with-the-first-gay-onscreen-wedding|title=Shortland Street makes TV history with the first gay on-screen wedding|date=4 November 2020}}</ref> ''Filthy Rich'', ''Dirty Laundry'' and the drama ''Runaway Millionaires''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-03-04|title=Runaway success for Shortland Street newcomer Jess Sayer|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-guide/119994645/runaway-success-for-shortland-street-newcomer-jess-sayer|access-date=2020-08-16|website=Stuff|language=en}}</ref> In 2016, she both wrote and acted in the web-only series ''Auckward Love'', for TVNZ. In 2019, she appeared in the play ''Mr Red Light'' at Auckland's Aotea Centre.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Metro Magazine|date=August 15, 2019|title=What I Ate: Actor Jess Sayer, co-starring in the play Mr Red Light|url=https://www.metromag.co.nz/food/food-food/what-i-ate-actor-jess-sayer-co-starring-in-mr-red-light|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}</ref>
As a playwright, Sayer has won the Playmarket B4 25 competition three times and has been shortlisted for the Adam NZ Play Award twice. In 2015, aged 25, she won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award.<ref name=":0" /> In 2019, she was nominated for three New Zealand Writers' Guild awards (SWANZ).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jess Sayer|url=https://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/jess-sayer/|access-date=2020-08-16|website=www.playmarket.org.nz|language=en-US}}</ref> In 2020, she won the Adam NZ Play Award.
In July 2021, Sayer's pug, Bruce, made its debut on ''Shortland Street''.<ref name="auto1"/>
==Personal life== In July 2025, Sayer was engaged to Amanda Tito, her ''Shortland Street'' co-star and partner.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bailey |first=Kylie |url=https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/jess-sayer-engaged-to-shortland-street-co-star/ |title=Shorty star Jess Sayer engaged to her on-screen ex |publisher=Now to Love |date=4 July 2025 }}</ref>
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==References== {{reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayer, Jess}} Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at Kamo High School Category:Auckland University of Technology alumni Category:New Zealand film actresses Category:New Zealand stage actresses Category:New Zealand women dramatists and playwrights Category:New Zealand lesbian actresses Category:New Zealand lesbian writers Category:New Zealand LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Category:Lesbian dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century New Zealand actresses Category:21st-century New Zealand women writers Category:21st-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century New Zealand LGBTQ people