Taika Waititi | Co-Creator, Executive Producer | Reservation Dogs

Taika Waititi is an Academy Award®-winning writer, director and actor. His film Jojo Rabbit received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, and earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film, which was released by Searchlight Pictures, was also nominated for a Golden Globe® for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and earned a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, among other accolades. Previously, Waititi directed the critically acclaimed blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, as well as the beloved indie films Hunt for the Wilderpeople, What We Do in the Shadows, Boy and the Academy Award-nominated short film Two Cars, One Night. He also executive produced through his production company with Carthew Neal, Piki Films, The Breaker Upperers, Baby Done and the first Indigenous Canadian/New Zealand co-production, Night Raiders, which premiered at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival. 

Waititi is in post-production on Next Goal Wins for Searchlight Pictures, which he wrote, directed and produced, based on the 2014 documentary of the same name. He also wrote and directed Thor: Love and Thunder. The highly-anticipated film stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman. He voices “Morrison” in Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios’ Lightyear, the story of “Buzz Lightyear” and his intergalactic adventures, which hit theaters in June. Previously, Waititi was seen in Shawn Levy’s Free Guy from 20th Century Studios alongside Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer and Joe Keery. 

For television, Waititi is the co-creator and executive producer of the Indigenous American teen comedy Reservation Dogs for FX. The series has been well-received, winning the 2021 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series – Short Format and the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best New Scripted Series, as well as earning nominations for this year’s Critics’ Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Writers Guild of America Awards. On screen, Waititi stars as “Blackbeard” in the HBO Max period comedy Our Flag Means Death. He is also the executive producer for the series and directed the pilot episode, which debuted on the streaming platform this past March. Additionally, Waititi directed the Season One finale of The Mandalorian for Disney+, in which he also voices "IG-11.” He serves as executive producer on the critically acclaimed TV adaptation of What We Do in the Shadows, for which he’s directed several episodes.