Sipping on his drink of choice – whiskey on the rocks with fresh lime – and wearing a stylish suit and a fedora, Oscar Kightley cuts a smart figure.

As one of country’s most successful actors and writers, Capote-styled Oscar certainly looks the part. But the 42-year-old insists he’s just like any other bloke – a man trying to make a buck, who loves nothing more than hanging out with his friends and family.

New Idea met Oscar only hours after he’d watched the first ever screening of Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business, the sequel to the comedy smash hit Sione’s Wedding, premiering on January 19 – a project that’s consumed him for the past five years.

The soft-spoken star grins as he thinks back to the night when he could finally see the results of his hard work. But it doesn’t matter whether he thinks the film is great – the real test is yet to come.

‘The acid test is when the public see it,’ says Oscar, who co-wrote the film with James Griffin of Outrageous Fortune fame. ‘There’s no better way to ruin a film that everyone loves than to make a sequel that’s stink.’

Oscar is part of the creative genius behind some of the country’s most popular comedic productions (Naked Samoans and bro’Town) and plays (Dawn Raids and Fresh Off the Boat) but the former Auckland Star cadet still doesn’t feel like he’s honed his talent.

‘The way I was brought up, as soon as you think you are a success, you stop being one,’ says Oscar who immigrated from Samoa with his mother when he was four years old. He realised he had the talent to make people laugh as a teen at West Auckland’s Rutherford High.

‘Do I think I’m a good writer? Nah. I don’t know if I ever will. Or even a good actor,’ he says. ‘I’ve met a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and even then they’re not happy. Writers are so weird.’

Oscar says it helps when he’s working with his best mates. ‘That’s part of the buzz. We used to joke back in the day that the boys’ partners could never complain about how they were spending too much time with their mates because they work with them! It’s an excuse to hang out,’ says Oscar, who has worked with Sione’s stars Shimpal Lelisi, Dave Fane and Mario Gaoa since the foursome came together back in 1998 for the Naked Samoans.

‘My friends that I work with are friends first,’ he says. It’s when Oscar tries to pen something alone that proves the biggest hurdle.

‘The internet is a distraction, the television – everything. I would cut my power off if I didn’t need it for my bloody laptop. I’m just so shocking,’ says Oscar, who admits he removed himself from Facebook as it was too distracting. ‘I need to alter my environment to take away all temptations, instead of being disciplined and focused.

What keeps me tied to the laptop is that’s what I have to do to make money to pay my rent.’ But he loves the satisfaction of seeing a project finished.

‘Dorothy Parker [the American poet and writer famed for her wit] once said, “I loathe to write but I love to have written.” It’s always when it’s finished that you go, “I love being a writer”.’

Oscar’s talent has propelled the reluctant star into the spotlight but the unassuming artist likes to keep things ‘real’. And it’s his close family and friends who he thanks for this.

‘When you are getting your photo taken for three hours, if you’re a dick, that can go to your head. But coming from a normal life grounds you. Your family is your normal life. Every now and then your job takes you to these out-of-it places.’

With Sione’s 2 hitting the big screen, the spotlight will be blazing on Oscar more than ever. The sequel has the same favourite characters from the first flick. They’re five years older, but are they any wiser?

Oscar resumes the role of Albert who at the end of Sione’s Wedding realised he was in love with Tania (Madeleine Sami). Tania and Albert are now married but Albert is unhappy and he can’t figure out why.

‘Albert represents people who seemingly should have everything they need to have a successful life, but there’s still something underneath,’ Oscar says. ‘There’s the hooker that wants deeper commitment, there’s the weird one who wants to find something solid to hang onto, there’s the immature one who needs to grow up.

With Albert he should have those things that should make him happy, but he still isn’t.’ And it’s the pursuit of unattainable happiness that hits home with Oscar.

‘I’m never happy. I think I’ve had post-natal depression since I was born,’ he jokes. ‘Can babies get it, or only mums?’

For a guy who is known for his ability to make people laugh, it’s a surprising statement, but Oscar explains. ‘In society so much is made about the pursuit of happiness. I think what it does is create lots of anxiety in lots of people because they are wanting something that they don’t have. As opposed to just being and enjoying what they do have. I relate to that.’