Taika Waititi's Real Name: Taika David Waititi

Quick answer: Taika Waititi's full name is Taika David Waititi. He was born on August 16, 1975, in Raukokore, New Zealand. He has also been known as Taika Cohen, and Britannica lists "Taika David Cohen" as another name. The director, writer, and actor made What We Do in the Shadows and Thor: Ragnarok. He won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Jojo Rabbit (2019) (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Britannica gives his name "in full" as Taika David Waititi and notes he is "also called Taika David Cohen." The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Waititi, Taika," with the variant "Cohen, Taika." Its citation describes him as "a.k.a. Taika Cohen; b. Aug. 16, 1975." The citation identifies him as a New Zealand-born director, writer, painter, comedian, and actor "of Maori Te Whanau-a-Apanui and Jewish descent."

According to Britannica, his father was a Māori artist and his mother, a teacher, was of mostly Russian Jewish descent. His parents divorced when he was young. He grew up mostly with his mother in Wellington, with many visits to his father's home in Raukokore. He attended Onslow College and studied theater at Victoria University of Wellington (B.A., 1997). There he was in the comedy group So You're a Man and later formed the duo The Humourbeasts with Jemaine Clement.

Career highlights

Waititi's short film Two Cars, One Night (2003) earned an Academy Award nomination. His first feature, Eagle vs Shark (2007), was followed by episodes of Flight of the Conchords. He wrote and directed Boy (2010), a major hit in New Zealand, in which he also played the boy's absent father. It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

With Clement he wrote, directed, and starred in the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows (2014). He also executive produced the later TV series (2019–24). He then adapted a Barry Crump novel into Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). Britannica says he "injected light comedy to good effect" into Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok (2017). He later directed Thor: Love and Thunder.

Jojo Rabbit (2019), adapted from Christine Leunens's novel Caging Skies, was nominated for best picture and won him the Oscar for best adapted screenplay. He directed the first-season finale of The Mandalorian and voiced the droid IG-11, earning an Emmy nomination. He played Blackbeard in Our Flag Means Death (2022–23) and directed the soccer comedy Next Goal Wins.

Name notes for searchers

Taika is his given first name, David his middle name, and Waititi his father's Māori surname. Cohen is an alternate surname that he has also been credited under, recorded by both Britannica and the Library of Congress. Both names refer to the same filmmaker.