Taika David Cohen shortly professionally named as Taika Waititi is a famous filmmaker as well as an actor from New Zealand. He is also the recipient of an Academy Award as well as two further nominations. His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film, with the latter still holding that title as of April 2020. He also co-directed and starred in the horror-comedy film What We Do in the Shadows (2014) with Jemaine Clement. His most recent directing credits include the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the satirical black comedy film Jojo Rabbit (2019). His film Jojo Rabbit earned critical praise, receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture and winning Waititi the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Moreover, he is also an experienced painter and photographer, having exhibited both mediums in Wellington and Berlin, and a fashion designer. Scroll down to know more information regarding his biography, net worth, family details, birthday, wiki, films, awards, facts, career start, wife, children, news, and many more.
Famous For
- Being a famous filmmaker and actor.
- For his quirky comedies and his unique sense of humor, readily present in any of his films like; Jojo Rabbit (2018), Green Lantern (2011), Eager vs Shark (2007), Futile Attraction (2004), Tongan Ninja (2002), etc.
- For his feature films "Boy" (2010) and "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" (2016) which have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film, with the "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" holding that title as of 2020.
Source: @gamespot.com
Early Life of Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi was born on 16th August 1975 with the real name/birth name of Taika David Cohen. His birthplace/hometown is in Raukokore, New Zealand. Waititi grew up there and in Wellington. He was born to Maori Waititi (father) and Jewish Cohen (mother); his parents/family. His father Maori was a painter of Te Whanau-a-Apanui and his mother is a teacher of Russian Jewish heritage. His parents split up when he was around five. During his childhood, he dreamed of becoming a painter or a deep-sea diver before a high school drama teacher introduced him to the world of acting. His nationality is New Zealander and his ethnicity is White. As per his education, he attended "Onslow College" for secondary school. He graduated with the degree of Theatre and Flim from "Victoria University". He was part of a five-person comedy ensemble titled "So You’re a Man" while he attended "Victoria University" and he toured around New Zealand and Australia with the group before graduating with his degree in "Theater and Film". 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. He is Jewish by religion and his horoscope sign is Leo. As of 2019, he celebrated his 44th birthday. has used his mother’s surname, "Cohen", for some of his work in film and writing.
Career of Taika Waititi
- He made his first screen debut in the low budget film "Scarfied" (1999) for which he won a local award and New Zealand Film Award nomination for Best Actor.
- After that, he featured in the film "Snakeskin" (2001) and also appeared on the TV series "The Strip".
- Later on, he began making comical short films and began winning various awards for his comical shorts film "48 Hour film contest".
- Also, he received the greatest critical success for his short film, "Two Cars", "One Night" (2004).
- At the 2005 Academy Awards, the short was nominated for "Best Live Action Short".
- He then releases more critically acclaimed films, included the short "Tamu Tu" (2004) and his first feature-length film, "Eagle vs Shark" (2007).
- He wrote and directed one episode of the TV show "Flight of the Conchords" and was the director of another.
- His second feature, Boy, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010.
- The picture was a huge critical success, winning a place at the '2010 Berlin Film Festival' and then being awarded the "Grand Prize in the Generation section".
- As a comedian, he regularly does standup gigs in and around the country and in 2004 launched his solo production, "Taika's Incredible Show".
- In the year 2005, he staged the sequel, "Taika's Incredible Show".
- He played Thomas Kalmaku in 2011 superhero film Green Lantern and took large roles in two of his own films: 2010's Boy and 2014's What We Do in the Shadows, which he co-directed and co-wrote with Jemaine Clement.
- His fourth feature, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
- He then wrote the initial screenplay for the 2016 Disney film Moana.
- In the year 2017, he won the award for New Zealander of the Year but was unable to receive it in person due to work commitments.
- He next directed his first major Hollywood film, Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok, which was released in October 2017.
- He also plays Korg, a Kronan, via motion capture in his 2017 superhero film Thor: Ragnarok.
- He had previously directed two shorts for Marvel called "Team Thor".
- He was later consulted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely regarding Thor's storylines for "Avengers: Infinity War".
- He was set to collaborate with Mark Gustafson to direct the upcoming stop-motion animated film "Bubbles".
- In 2019, he wrote and directed "Jojo Rabbit", based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, the 1940s-set story of a child in the Hitler Youth whose mother is secretly hiding a Jewish girl in the family home.
- For his work on the film, Waititi received two Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning the latter.
- In early October 2018, Lucasfilm announced that he would be one of the directors of the Star Wars live-action streaming series The Mandalorian, which tells the story of a lone Mandalorian gunfighter in the period between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
- He is reportedly set to direct a new live-action film version of "Akira" as well as co-write a sequel to What We Do in the Shadows, titled We're Wolves.
- In July 2019, it was reported that Waititi will write and direct "Thor: Love and Thunder", a sequel to Ragnarok.
- He is also set to direct a feature film adaptation of "Next Goal Wins".
- As of March 2020, he is set to write, direct and executive produce two animated series for Netflix, one based on Roald Dahl's children's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and another focused on the novel's Oompa Loompa characters.
Awards of Taika Waititi
Source: @theguardian.com
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. He won a local film award for his work as one of the students in the successful low-budget Dunedin film Scarfies (1999). In 2005 his short film Two Cars, One Night earned him an Academy Award nomination. In 2017, Waititi won the award for New Zealander of the Year but was unable to receive it in person due to work commitments. For his work on the film, "Jojo Rabbit", Waititi received two Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning the latter. This made him the first person of Maori descent to win an Academy Award in a screenplay category, as well as the first indigenous person to be nominated and to win Best Adapted Screenplay.
Personal Life of Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi was a married person. He was married to his wife Chelsea Winstanley who is a New Zealand award-winning film producer and director. She directed the award-winning documentary "Tame It: The Man Behind the Moko". The duo met each other when she interviewed him for a TV documentary series profiling Maori artists. They again met on "Boy", but nothing happened properly until after that. Later, they hooked up together. In May 2012, the duo welcomed their first daughter; Te Hinekahu, and their second daughter; Matewa Kiritapu. As of March 2020, it has been reported that Waititi and Winstanley have been separated for two years. As of now, he is living a single life without any disturbances and he is currently focusing on his career. He is straight by sexual orientation.
Previously, he was in a relationship with Loren Horsley, an actress.
Source: @nowtolove.co.nz
Net Worth of Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi is a New Zealand filmmaker and actor. His source of wealth is from his professional career in filmmaking and acting. The net worth of Taika Waititi is estimated to have $3 Million as of 2020. Moreover, he is also a member of the richest celebrities and directors. He has also signed contracts to work on a Star Wars project. His commercially successful films include "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Hunt for the Wilderpeople". His exact salary is unknown yet. There is no information about the details of his car. In the year 2019, the Marti Noxon sod the house of $2.4 Million to Taika Waititi which is in Studio City, Los Angeles with a size of 2,232 square feet, 4 beds, 3 baths. As of now, Taika Waititi is satisfied with his earnings and he is living a luxurious lifestyle.
Body Measurement of Taika Waititi
With an attractive personality and charming face, Taika Waititi stands at the tall height of 6 ft 2 in his balanced athletic body weight consist of 68 kg. He has brown eyes and his hair color is salt and pepper. He has got a very dashing beard style. His other body measurements such as waist size, chest size, biceps size, and more have not been revealed yet and it is unknown yet. He maintains his body a lot to keep himself fit. Overall, he has got a healthy body.
