For Jackie van Beek, success isn’t measured in red carpets or TV ratings – it’s found in the joyful, chaotic moments of creativity shared with her children. Whether they’re being bribed into reading her scripts or starring alongside her in Educators, the writer, actor and director says her teens are her greatest collaborators.
“I offer them money to read scripts, either ones I’ve written or when I’m deciding whether to take a job or not,” says the 49-year-old.
“They sit with me, advising me about what I should and shouldn’t be doing, which I thoroughly enjoy. And it’s a great way for them to earn pocket money. “I feel so touched that I have children who don’t feel humiliated by the ridiculous things that their mum and dad decide to take on.”
A family of performers
It’s not just behind the camera that Jackie’s kids, June, 18, Emmett, 16, and Cassie, 13 – whom she shares with her husband and fellow creative Jesse Griffin, 51 – have the knack. The Breaker Upperers star proudly shares that all of her children are fine performers in their own right, even though none seem particularly interested in pursuing it as a career.
Earlier this year, all three starred in the fourth season of the fully improvised series Educators, which Jackie co-created with Jesse and Jonny Brugh. Jackie says watching them on set, surrounded by some of her closest friends, marked a career highlight.
Her proudest career highlight yet
“For the very first time, all three of our kids were of an age where they looked like they were in high school, so it was a proper family affair,” she beams.
“It made me beyond happy. “Looking around on that very low-budget set and seeing all my dear friends and my kids, with Jesse directing, was the one time I’ve even come close to feeling like I’ve made it.”
Jackie’s latest endeavour is competing on the new season of the TVNZ series Taskmaster NZ, which sees five comedians face off in a series of absurd challenges to win points from host Jeremy Wells. While she’s quick to point out that she’s a happy loser, it didn’t stop Jackie from challenging Jeremy and his assistant, Paul Williams, at every opportunity.
Finding her comedic tribe
“I would constantly argue with Paul and Jeremy about why I deserved more points or why it was unfair for points to be taken away from me,” she laughs.
“But I didn’t really care about the outcome, I just enjoyed the argument.”
And it seems Jackie found her kindred spirits in fellow comedians Alice Snedden, Bree Tomasel, Jack Ansett and Pax Assadi.
“As a cast, we were asked to stop arguing with Jeremy because it was taking up too much time!” she reveals.
“They’re all such wonderful human beings – we really clicked.”
After sending her eldest to university this year, Jackie is holding her family time a little closer. Last year, that meant a big, long-planned five-week trip across Europe – complete with jet lag, family logistics and a countdown to parental reinforcements.
Adventures abroad
“It was a dynamic trip,” Jackie says diplomatically.
“The kids are all very adventurous but they’re all highly opinionated as well. We had plans to meet my parents in the Netherlands, because my father is Dutch, and I must say leading up to that, Jesse and I were counting down the days to get the adult-to-child ratio skewing our way.”
It echoed a childhood memory Jackie cherishes deeply – travelling Europe with her own parents and sister. Determined to give her children the same experience, she and Jesse made it happen – even if it meant Jackie flying to Los Angeles to direct ads to top up the funds.
“I’ve always said to Jesse, ‘It doesn’t matter if we’re in debt while the kids are still at home. But as soon as the kids leave, the first job is to get out of debt.’ We can just eat bowls of rice and mushrooms to claw our way out. “To be able to do a big trip like that was incredibly special.”
Taskmaster NZ screens Mondays and Tuesdays at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2, and streams on TVNZ+.
