Jabez Olssen is a New Zealand film editor who has worked in the industry for over 20 years. Originally from Dunedin, he obtained an Honours Degree in Philosophy from the University of Otago before moving to Auckland to attend the South Seas Film and Television School in 1998. Jabez worked in commercials and TV shows before moving to Wellington to work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films in 2000. Since then, Jabez has spent time in the UK film industry as well as working on many projects for Peter Jackson.
His credits include being the editor of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012). He was also the editor on Jackson’s The Lovely Bones (2009), as well as additional editor on Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and King Kong (2005). Jabez’s other credits include: Additional editor on Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and editing Peter Jackson’s World War One documentary They Shall Not Grow Old (2018). Jabez also worked as editor on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) for director Gareth Edwards.
Jabez’s latest project was the epic three-part documentary series on the Beatles, directed by Jackson, entitled The Beatles: Get Back (2021) for which he won an American Cinema Editors’ Eddie award. Jabez lives in Wellington with his wife, producer Clare Olssen, and their two children.
