Waititi’s parents split up when he was around five, and he was raised primarily by his mother. He attended Onslow College for secondary school. He studied theatre at Victoria University of Wellington and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1997. He originally used his mother’s surname, Cohen, for his work in film and writing, while his father’s surname, Waititi, was used for his visual arts endeavors. He continued to use the name Waititi professionally following the success of his first short film.

While a student at Victoria University, Waititi was part of the five-member ensemble So You’re a Man, which toured New Zealand and Australia with some success. 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. Among a variety of artistic interests, Waititi began making comical short films for New Zealand’s annual 48-hour film contest. In 2005 his short film Two Cars, One Night earned him an Academy Award nomination. At the awards ceremony, he famously feigned falling asleep as the nominations were being read out. His first feature film, oddball romantic comedy Eagle vs Shark, was released in U.S. theatres for limited distribution in 2007. The film stars Waititi’s then real-life partner, Loren Horsley, as Lily. The same year, Waititi wrote and directed one episode of the TV show Flight of the Conchords and was director of another.

His second feature, Boy, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010, and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Waititi also took one of the main roles, as the ex-con father who returns to his family. On its release in New Zealand, Boy received enthusiastic reviews and was successful at the local box office, eclipsing several records. After the success of Boy, Waititi hoped that the film’s signature track “Poi E” would get to number one (for the second time) on the New Zealand charts. The song ultimately reached number three on the charts, but managed to become number one on iTunes. In 2011, Waititi directed New Zealand TV series Super City starring Madeleine Sami, who plays five characters living in one city. That same year, Waititi portrayed Thomas Kalmaku in the superhero film Green Lantern.

Waititi married fellow Māori filmmaker Chelsea Winstanley in 2011. They have two daughters.

In 2013, Waititi co-wrote and co-directed vampire comedy mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows with friend and fellow comedian Jemaine Clement. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014. Waititi and Clement played members of a group of vampires who live in an appropriately gothic house in modern-day Wellington. A television adaptation of the film was commissioned in May 2018, with Waititi on board as an executive producer and director. The series of the same name premiered on FX in March 2019. The series’ second season received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series.

In 2017, Waititi won the award for New Zealander of the Year, but was unable to receive it in person due to work commitments. That same year, Waititi directed his first major film, Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, which was released in October. He also portrayed Korg, a Kronan, via motion capture in the film. He had previously directed two shorts for Marvel called “Team Thor”, which dealt with Thor’s living in Australia with his roommate, Darryl Jacobson. Waititi was later consulted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely regarding Thor’s storylines for Avengers: Infinity War.

In October 2018, Lucasfilm announced that Waititi 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. The series premiered on 12 November 2019; Waititi also voices a droid bounty hunter named IG-11 in the series. He directed the first season finale episode of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 8: Redemption”. His voiceover work on the series earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in 2020. In 2020, Waititi narrated a charity reading of James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

Waititi was set to collaborate with Mark Gustafson to direct the upcoming stop-motion animated film Bubbles, which was about the life of Michael Jackson seen from the perspective of his pet chimpanzee, Bubbles. However, Waititi left the project in 2019 due to a heavy work schedule. That same year, Waititi 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. Waititi plays Adolf Hitler as the boy’s imaginary friend. For his work on the film, Waititi received two Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning the latter. This made him the first person of Māori 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.

Waititi was reportedly set to direct a new live-action film adaptation 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, causing Akira to be delayed indefinitely. Waititi is also set to direct a feature film adaptation of Next Goal Wins; he will co-write the script with Iain Morris, while Garrett Basch, Jonathan Cavendish, Andy Serkis, Mike Brett and Steve Jamison will serve as producers.

As of March 2020, Waititi 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. In May 2020, it was announced that Waititi is set to direct and co-write (with Krysty Wilson-Cairns) an upcoming live-action Star Wars film.

In the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Waititi was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film.