After growing up Polynesian and working/studying in Japan for most of her adult life, Jacqueline Olivé has become a Tongan-American writer, filmmaker, documentarian, and scholar whose work is grounded in her family’s history and culture as well as Japan’s. Within this melting pot of interests, Olivé gravitates towards writing stories told from the view of underrepresented characters living a hyphenated experience, like herself. Recently, she was awarded two Student Emmys for her documentary work, invited to participate in The Thousand Miles Project founded and run by Pachinko’s Soo Hugh, and became a semifinalist in the Humanitas College Screenwriting competition that recognizes film and television writers who explore the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way.

A jack-of-all-trades, Olivé spent many years accomplishing different things before pursuing her passion for filmmaking: becoming the NJCAA Division 1 All-American goalkeeper of 2011, singing the national anthem at NBA games, and creating digital content for YouTube in Japan that you can check out here. However, she believes that these experiences only help to bring more depth to her characters since all her stories stem from a schema of truth or personal experience. As she finishes the last year of her MFA in Writing for Dramatic Media in the Film department, Olivé continues to hone her craft and cultivate her screenwriting voice to become an artist with a reach that goes beyond the borders of America. To view some of Olivé’s work and find out what documentary she’s currently working on, visit her Linktree.