Biography

Rob Stewart is an award-winning biologist, photographer, conservationist and filmmaker. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Stewart began photographing underwater when he was 13. By the age of 18 he became a scuba instructor and then moved on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, studying in Ontario, Jamaica and Kenya.

Before making Sharkwater (2007), Stewart spent four years traveling the world as chief photographer for the Canadian Wildlife Federation's magazines. Leading expeditions to the most remote areas of the world, Stewart has logged thousands of hours underwater using the latest in camera and rebreather technologies. Stewart's highly sought after images have appeared in nearly every media form worldwide.

While on assignment to photograph sharks in the Galapagos Islands, Stewart discovered illegal longlining, indiscriminately killing sharks within the marine reserve. He tried promoting awareness through print media, but when the public didn't respond, Stewart decided to make a film to bring people closer to sharks. At the age of 22 he left his photography career behind and embarked on a remarkable journey over four years and 12 countries, resulting in the epic Sharkwater.

When Stewart boarded Sea Shepherd's ship, Sharkwater took a turn from a beautiful underwater film into an incredible human drama filled with corruption, espionage, attempted murder charges and mafia rings, forcing Stewart and his crew to become part of the story. During filming, Stewart encountered life threatening obstacles, including diseases such as West Nile, Tuberculosis, Dengue Fever and flesh eating disease.

Sharkwater has been hugely successful, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and winning a "Canada's Top Ten" award. Sharkwater made history with the largest opening weekend of any Canadian documentary, and was the most award-winning documentary of the year, winning over 35 awards at prestigious film festivals around the world. As of 2012 it is the third highest grossing Canadian documentary in the last ten years, next to the high budget films, Nascar and Oceans.

Stewart's hardcover book, Sharkwater: An Odyssey to Save the Planet, was released in October 2007 by Key Porter Books. His book Save the Humans will be released in the Fall of 2012 by Random House.

Stewart continues to work towards conservation and environmental education, speaking at the University of Victoria, Yale University, Vancouver Aquarium, ROM, various TEDx events, and others.

Stewart is on the board of numerous conservation groups including WildAid, Shark Savers and the Shark Research Institute, and recently founded his own charity, United Conservationists, based in Los Angeles and Toronto.

He has made featured appearances on numerous high profile TV shows including Larry King Live, The Today Show, Tonight Show, The Late Show, Nightline, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, ET Canada, Bloomberg, The Hour, BBC1, MTV and others.

In a 2011 The Grid Magazine survey, he was voted top living resident for making Toronto a better place.

Stewart is currently completing work on his second film, Revolution, due in theaters in 2013, with a companion rich digital media component, and How-to Guide to save humanity.
- IMDb mini biography by: Sandy Campbell

Wildlife photographer, he was at 18 a certified scuba-diving instructor.

I thought I had the dream life. I could take pictures of fish and travel the world. It was only when I saw what was happening to the sharks that I realized I couldn't just sit back and not care. At a certain point you have to take action.

[on dealing with environmental decline] What we really need is education, because in every other crisis we've ever faced, once people knew the real situation they took the right moral action. This is what has to happen now, and I do believe it's possible. But it will be an act of revolution, because we don't just have to change the world, we have to change the way we think.

If you sat kids down on day one at school and said, 'Guys, we've fucked up. We've burnt and consumed almost everything, and your future is really grim unless you pay attention, you learn what we've got to tell you, and you come out of this and you start doing something', kids would be getting 'A's. Kids would be studying because the future and their lives would depend on it.