"My father once said to me: 'Life is a ticket to the greatest show on Earth.' "He was so right," Kamo, who turns 41 next month, muses over a coffee in the Octagon.
The Nelson-born fitter and turner came to Dunedin in 2004 to produce Dunedin Operatic's 75th anniversary production, Encore, "and, sure enough, I fell in love with a Dunedin girl".
He and his wife, Penny, now have two children: Isla (2) and Felix (7 months).
Kamo knows all about the highs and lows of the entertainment business.
He grew up in Nelson, representing the region in rugby and rowing, before tripping over tap-dancing when he was 8.
"My heroes were people like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly and I tapped until I left school at 15, before leaving to do my advanced trade cert as a fitter-turner for four years."
A year after getting his ticket, he took part in Nelson Operatic's Carousel and was so smitten he immediately abandoned his spanners to train for a year at the Nelson Performing Arts School.
"My first lead in a pro show was 42nd Street in Christchurch in 1994. We rehearsed for 16 weeks and I got the equivalent of about $150-$200 a week, but I was hooked.
"That shifted my focus and passion. If I'd just wanted to make money, I'd have stayed an engineer." He left Christchurch for Auckland in 1996 "feeling 10-foot tall and bullet-proof".
"I sent my CV out to 20 agents looking for representation and every one of them sent it back.
"I'll never forget that day; it was absolutely gut-wrenching."
But he was soon on a roll, winning the Lotto presenter job from 2002 to 2004.
"Lotto taught me a great deal about presenting. That was a great apprenticeship."
Roles followed in Xena: Warrior Princess, Street Legal, Shortland Street, The Pretender, Passion in Paradise, The Lounge, Destination New Zealand and The Vodafone V24 Challenge.
"The first day of the shoot, Lucy Lawless [Xena] came in when I was getting made up and we chatted away.
"On my CV, I'd put down that I could surf and horse-ride and everything else I could think of, even though I couldn't do half that stuff. I'd never even been on a set before and knew nothing.
"I was petrified. A lot of stuff came off my CV that night."
His professional theatre credits now include more than 50 national and international productions including Les Miserables, The Producers, The Rocky Horror Show, The Buddy Holly Story, Guys and Dolls, Cabaret, Chess, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, Me and My Girl, 42nd Street and A Chorus Line.
"I am quite entrepreneurial. I just took my engineering skills into theatre and, from that, I've managed to build a business. It's probably the most difficult business to make a living out of," he says.
However, it was as artistic director of the Remarkables Christmas Spectacular from 2007 to 2009 and Rotorua's Lakeside 2008 community concert that he saw the direction he wanted to take.
"The first year I came to Dunedin, I did the Octagon Christmas party as a performer and thought:
"'This is fantastic, but imagine a real community event in a completely safe environment, where the kids can run around and mum and dad can relax."'
"And so was born the Dunedin's first community concert - "Big Night In".
"I sat on it for three years, trying to find the right mechanism. Then the ODT 150th came up.
"The stadium was also on line, so there was some synergy there.
"But, the dream still took five years to come to fruition.
"It was about bringing the biggest and best community-based event to Dunedin and I think the hardest part was convincing people and sharing the vision of what we were trying to achieve.
"We started the process in June 2010, and we only got the full green light in mid-May this year. The logistics and management of that was the hardest part.
"Our designs for the stage and conceptual ideas were in place by February, but we didn't have anything else in place.
"It meant we couldn't approach suppliers or contractors until May and, by then, we were scrambling to get across the line.
"The concert itself wasn't that hard. I already knew the local and regional talent was there, from my time touring shows in Otago and Southland.
"Music is the only international language in the world and arts and culture have such an important place in our community.
"Little kids would never have seen anything like that [the "Big Night In"] before. Other people can't afford to pay to see these things. It levels the playing field and breaks down social classes."
The Forsyth Barr Stadium was the perfect venue for an annual community concert, Kamo said.
"Our insurance in terms of weather was non-existent. That's a big advantage. But, the best moment for me was climbing to the top of the 'follow spot' tower at 6.30pm and looking at the West Stand and thinking: 'I've done my job'."
He is determined it won't be the last "Big Night In" in Dunedin.
"We absolutely want to do it again. There was far too much work involved to only do it once.
"It was new for the DCC and for the stadium, but we understand the beast now. The template is there.
"There are eyes on us down here and it puts people like Kylie Price and Jody Direen on a national stage. What a great opportunity to follow on from that.
"It's great for our young performers to have people to perform for. It's also great for them to be mentored by fantastic professional performers and role models like Tina Cross and Jackie Clarke.
"There's got to be a training element in it, too. I think that's very important."
