Jacob Rajan

Jacob Rajan is a Malaysian-born-New Zealand playwright and actor. His highly successful plays include the trilogy "Krishnan's Dairy", "The Candlestick Maker" and "The Pickle King". Another work was "The Dentist's Chair". In 2002, he received the prestigious Laureate Art Award. All of Rajan's plays, except his first, "Krishnan's Dairy", were originally produced for his theatre company, Indian Ink Theatre Company, and co-written with director/writer Justin Lewis, co-founder of Indian Ink.
Rajan was born in Malaysia to Indian parents, and migrated to New Zealand when he was four years old. He studied acting and at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School. He graduated in 1994 and has since appeared in different stage and screen productions as well as touring internationally. He appeared as Dr Ashwin Bhashar in the television soap "Shortland Street".
His most significant works has been the trilogy of plays which explore Indian themes, characters and stories. "Krishnan's Dairy", "The Candlestick Maker" and "The Guru Of Chai" have been extremely popular plays in NZ. In 1999, "Krishnan's Dairy" won the Edinburgh Festival Fringe First award. "The Pickle King" won the same award in 2003. Rajan's most recent work is "Kiss the Fish".
Rajan says he "writes the stories that move him – they might happen to have Indian elements just because that's his frame of reference, but he doesn't set out to write Indian plays."
With Justin Lewis, Rajan co-founded the Indian Ink Theatre Company in 1996.
In the 2013 New Year Honours, Rajan was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to theatre.