Taika Waititi

Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi's gift for uproarious and absurd humor served him well as director on such films as "What We Do in the Shadows" (2014), "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" (2016) and "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017), which freely mixed humor with horror, action-adventure and other genres. He was born Taika David Waititi in Raukokore, a settlement on New Zealand's North Island, on August 16, 1975. Raised in the country's capital city of Wellington by a Maori father and a Russian Jewish mother, Waititi initially planned to become a painter or a deepsea diver, but fell in love with acting after appearing in high school drama productions. While studying theater and film at Victoria University of Wellington, he also began performing as part of a comedy group, So You're a Man, which also included Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords. The group parted ways after several successful productions in 1996 and 1997, but Waititi and Clement would reunite as a new comedy act, the Humourbeasts, in 1999. The duo's show, "The Untold Tales of Maui," proved exceptionally popular throughout New Zealand and earned them the Billy T. Award, given to up-and-coming New Zealand comedy talent, in 1999. The following year, Waititi co-starred in the dark comedy "Scarfies" (2000), which earned him an NZ Film Award nomination for his turn as a college student who becomes involved in a kidnapping plot. More supporting roles followed, including the road trip comedy "Snakeskin" (2001) and a male stripper on "The Strip" (TV3, 2002-2003). But he soon tired of playing broad sidekick roles, and made his debut as writer and director on the short "John and Pogo" (2002). He struck paydirt with his second effort, "Two Cars, One Night" (2004), a short about two boys and a girl in a parking lot that blossomed into an unexpectedly sweet fable. The film was a remarkable success on the festival and awards circuit, netting an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action short, among numerous other accolades. Waititi would direct several more shorts, including an early version of "What We Do in Shadows" (2005) with Clement, before making his feature debut with "Eagle vs. Shark" (2007).