Taika Waititi

Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi, is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor and comedian.

He is known for directing quirky comedy films and has expanded his career as a voice actor and producer on numerous projects.

He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Grammy Award, as well as two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award.

Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.

Taika David Cohen was born on 16 August 1975 in Wellington, and grew up in Wellington's Aro Valley suburb and Raukokore, a small town in the Bay of Plenty.

His father was an artist of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui descent, while his mother, Robin Cohen, was a schoolteacher of Jewish ancestry.

His mother's paternal grandfather was a Russian Jew whose family came from Novozybkov, Russia.

Waititi stated that his mother's family were Russian Jewish, Irish, and other European ethnicities, while his father's side was "Māori and a little bit of French Canadian".

His paternal grandfather, also named Taika, served as a Māori Battalion soldier during World War II.

Identifying as both Māori and Jewish, Waititi describes himself as a "Polynesian Jew".

He was raised more connected to his Māori roots, in a household where Judaism was not actively practised and identifies as an atheist who "puts more stock in indigenous beliefs."

Waititi's parents divorced when he was around five, and he was raised primarily by his mother.

He attended Onslow College, then studied theatre at Victoria University of Wellington where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1997.

Although his surname is legally Cohen, Waititi has been known primarily by his father's surname for most of his life.

He originally used his mother's surname, Cohen, for his work in film and writing, and his father's, Waititi, for visual arts endeavours.

Following the success of his first short film, he continued to use Waititi professionally.

While a student at Victoria University of Wellington, Waititi was part of the five-member comedy ensemble So You're a Man, which toured New Zealand and Australia with some success.

He was half of the comedy duo "The Humourbeasts" alongside Jemaine Clement, which received New Zealand's highest comedy accolade, the Billy T Award, in 1999.

Among a variety of artistic interests, Waititi began making comical short films for New Zealand's annual 48Hours film contest.

Waititi's 2003 short film Two Cars, One Night earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film.

He directed the short film Two Cars, One Night (2003) which involves two young boys and a girl meeting in the carpark of a rural pub in Te Kaha, New Zealand.

He lost the award to Andrea Arnold who directed the short Wasp (2003).

The short earned acclaim and a Academy Award for Best Live Action Short nomination in 2005.

His first feature film, a romantic comedy called Eagle vs Shark, was released in U.S. theatres for limited distribution in 2007.

Waititi co-wrote the film with Loren Horsley.

That year, Waititi wrote and directed one episode of the TV show Flight of the Conchords and directed another.

His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film.

In 2010, he acted in the New Zealand TV3 improv sketch comedy show Radiradirah, together with frequent collaborators Rhys Darby and Jemaine Clement.

His second feature, Boy, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010, and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.

Waititi also took one of the main roles, as the ex-con father who returns to his family.

On its release in New Zealand, Boy received enthusiastic reviews and was successful at the local box office, eclipsing several records.

In 2011, Waititi directed New Zealand TV series Super City starring Madeleine Sami, who plays five characters living in one city.

That year, Waititi portrayed Thomas Kalmaku in the superhero film Green Lantern.

He co-wrote, co-directed and starred in the horror comedy film What We Do in the Shadows (2014) with Jemaine Clement, which was adapted into a television series of the same name in 2019.

The series has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.

His directing credits include the superhero films Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) as well as the black comedy film Jojo Rabbit (2019), the last of which he also wrote and starred in as an imaginary version of Adolf Hitler.

Jojo Rabbit received six Academy Award nominations and won Best Adapted Screenplay.

Waititi also earned a Grammy Award for producing the film's soundtrack.

In television, Waititi co-created and executive produces the dramedy series Reservation Dogs, and directed, executive produced, and starred in the comedy Our Flag Means Death.

In addition to directing an episode of the series The Mandalorian, he also voiced the character IG-11, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.