Olly coddington biography

Waikato-raised Olly Coddington was working for Māori Television when he got his break as a TV presenter.

Coddington began learning te reo while growing up in Raglan. In the sixth form at Hamilton Boys' High School, he competed in Māori speech contests.

Olly Coddington - Biography - IMDb

Coddington's ancestry is Māori (Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), Rarotongan and Pākeha. He got early screen experience as host of Making Mistakes, a 2003 educational video about marae protocol. 

After leaving school he spent six months touring primary schools, playing a pirate in Duffy's High Sea Adventure. 

By 2005 Coddington was working as a tape operator at Māori Television.

He was busy digitising and dubbing footage when he heard about an audition for Mai Time. The TVNZ show for Māori youth was hunting for a new co-presenter. "I just auditioned and gave it heaps." 

Mai Time was one of New Zealand's longest-running youth shows. Swapping between English and Olly Coddington - NZ On Screen QIJ