Joseph Motiki

Joseph "Joe" Frederick Motiki (born July 31, 1972)[1][2] is a Canadian television host, actor, voice actor, and performer. He is best known for hosting the TVOntario children's block The TVOKids Crawlspace and the Food Network game show Ice Cold Cash.

Joseph Motiki
Joseph Motiki
Born
Joseph Frederick Motiki

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Other namesJoe Motiki
EducationRyerson University
OccupationTelevision host, actor, voice actor, performer
Years active1994-present
WebsiteJoe4Life.com

Early life

Joseph Motiki was born in Toronto, Ontario after his parents emigrated from their native South Africa to live in Canada. He grew up in the Borough of East York and attended high school at East York Collegiate Institute. He was an honours student who was active in athletics, and was president of the student government. Motiki enrolled at Ryerson University and graduated from their Radio and Television Arts program.

Career

While attending school, he beat out 350 people to become the host of What, a late night phone-in show for a youth audience on TVOntario. The pilot episode aired on May 30, 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.[3]

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 Motiki 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, Arthur, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and The Magic School Bus. During these segments they would read viewer mail, promote TV shows, and perform a wide array of original characters. Motiki spent four years on TVOKids, appearing at live events in Ontario and helping the show achieve its highest ratings ever or since.[4] He left The Crawlspace on May 30, 1999.[5]

Pursuing new projects, Motiki continued to host various programs and live events. He also started voice acting in several animated television series. His first was Crashbox on HBO, playing the digitally enhanced stop-motion character Professor Rocket, both on the show and in a cycle of shorts entitled Who Knew?. He then provided the voice of Rocky Canyon for the TV series Rescue Heroes, subsequently voicing Rocky Canyon for the Fisher-Price action figures and the 2003 film Rescue Heroes: The Movie. He also voiced Metabee in the TV series Medabots.

In 2002 Motiki hosted the first two seasons of an updated version of the teen quiz show Reach for the Top, which was a high school competition for the provincial SchoolReach trivia championship. That same year Motiki became host of POV Sports on CBC, a showcase for athletes and sports both professional and amateur. During his two seasons on POV Sports, Motiki travelled across North America to cover stories and events, including the Gravity Games, the 91st Grey Cup, the historic 2003 Heritage Classic from Commonwealth Stadium, and X Games IX in Los Angeles, California. He also worked with CBC Sports on the 90th Grey Cup broadcast, the 2003 Canada Games in New Brunswick, and the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics from Sherbrooke, Quebec where he interviewed 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 documentary 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; it was honoured at the prestigious Columbus International Film Festival. He travelled to Asia, Australia, and Europe to host the travel show Get Outta Town on Encore with Barbara Mamabolo, a TV series about how young people live around the world. Motiki also served three times as host of the provincial Junior and Senior Championships of the Spelling Bee of Canada in 2006 and served three times as host of the Miss World Canada event. From 2007-2008 he hosted the YTV game show Game Gurus.

Motiki played constituency assistant Trevor Jones in the comedy series She's the Mayor[6] for VisionTV, with Janet-Laine Green, Scott Wentworth, Denis Akiyama, Tonya Williams, and Colin Mochrie. The series, about a retired school principal who becomes mayor of the fictional town of Fairfax, was Vision's first original production and the broadcaster's second-most watched TV series during its run.[4] He also appeared in TV shows such as Degrassi: The Next Generation and Wingin' It; films such as Blindness and Phantom Punch; and voiced characters for several animated TV series, such as Life's a Zoo.tv,[7] which won the 2009 Gemini Award for Best Animated Series,[8] and Rescue Heroes.

He has made numerous appearances on projects across various platforms. Between 2002 and 2009 he was a frequent guest on the sports talk program Off the Record with Michael Landsberg[9] on TSN. He also played himself on the Canadian web series The Casting Room with its creator Naomi Snieckus, and was a guest on the online podcast Deekast[10] with Derek Veenhof, where he discussed numerous subjects including his career beginnings at TVOntario.

In 2012, Motiki hosted the Food Network production Ice Cold Cash[11] where he pretended to be an ice cream vendor who would surprise customers with questions about food and award them cash prizes for correct answers. He was the in-stadium Athletics host for both the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games; events were held at York Lions Stadium, which was known as CIBC Athletics Stadium during the Games.

In 2016, he hosted the live show CSP Live[12] from the producers of Canada's Smartest Person. The Facebook-exclusive broadcast gives viewers the opportunity to compete interactively in challenges based on the theory of multiple intelligences presented them by Motiki.

Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
2003 Rescue Heroes: The Movie Rocky Canyon
2006 Lie Detctive McCoy Short
2008 Blindness Guard
Phantom Punch Announcer Trent Mays
2015 Hellions N/A Sound Department - loop group
2019 PAW Patrol: Ready Race Rescue The Whoosh
Television
Year Series Role Notes
1994-1995 What Host 1995 Gemini nomination for Best Youth Program in Canada
1995-1999 The TVOKids Crawlspace Host
1999 Crashbox Professor Rocket "Psycho Math" show and segment Who Knew
1999-2000 Medabots Metabee English version
1999-2002 Rescue Heroes Rocky Canyon 40 episodes
2000 The 7th Portal Ozubo Mondumo/Conjure Man
Quints Cameraman TV film
The Other Me VJ TV film
2001 Blue Murder Delroy Livingston Season 1, Episode 11: "Remington Park"
2002 The Scream Team Customs Ghost TV film
90th Grey Cup Pre-Game Show Reporter
2002-2003 POV Sports Host
Reach for the Top Host
2002-2009 Off the Record with Michael Landsberg Himself
2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics Host
2004 Degrassi: The Next Generation Himself Season 4, Episode 1: "Time Stands Still: Part 1"
Wild Card Max Season 2, Episode 10: "Bada Bing, Bada Busiek"
Totally Spies! Boogie Gus Season 3, Episode 6: "Forward to the Past"
2004-2006 The Spelling Bee Host
2005 Spider Riders Shadow English version
Get Outta Town Host Season 1, Episode 9: "Sydney, Australia"
Season 1 episode 10: "Shanghai, China"
2006 Instant Star Courier Season 2, Episode 13: "Date With the Night"
6teen Tad Season 2, Episode 13: "Waiting to Ex-sale"
2007 Magi-Nation Ugger
Fire Serpent Lieutenant TV film
Urban Vermin Madman
2008 Gotta Catch Santa Claus Twins TV film
2008-2009 Life's a Zoo Dr. D
2009 The Amazing Spiez! Boogie Gus Season 1, Episode 9: "Operation Gus Jr."
2009-2012 Bakugan Battle Brawlers Ingram/Akwimos/Druman/Announcer/additional voices 61 episodes
2010 Pirates: Adventures in Art Leo
2010-2011 Turbo Dogs Five Season 1, Episode 37: "The Muffled Up Mess"
Season 1 episode 47: "Best Buds Forever"
Beyblade: Metal Fusion Dan Sado and Egyptian DJ 5 episodes
2011 She's the Mayor Trevor Jones 13 episodes
Wingin' It Angel Tech Officer Season 2, Episode 21: "Friday Night Ever"
The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! Benny/Big Bruce/King Cecil/Quimby/Melvin/Tommy Toad 4 episodes
The Casting Room Himself Season 2, Episode 2: "Joseph Motiki"
2012 Ice Cold Cash Host
Super Why! Additional voice Season 2, Episode 13: "Zora's Art Adventure"
2014 Lucky Duck Male dolphins Television Film
2015 Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race Ryan 23 episodes
2016 American Gothic I.T. expert Marc Stone Season 1, Episode 5: "The Artist in His Museum"
Murdoch Mysteries Colin Dunn Season 10, Episode 2: "Great Balls of Fire: Part 2"
Atomic Puppet Chief Kevlar
CSP Live Host Live; streamed every Wednesday on Facebook
2016-2019 Odd Squad Mr. Lightning 5 episodes
2017 People of Earth Radiometer Operator Season 2, Episode 8: "Alien Experiencer Expo"
2017-present Hotel Transylvania: The Series Pedro
2017–present Top Wing Oscar
2018-present Miss Persona Mayor Joe
2019-present Charlie's Colorforms City A Clumsy Silly Face/An Athletic Silly Face/Octo-Bocto 12 episodes
gollark: It's just so poorly designed.
gollark: Go is very satanic, yes.
gollark: Memory-unsafe languages are.
gollark: Yes, exactly, he gets it.
gollark: * apioforms

References
  1. https://www.tvo.org/video/archive/joe-motiki-mrs-percy
  2. https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Joseph-Motiki/
  3. "Joseph Motiki". www.facebook.com.
  4. "Joe4Life.com - Bio". joe4life.com. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  5. "Joseph Motiki". Black in Canada. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  6. "She's The Mayor website". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  7. "Life's a Zoo". www.lifesazoo.tv.
  8. Vlessing, Etan (October 29, 2009). ""Life's a Zoo.tv" among early Gemini winners". Reuters. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  9. "Joseph Motiki". www.facebook.com.
  10. "#6. Joe Motiki (TVOkids)".
  11. "Architect Films". Architect Films.
  12. "Canada's Smartest Person". www.facebook.com.
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