Joe Motiki

Joseph (Joe) Frederick Motiki is a Canadian television host and performer.

Motiki was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario and graduated in 1995 from the Radio & Television Arts program at Ryerson University. While an undergraduate at Ryerson, Motiki beat out 350 hopefuls to become host of "What", a late-night phone-in program for youth on TVOntario. The pilot episode aired May 30th, 1994 and the show was broadcast live on Tuesday nights starting September 27, 1994 for one season. Dealing with issues related to current events and popular culture, "What" was nominated for the 1995 Gemini Award for Best Youth Program in Canada.

In March 1995, Motiki became co-host of "The TVOKids Crawlspace", TVOntario's after school block of children's programs, alongside Patty Sullivan and Kevin Brauch. Three months later he officially replaced Brauch, who left to host other shows on TVO. Patty and Joe appeared in live interstitial breaks between shows such as "Art Attack", "Magic School Bus" and "Bill Nye The Science Guy". During these segments they would run contests, read viewer mail, and perform a wide array of original characters. Motiki spent four years on "TVOKids", appearing at live events all over Ontario and helping the show achieve its highest ratings ever or since. He retired from the Crawlspace on May 30th, 1999.

Pursuing new projects, Motiki continued to host various programs and live events. He also started voice acting in numerous animated series. His first was "Crashbox" on HBO, playing the digitally-enhanced stop motion character Professor Rocket on the show, and in a cycle of shorts titled "Who Knew?". He then provided the voice of rookie mountain climber Rocky Canyon for three seasons of the hit cartoon series "Rescue Heroes", subsequently voicing Rocky for the Fisher Price action figures and 2003's "". He played the manic and stubborn Metabee on the popular anime hit "Medabots", which had its inaugural American run on Fox for two seasons. He also played the part of South African data raider Ozubo Monduma/Conjureman, who is recruited along with five other international teenagers to save Earth in "7th Portal", produced by Stan Lee Media. Recent animated roles include dream creature Ugger on "Magi-Nation" and the frenetic GLF member Madman on "Urban Vermin".

In 2002 Motiki became host of the updated version of the classic teen quiz show "Reach For The Top", the high school competition for the provincial SchoolReach trivia championship. He was unable to host the third season due to a scheduling conflict and was replaced by Nicole Stamp. That same year Motiki became host of "POV Sports" on CBC, a showcase for amateur and professional athletes, sports and activities. During his two seasons on "POV", Motiki travelled across North America to cover stories and events, including the Gravity Games, the 91st Grey Cup, the historic Heritage Classic from Commonwealth Stadium and X Games IX in Los Angeles, CA. He also worked with CBC Sports on the 90th Grey Cup broadcast, the 2003 Canada Games in Bathurst/Campbellton, New Brunswick, and the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics from Sherbrooke, Quebec where he interviewed, amongst others, current 100m and 200m world record holder Usain Bolt.

"Sports From The Edge" is an award-winning documentary that Motiki hosted in 2004, produced by Keith MacNeill of CBC North. The doc follows native athlete Steve Amarualik from his training in Resolute Bay, Nunavut to his performance at the 2004 Arctic Winter Games in Fort McMurray, Alberta. "Edge" was honoured at the prestigious Columbus International Film Festival. Motiki also served three times as host of the provincial Junior and Senior Championships of the "Spelling Bee of Canada" [TVOntario Spelling Bee of Canada list of hosts [http://www.tvo.org/spellingBee/officials.html] ] most recently in 2006; served three times as host of the Miss World Canada event, most recently in 2006; hosted the YTV family game show "Game Gurus" for the '07-'08 TV season; and shot "Life Lab", a pilot for the CBC documentary unit in 2008.

His list of acting credits include appearances in "Fire Serpent" and several Disney MOWs; roles in series including "Doc", "Wild Card", and ""; and supporting roles in the 2008 feature films "Blindness" and "Phantom Punch (film)".

Currently, Motiki is hosting the travel show "Get Outta Town" [Get Outta Town web page [http://getouttatown.tv] ] on WAM!. He also makes regular appearances on the panel of "Off The Record". Current animated roles include Dr. D in the new digital stop-motion Teletoon comedy "Life's A Zoo.tv" [Life's A Zoo.tv web site, [http://www.lifesazoo.tv] ] and battle spider Shadow on "Spider Riders".

External links

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* [http://www.joe4life.com/ Joe Motiki web site]

References