Joseph Motiki
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Joseph Frederick Motiki (born July 31, 1972) is a Canadian actor and television host. He is best known for hosting the
TVOntario TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...
children's block '' The TVOKids Crawlspace'' and the
Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...
game show ''
Ice Cold Cash ''Ice Cold Cash'' is a Canadian game show that ran from February 10 to June 6, 2012 for 28 episodes on Food Network. Reruns of the show aired on Dabl in the United States from 2020 to 2023 and still currently air on GameTV Go as of 2025. Overvie ...
''.


Early life

Joseph Motiki was born in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
after his parents emigrated from their native
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
to live in Canada. He grew up in the Borough of
East York East York is a district and former municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The borough was dissolved ...
and attended high school at
East York Collegiate Institute East York Collegiate Institute (East York CI, EYCI, or East York), formerly East York High School is a public high-school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the former borough of East York at the corner of Coxwell and Cosburn Avenues. I ...
. He was an honours student who was active in athletics, and was president of the student government. Motiki enrolled at
Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District in downtown Toronto, although i ...
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 TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...
. 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 The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...
for Best Youth Program in Canada. In March 1995, Motiki became co-host of ''The
TVOKids TVOKids (stylized as tvokids) is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by TVO (formerly TVOntario) in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three ter ...
Crawlspace'', TVOntario's after school block of children's programs, alongside
Patty Sullivan Patricia Sullivan (born March 17, 1968) is a Canadians, Canadian television presenter and actress. She is best known for hosting the TVOKids programming block on TVOntario from 1994 to 2003 and the Kids' CBC block on CBC Television from 2003 to ...
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 ''Art Attack'' is a British children's television programme revolving around art, originally hosted by Neil Buchanan on CITV from 1990 to 2007, and subsequently hosted by Lloyd Warbey on Disney Junior from 2012 to 2015. The original program ...
'', ''
Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...
'', ''
Bill Nye the Science Guy ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by Seattle public television stat ...
'', and ''
The Magic School Bus ''The Magic School Bus'' is an American edutainment media franchise which includes a book series, TV adaptations, a streaming series, and various video games. Each of the stories within the franchise focuses on the antics of the fictional ...
''. 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 TVOKids (stylized as tvokids) is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by TVO (formerly TVOntario) in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three ter ...
'', appearing at live events in Ontario and helping the show achieve its highest ratings ever or since. He left ''The Crawlspace'' on May 30, 1999. 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 ''Crashbox'' is a stop-motion animated edutainment children's television series co-created by Eamon Harrington and John Watkin for HBO Family that ran from 1999 to 2000 in the United States. It was HBO's second series (their first being '' B ...
'' on
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
, 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 Rescue Heroes are a line of Action figure, action figures targeted towards preschool-age children, released by Fisher-Price. The line was first introduced in 1997, depicting various rescue personnel, such as firefighters, police officers, and con ...
'', 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 ''Medabots'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese role-playing video game franchise created by Rin Horuma (Horumarin) and currently owned by Imagineer. The main series of RPGs focus on collecting and battling with the titular robots. The bulk of t ...
''. In 2002 Motiki hosted the first two seasons of an updated version of the teen quiz show ''
Reach for the Top ''Reach for the Top'' (also known simply as ''Reach'') is a Canadian trivia based academic quiz competition for high school students. In the past, it has also been a game show nationally broadcast on the CBC. Matches are currently aired online ...
'', 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 Gravity Games was a multi-sport competition originating in Providence, Rhode Island that was broken down into Winter (only held in 2000) and Summer (held from 1999 to 2006) adaptations. The competition featured a variety of extreme sports su ...
, the
91st Grey Cup The 91st Grey Cup was the 2003 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Montreal Alouettes on November 16 at Taylor Field, in Regina, Saskatchewan before 50,909 fans. The two teams had played during t ...
, the historic
2003 Heritage Classic The Heritage Classic was an outdoor ice hockey game played on November 22, 2003, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. It was the first National Hockey League (NHL) game to be played outdoors as a p ...
from Commonwealth Stadium, and
X Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Mo ...
IX in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. He also worked with
CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...
on the
90th Grey Cup The 90th Grey Cup was the 2002 CFL season, 2002 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Montreal Alouettes on November 24 at Commonwealth Stadium, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Alouettes defeated the Eski ...
broadcast, the 2003
Canada Games The Canada Games () is a multi-sport event held every two years, alternating between the Canada Winter Games and the Canada Summer Games. They represent the highest level of national competition for Canadian athletes. Two separate programs are or ...
in New Brunswick, and the
IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics The IAAF U18 Championships in Athletics (until 2015 known as IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics) was a global athletics event comprising track and field events for competitors who were 17 or younger (youth = Under-18). The event was org ...
from Sherbrooke, Quebec where he interviewed current 100m and 200m world record holder
Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...
. ''Sports From The Edge'' is a documentary that Motiki hosted in 2004, produced by Keith MacNeill of
CBC North CBC North (; ; ) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and television service for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon of Northern Canada as well as Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik in the Nord-du-Québec region of Quebec. Hist ...
. The documentary follows native athlete Steve Amarualik from his training in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, to his performance at the 2004
Arctic Winter Games The Arctic Winter Games are a biennial multi-sport and indigenous cultural event involving circumpolar peoples residing in communities or countries bordering the Arctic Ocean. History The Arctic Winter Games were founded in 1969 under the leade ...
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 An encore is an additional performance given by performers at the conclusion of a show or concert, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford Universi ...
with
Barbara Mamabolo Barbara Mamabolo (born November 30, 1985) is a Canadian actress and singer. Career Mamabolo has made guest-star appearances on the critically acclaimed series '' The Eleventh Hour'', '' Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye'', and ''Relic Hunter''. Her stage cr ...
, 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 Spelling Bee of Canada is a charitable, educational spelling bee organization founded by Julie Spence in the Greater Toronto Area in 1987. As of 2022, over 70,000 children have participated in the competition. The SBOC holds an annual spelling co ...
'' in 2006 and served three times as host of the
Miss World Canada Miss World Canada is a national Beauty pageant in Canada held annually in different incarnations since 1957 to select representative to the Miss World contest. In 2017 MTC-W Inc. obtained the exclusive rights to send the Canadian representative t ...
event. From 2007 to 2008 he hosted the YTV game show '' Game Gurus''. Motiki played constituency assistant Trevor Jones in the comedy series ''
She's the Mayor ''She's the Mayor'' is a Canadian television sitcom which aired on Vision TV in 2011."She' ...
'' for
VisionTV VisionTV is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Category A services, Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is ...
, with
Janet-Laine Green Janet-Laine Green (born December 31, 1951) is a Canadian actress, director, producer and teacher, active for over 25 years. Best known for her roles in '' She's the Mayor'', '' Seeing Things'' and '' This is Wonderland'', this Toronto-based film ...
,
Scott Wentworth Scott Wentworth (born 1955) is an American actor and director who immigrated to Canada in 1986. Early life Wentworth was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1955. Career After starting his career in New York City, he began a long association wit ...
,
Denis Akiyama Denis Van Akiyama (May 28, 1952 – June 28, 2018) was a Canadian actor of stage, film and television, perhaps best known for portraying Shinji in ''Johnny Mnemonic'', and for voicing Silver Samurai / Kenuichio Harada and Sunfire in ''X-Men'', ...
,
Tonya Williams Tonya Williams (born July 12, 1958) is a Canadian actress, producer, and activist. Sometimes credited as Tonya Lee Williams, she is best known for her role as Dr. Olivia Barber Winters on the American daytime drama ''The Young and the Restless' ...
, and
Colin Mochrie Colin Andrew Mochrie (; born November 30, 1957) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor, writer, producer and improvisational comedian, best known for his appearances on the British and American versions of the improvisational TV show ''Whose Line ...
. 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. He also appeared in TV shows such as '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' and ''
Wingin' It ''Wingin' It'' (originally titled ''Angel on Campus'' prior to its debut) is a Canadian teen sitcom which aired on Family. The series was produced by Temple Street Productions in association with Family. It stars Demetrius Joyette and Dylan Eve ...
''; films such as ''
Blindness Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...
'' and '' Phantom Punch''; and voiced characters for several animated TV series, such as '' Life's a Zoo.tv'', which won the 2009 Gemini Award for Best Animated Series, and ''
Rescue Heroes Rescue Heroes are a line of Action figure, action figures targeted towards preschool-age children, released by Fisher-Price. The line was first introduced in 1997, depicting various rescue personnel, such as firefighters, police officers, and con ...
''. He has made numerous appearances on projects across various platforms. He played himself on the Canadian web series ''The Casting Room'' with its creator
Naomi Snieckus Naomi Snieckus (born February 24, 1974) is a Canadian actress, best known for her regular television role as Bobbi in '' Mr. D'' and her appearance as Nina in ''Saw 3D''."As seen on TV, a lot". ''The Globe and Mail'', June 29, 2012. She is also ...
, and was a guest on the online podcast ''Deekast'' with Derek Veenhof, where he discussed numerous subjects including his career beginnings at TVOntario. In 2012, Motiki hosted the
Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...
production ''Ice Cold Cash'' 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 The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...
and
2015 Parapan American Games The 2015 Parapan American Games, officially the V Parapan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 ParaPan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event for Disabled sports, athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tra ...
; events were held at
York Lions Stadium York Lions Stadium is an outdoor sports stadium on the Keele Campus of Toronto's York University in the former city of North York. It is home to the York Lions, the varsity teams of York University, the Toronto Arrows of Major League Rugby and ...
, which was known as CIBC Athletics Stadium during the Games. In 2016, he hosted the live show ''CSP Live'' from the producers of ''
Canada's Smartest Person ''Canada's Smartest Person'' is a Canadian reality television competition series. Contestants compete in a series of different challenges based on American psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences to earn the title of "Canada ...
''. The Facebook-exclusive broadcast gives viewers the opportunity to compete interactively in challenges based on the
theory of multiple intelligences The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) posits that human intelligence is not a single general ability but comprises various distinct modalities, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, and spatial intelligences. Introduced in Howar ...
presented them by Motiki.


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links

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Black In Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Motiki, Joe 1972 births Living people Black Canadian broadcasters Black Canadian male actors Canadian game show hosts Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian people of South African descent Male actors from Toronto People from East York, Toronto Toronto Metropolitan University alumni