Brian McNeill was born in 1939. The 1960s and early 1970s were spent in Britain working as an actor and theatre director. He is the author of three major stage plays: The Two Tigers with performances in NZ, New York, London and San Francisco; The Naval Officer, Mercury Theatre; Twin Messiahs, The Court Theatre. Brian has the distinction of being the first New Zealand playwright to have a play presented in every New Zealand professional theatre in the early 1970s.
After working in Britain, he resettled in New Zealand in 1972, where he worked as an actor. Later he was a scriptwriter for Television New Zealand's children's programmes.
He was Writer in Residence at University of Canterbury and artistic director of the Northern Theatre, Whangarei. He retired to Dunedin, where he last appeared on stage in 2008.