Taika Waititi

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.

[8][9] His father was an artist of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui descent, while his mother, Robin Cohen,[10] was a schoolteacher of multiple ethnicities.

[7] 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".

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

[14][15] He was raised more connected to his Māori roots, in a household where Judaism was not actively practised[13] and identifies as an atheist who "puts more stock in indigenous beliefs.

[8] He attended Onslow College,[18] then studied theatre at Victoria University of Wellington where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1997.

[5][6] He originally used his mother's surname, Cohen, for his work in film and writing, and his father's, Waititi, for visual arts endeavours.

[21] 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.

[24] 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.

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

On its release in New Zealand, Boy received enthusiastic reviews[31] and was successful at the local box office, eclipsing several records.

[36] Waititi and Clement played members of a group of vampires who live in an appropriately gothic house in modern-day Wellington.

[44][45] Marvel films In 2017, Waititi won the award for New Zealander of the Year, but was unable to receive it in person due to work commitments.

[51][52] Waititi was later consulted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely on Thor's storylines for Avengers: Infinity War, to maintain the character's consistency in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[62] His voiceover work earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in 2020.

[67][68] Waititi executive produced, directed and starred as Blackbeard in the HBO Max comedy series Our Flag Means Death.

[74] The film received mixed reviews with critic Mark Kermode complained that "the jokes, the catch-phrases [are] just incredibly tired".

"[76] In her mixed review from NPR, Amy Nicholson added "I was really compelled by the ideas Taika Waititi was teasing in this film, but the actual style of it – the eagerness to please – made me take a step back from everything.

[82] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described it as "a shoddily made and strikingly unfunny attempt to tell an interesting story in an uninteresting way".

[83] In 2024, Waititi directed and co-wrote the pilot episode of a television adaptation of the Terry Gilliam film, Time Bandits, alongside frequent collaborators Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris.

[84] In 2024, Waititi directed the pilot and executive produced a television adaptation of the Charles Yu novel, Interior Chinatown, starring Jimmy O.

[93] After rumors began circulating in late 2019 and early 2020, it was officially announced on May 4, 2020 that Taika Waititi would direct and co-write a Star Wars movie with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

[98] In 2021, it was announced that Waititi would executive produce and direct the Showtime limited series The Auteur starring Jude Law.

[100] In 2023, it was announced that he would direct a film adaptation of the novel Klara and the Sun, intending on making it his next movie after Next Goal Wins.

[101] In 2024, it was revealed that Waititi would direct a film adaptation of the Percival Everett novel James with Steven Spielberg producing.

[111] He is an executive producer of the New Zealand films The Breaker Upperers (2018), Baby Done (2020), and Night Raiders (2021), all directed by Māori or indigenous filmmakers.

Waititi speaking at 2015 Sundance Film Festival
Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con
Waititi at Toronto International Film Festival