Short answers, pulled from the story.
Taika David Cohen arrived in the world on the 16th of August 1975 within the city of Wellington. He grew up across two distinct landscapes, spending time in the Aro Valley suburb and later moving to Raukokore in the Bay of Plenty.
His father belonged to Te Whānau-ā-Apanui descent while his mother carried multiple ethnic heritages including Russian Jewish roots from Novozybkov. Waititi describes himself as a Polynesian Jew yet he was raised primarily connected to his Māori roots and identifies as an atheist who places more stock in indigenous beliefs than organized religion.
Two Cars One Night emerged from this period in 2003 and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film in 2005. The story involves two young boys and a girl meeting in the carpark of a rural pub located in Te Kaha.
Waititi won the screenplay category making him the first person of Māori descent to win in that field for the project Jojo Rabbit which became a black comedy set during World War II. He played the role of Adolf Hitler as an imaginary companion to the young protagonist.
Waititi co-created Reservation Dogs with Sterlin Harjo in 2020 and directed produced and starred as Blackbeard in Our Flag Means Death released March 2022. He also directed an episode of The Mandalorian titled Chapter 8 Redemption and voiced IG-11 in the series which premiered on the 12th of November 2019.