Born in Napier, Paul Maunder's family fell apart when he was young leading to his adoption and early life in Palmerston North. He became a cricketer and a maths nerd before turning to the arts.After university he studied at the National Insititute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney before attending the London Film School in the late 1960s. Returning to NZ he began Amamus, an experimental theatre group and studied the methodology of the Pole, Jerzy Grotowski, he was also a director for the National Film Unit where he made ground breaking dramatised documentaries on social issues. After directing the feature film, Sons for the Retrun Home he became engaged in political and then bicultural drama as well as living in the Holloway Road community in the Aro Valley of Wellington. He then entered the community arts field engaging with a variety of communities before shifting to the West Coast where he has been active in the community and continued to create innovative theatre. He returned to university to write his PhD thesis on community-based theatre in Aotearoa.