 Born in Oamaru, Malcolm grew up on his family's North Otago farm, where he worked as a farmer after leaving secondary school.Subsequently he worked as a Ministry of Agriculture farm consultant before studying journalism at Aoraki Polytechnic, from where he graduated in 1991.He then worked as a rural reporter for "The Press" newspaper in Christchurch until the end of 1993, before studying drama at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School, graduating in 1995.