John Downie grew up in the north-east o England. He has had a long career as a practitioner and teacher in the arts, mainly as a writer, director, and animator, and chiefly motivated by aesthetic experimentation, social/political change, and questions of pedagogy. He is retired after more than twenty years as a lecturer in theatre and film at Victoria University, Wellington. In his early career, he worked as a TV director with Granada TV Manchester/London; has held a number of arts residencies in the UK; his professional theatre work of more than 30 productions includes productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company; has written film and television scripts. In Wellington, since 1990, he has written several plays produced by National Radio, amongst other achievements.