Taika David Cohen ONZM (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi (/ˈtaɪkə ˈwaɪtiti/ TY-kə WY-tee-tee), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards. His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film.
Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world on its annual list in 2022.
Waititi's 2003 short film Two Cars, One Night earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. 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 most recent 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 directs, executive produces, and stars 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.
Early life
Taika David Cohen was born on 16 August 1975 in Raukokore in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island, and grew up on both the East Coast and in the Aro Valley of Wellington. His father was an artist of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui descent, whilst his mother, Robin Cohen, was a schoolteacher. Waititi stated that his mother's family were Russian Jews, while his father's side was "Māori and a little bit of French Canadian". Waititi describes himself as a "Polynesian Jew". He was raised more connected to his Māori roots, in a household where Judaism was not "actively practis". The politician Kiri Allan is his cousin.
Waititi's parents split up 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. 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.
