Why did you decide to use actors for this project, rather than just leading news correspondents?

 

DAVID: It was really important to make sure we had reach with this series, so we decided that we would find well-known figures who are passionate about environmental issues, but not necessarily experts.  We didn't want them to be experts.  We wanted them to ask questions on behalf of the audience to drive that connection as concerned citizens, and they've done it spectacularly well.

 

How did you get the YEARS’ correspondents to come together for this project?

 

DANIEL: We were very selective about the celebrities and journalists we approached for this project. We didn’t want famous people doing cameos – we wanted people who had an authentic commitment to the environment who could bring their own insights to help us tell the story. Then we gave them an opportunity to do something that most of them hadn't done before, which was go into the field as correspondents.

 

JOEL: Our correspondents were enthusiastic about the opportunity to work on the series to shed light on issues that are important to them, as made evident by the dedication of these correspondents to combating climate change in their work both on screen and off. For example, Harrison Ford is a Conservation International Board Member; Matt Damon is Co-founder of Water.org; Don Cheadle is a UN Environmental Program Global Ambassador; and Ian Somerhalder is the Founder of his namesake organization that is driven to educate and engage youth, particularly as it relates to the environment.

 

You traveled the globe to film this docu-series. How did you determine which areas to investigate and why?

 

JOEL: Before we shot a frame of video, we spent a full year researching potential stories, talking to leading climate scientists and developing leads and sources.  Once we had several dozen candidates, we winnowed the stories down by what would be the most compelling and drive the most impact.  The location was then determined by wherever the story was best told.  At the end of the day, about two out of three stories take place in the U.S., so our hope is to further the conversation around climate change at home as well as abroad.

 

How do you think climate change deniers or skeptics will react to YEARS?

 

DANIEL: Throughout the development of YEARS, we've been respectful of all points of view around climate change.  On screen, we feature citizens honestly expressing their questions and trying to figure it all out, often in the midst of dramatic personal strife.  While I’m convinced by the research and evidence that climate change is real, human caused and that we need urgent action, we don’t just want to attract viewers who agree with this. YEARS is a show for everybody.

 

Is there hope that people will pay more attention to climate change and its impact after viewing the series?

 

DANIEL: Yes. YEARS is our effort to invite Americans, and others around the world, to take a fresh look at climate change so they can truly understand – with their hearts as well as their minds – the profound stakes, the unmistakable urgency and why they need to lead their leaders to do the right thing.

 

DAVID: The goal of YEARS is to galvanize a national conversation on the realities of climate change and inspire people to share their own stories and empower them to get involved in solutions. We’re also implementing an engagement campaign that will extend this effort beyond the broadcast to encourage our global leaders in politics, business and religion, as well as concerned citizens, to state where they stand on key climate issues and take action. 

 

FAQ

By Joe Romm, Ph.D.

Chief Science Advisor, YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

 

What is the scientific basis for the claims you’ve made in the series?

As humanity’s understanding of human-caused climate change is expanding rapidly, the series’ producers and science advisors based their claims on peer-reviewed science and interviews with dozens of the world’s top climate scientists. The climate scientists – both those featured in the series and those who were consulted – have offered to provide their contact information to further explain their findings, should there be a request.

 

But isn’t it true that there is no scientific consensus on global warming?

Ninety-seven percent of climate experts agree that humans are causing global warming. There is a broad consensus among scientists that the climate is being changed by human activity. The Associated Press reported last year that “Top scientists from a variety of fields say they are as certain that global warming is a real, man-made threat as they are that cigarettes kill.” Furthermore, science academies from 19 countries, including the U.S., U.K. and China, have affirmed the position that humans are causing global warming.

 

Isn’t the climate always changing, naturally?

The climate changes when it is forced to change, and now humans are forcing it to change far more rapidly than ever before. Past climate change reveals that our climate is very sensitive to carbon dioxide. Levels of CO₂ in the air have increased 40% over the past 150 years, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, which has warmed the planet more than it has in thousands of years.

 

Temperature records clearly show that the Earth has continued to warm over the past century. A 2010 study included ten key fingerprints of human-caused warming, and each fingerprint is moving in the direction expected of a warming globe.

 

Hasn’t global warming stopped since 1998?

The latest scientific research makes it clear that surface temperatures are continuing to rise. Global records indicate that 2010 was the hottest year on record, and the 2000s were the hottest decade on record. As nearly 90% of all global warming ends up in the ocean, observations taken there further illustrate that global warming continues at a rapid pace.

 

Doesn’t recent cold weather disprove global warming?

A short-term cold spell says nothing about the long-term trend of increasing global temperatures. The normal ups and downs of weather can make it hard to see slow changes in climate. To find climate trends you need to look at how weather is changing over a longer period of time. Observing high and low temperature data from recent decades demonstrates that new record highs now occur nearly twice as often as new record lows.

 

Is there evidence that carbon dioxide emissions are causing global warming?

Without greenhouse gases, like CO₂ and water vapor, the Earth's surface would on average be 60°F colder than it is now. Humans are adding CO₂ to the atmosphere at an unprecedented pace, mainly by burning fossil fuels. There are multiple lines of evidence that point to increased CO₂ as the cause of rising temperatures. As a 2009 NOAA-led report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program noted, only the increase in manmade CO₂ and the greenhouse effect can explain the rate and magnitude of recent surface temperature warming, the observed atmospheric profile of warming, the observed changes in ocean heat content, and the increased levels of atmospheric moisture, to name a few. The major 2013 summary report and literature review by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the evidence has gotten much stronger in recent years that human-caused emissions are driving climate change.

 

Are you blaming global warming for all extreme weather?

No. All weather occurs in the context of a changed climate, which makes many extreme events – especially heat waves, droughts, wildfires, deluges and superstorms – more destructive.

 

Like a baseball player on steroids, our climate system is breaking records at an unnatural pace. And like a baseball player on steroids, it’s the wrong question to ask whether a given home run is “caused” by steroids or can be “blamed” on steroids. The question is whether, during the steroids era, you were seeing decades old records smashed on a routine basis by many different players.

 

Are you saying climate change caused Superstorm Sandy?

Climate scientists note that is the wrong question. The question is whether climate change made Superstorm Sandy more destructive – and the answer to that is ‘yes.’  Most significantly, Superstorm Sandy added about 1 foot of sea level rise to an already devastating storm surge, causing the flooding of 70,000 additional homes. A recent NOAA study found that most of the Jersey shore will see Sandy-level storm surges every year within a few decades – if we don’t quickly decrease our use of fossil fuels.

 

How do we know the sea level is rising?

Sea levels are measured by a variety of methods – sediment cores, tidal gauges and satellite measurements. Each of these methods indicates that a rise in sea levels has been accelerating over the past century.

 

Many parts of the world are low-lying, and tens of millions of people will be displaced even by modest sea rises. Further, rice paddies are being inundated with salt water, which destroys the crops. Seawater is contaminating rivers as it mixes with fresh water further upstream, and aquifers are becoming polluted.

 

How does global warming impact droughts?

Climate change warms the ground, which causes greater evaporation. Once the ground dries out, energy from the sun makes both the ground and air even warmer.

 

In addition, climate change shifts precipitation patterns. Scientists have concluded that at least half of the drying in places around the Mediterranean (like Syria) is due to manmade climate change. Climate change also causes earlier snowmelt, reducing the amount of water stored on mountaintops for the summer dry season. Some recent evidence suggests that climate change also weakens the jet streams, which can further extend and exacerbate heat waves and droughts.

How is deforestation linked to climate change?

Deforestation is the second leading contributor of carbon emissions worldwide, after the burning of fossil fuels. In particular, burning trees – a key form of deforestation – releases stored carbon into the air. Research confirms that avoiding deforestation can play a major role in reducing future greenhouse gas concentrations.

 

Can renewable energy sources provide enough power to replace fossil fuels?

Renewable energy can be used to replace higher-carbon sources of energy in the power grid over the next few decades achieving a reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions from power generation.  In some regions of the world, intermittent sources of renewable energy provide 40% or more of electricity. There are also hydro-electric and other baseload (24-hours per day) renewable sources – along with nuclear power.

 

Although some forms of renewable energy do not provide baseload power, others do. For example, geothermal energy is available at all times, concentrated solar thermal energy has storage capability, and wind energy can be stored in compressed air. Furthermore, energy storage is dropping in price and increasing in performance every year. Energy efficiency and demand response efforts (intentional modifications to energy consumption patterns) can also minimize the need for baseload power in most regions.

 

YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

Short Story Summaries

 

CHRISTIE AND THE STORM

CORRESPONDENT:  MARK BITTMAN

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation of his state’s coastline, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie rushes to rebuild as quickly as possible while steadfastly refusing to discuss climate change.  Christie used to acknowledge the scientific consensus on man-made climate change.  New York Times columnist Mark Bittman wants to know why Christie has changed his tune, and what are the stakes involved in ignoring the issue as New Jersey rebuilds for the future?

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS:  Union Beach, NJ; Netherlands

PRAY FOR RAIN

CORRESPONDENT:  DON CHEADLE

Last year, Cargill, the largest privately-held company in the U.S., closed down its huge meat-packing plant in Plainview, TX.  The company said that because of the drought there just weren’t enough cattle to make it worthwhile to keep the plant open. Don Cheadle visits Plainview and finds that most people blame the record heat and drought on the will of God or say it’s part of a natural cycle. Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and Evangelical Christian, has a very different explanation.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS:  Lubbock, TX; Plainview, TX; Portales, NM

 

FIRE LINE

 

CORRESPONDENT:  ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Arnold Schwarzenegger joins an elite team of wild-land firefighters as they battle a new breed of forest fire, one made more deadly by climate change.  And he discovers another killer, one wiping out trees at an even faster rate than forest fires.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS:  Pocatello, ID;  Driggs, ID; Missoula, MT; Superior, MT; Albuquerque, NM; Prescott, AZ; Brussels, Belgium

 

AGAINST THE WIND

CORRESPONDENT:  AMERICA FERRERA

Renewable energy, once considered too expensive to deploy on a large scale, is making major inroads in the United States. To traditional energy producers, the shift to cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar represents a threat to their interests in the market. Through a network of well-funded political organizations, fossil fuel interests are battling to shut down renewable energy standards in the states. Correspondent America Ferrera profiles prominent climate skeptic James Taylor of the Heartland Institute as he crusades against clean energy, and investigates the battle over the future of renewable energy in the U.S.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: Beaumont, KS; Topeka, KS; Denver, CO; Little Rock, AR; Las Vegas, NV; Manchester, NH; Lancaster, CA, Washington, DC; Santa Monica, CA.

 

THE GOVERNOR

CORRESPONDENT:  OLIVIA MUNN

Jay Inslee was a leader on climate change in the U.S. House of Representatives.  A year ago, he was elected governor of Washington, in part because of his commitment to addressing climate change.   As governor, he’s facing a well-financed campaign by the coal industry to build export depots that could ship 100 million tons of coal to Asia each year.  Correspondent Olivia Munn profiles the nation’s most climate-conscious governor and reports on what he’ll do about the coal export depots.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS:  Seattle, Olympia; Whatcom County, WA

 

RISING TIDE

CORRESPONDENT:  CHRIS HAYES

When Superstorm Sandy killed 24 people on Staten Island, Congressman Michael Grimm worked night and day to help constituents who lost loved ones and were left homeless by the storm.  In Sandy’s wake, Grimm, a conservative Republican, didn’t believe humans have much to do with global warming. Correspondent Chris Hayes follows Grimm for a year to see what he can do for the residents of Staten Island – and what he might learn about climate change.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS:  Tottenville, NY; Washington DC; Greenville, SC; Racine, WI

 

PREACHER’S DAUGHTER

CORRESPONDENT:  IAN SOMERHALDER

The father: a megachurch preacher who doesn’t believe in climate change.  The daughter: an activist trying to shut down the local coal-fired power plant.  The daughter’s hope: to eventually convince her father that global warming is happening, and even, just possibly, see if he’ll make it the topic of his next sermon.  Correspondent Ian Somerhalder listens in on both sides of the evangelical community’s debate over climate change.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: Asheville, NC; Charlotte, NC;  Apalachicola, FL

 

THE SCIENTIST

CORRESPONDENT:  M. SANJAYAN

When you’re the lead scientist of one of the country’s most well respected environmental organizations - a group addressing climate change - you want to see the proof firsthand. M. Sanjayan travels to the ends of the earth to question some of the top climate scientists in their field as they collect key data unlocking the past and future of our planet’s changing climate.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS:  Tupungatito, Chile; Christmas Island, Kiribati; Hawaii; Maine; Las Vegas, NV

 

THE FUTURE IS NOW

CORRESPONDENT:  MICHAEL C. HALL

By 2050, experts predict, the migration of upwards of 150 million people worldwide will be the single most worrisome impact of our climate-changed future.  From LA, where he’s relatively safe from these predictions, Michael C. Hall journeys to the low-lying deltaic country of Bangladesh, where the future is now. Rising seas are expected to submerge 17% of this nation, the worlds’ most vulnerable to climate change.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: Los Angeles, CA; Bangladesh

 

CLIMATE WARS

CORRESPONDENT:  THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

The Pentagon has long seen climate change as a “threat multiplier,” a “stressor” that can take a volatile political situation and push it over the edge. YEARS correspondent Thomas Friedman witnesses this effect in three Middle Eastern countries: Egypt, Syria and Yemen.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: Yemen; Egypt; Syria; Turkey; UK; Kansas; Washington, DC

 

LAST STAND

CORRESPONDENT:  HARRISON FORD

YEARS correspondent Harrison Ford travels to Indonesia to investigate how corruption, illegality and the world’s seemingly unquenchable appetite for palm oil have combined to ravage the landscape and make that country one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases through deforestation.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS:  Java, Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia; Mountain View, CA; Sunnyvale, CA; Los Angeles, CA

 

UNDER THE ICE

CORRESPONDENT:  LESLEY STAHL

No place on earth has seen the effects of global warming more than the vast mineral-rich Arctic. As the ice melts, oil companies are scrambling to drill vast quantities of oil and gas that used to be shrouded by impenetrable layers of ice. But what happens to the planet if the oil companies get their way and extract the Arctic’s riches? Correspondent Lesley Stahl goes to Greenland to investigate.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: Greenland; Kiruna, Sweden; Washington, DC; New York, NY

 

CHASING METHANE

CORRESPONDENT:  MARK BITTMAN

Natural gas is being touted as “America’s energy source” and a way towards a cleaner, greener future.   Correspondent Mark Bittman conducts a year-long investigation to see if that’s true.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: Wilmington, NC; Boulder, CO; Ft. Lupton, CO; Ithaca, NY; Vernal, UT; Conway, AR; Washington, DC

 

MERCURY RISING

CORRESPONDENT: MATT DAMON

Matt Damon takes us on an investigation of the impact of extreme heat and heat waves on human health and mortality.  Rising temperatures are a silent killer of thousands, tens of thousands and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. With a focus on startling new research from leading scientists, epidemiologists and investigators from the Centers for Disease Control, the Environmental Protection Agency and UCLA's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, MERCURY RISING reveals the way that climate change and rising temperatures are becoming a public health emergency - locally, nationally and globally.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Atlanta, GA

 

OVER THE EDGE

CORRESPONDENT: CHRIS HAYES

Before Hurricane Sandy hit their low-lying seaside community, life was already tough for many residents of Far Rockaway, a poor neighborhood on the margins of New York City. In the wake of the storm, some found themselves pushed over the edge. MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes goes on assignment in this intimate story about life after Sandy.

 

SHOOT LOCATION: Far Rockaway, Queens, NY

 

CLIMATE CORPS

CORRESPONDENT:  JESSICA ALBA

Can a handful of intrepid business school students create lasting solutions to climate change? The Environmental Defense Fund thinks so. That's why they've set up an innovative program called Climate Corps.  Each year one hundred of the country's brightest MBA students are tapped to spend their summer embedded with major corporations, analyzing energy waste and efficiency – and then they propose solutions that often have a major impact on both the planet and the bottom-line costs.  Superstar Jessica Alba, an entrepreneur herself, meets three members of Climate Corps and is astonished by the results.

 

SHOOT LOCATIONS: Boca Raton, FL; Las Vegas, NV; Houston, TX; Los Angeles, CA

 

The sweeping SHOWTIME^® docu-series about climate change, YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, will premiere on Sunday, April 13 at 10PM ET/PT.  It will continue to air at 10PM ET/PT on Sundays for the first four weeks before moving to Monday nights at 8PM ET/PT starting Monday, May 12 for the rest of the season. 

The YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY air schedule is as follows:

 

April 2014

Episode 101 – Sunday, April 13 (10PM)

Episode 102 – Sunday, April 20 (10PM)

Episode 103 – Sunday, April 27 (10PM)

May 2014

Episode 104 – Sunday, May 4 (10PM)

Episode 105 – Monday, May 12 (8PM)

Episode 106 – Monday, May 19 (8PM)

Episode 107 – Monday, May 26 (8PM)

June 2014

Episode 108 – Monday, June 2 (8PM)

Episode 109 – Monday, June 9 (8PM)

 

JESSICA ALBA

Correspondent

 

Jessica Alba is an actress, activist, New York Times bestselling author, and entrepreneur. Although known throughout the world for her acting career, it is her role as a mom of two girls that inspired the launch of The Honest Company in January 2012. 

 

With an all-natural, non-toxic product line that offers diapers, personal care and childcare products, nutritional supplements and household cleaners, The Honest Company (Honest.com) is a mission-driven company and certified B Corporation focused on giving children the best possible start, ensuring families’ and communities’ well-being, and safeguarding the planet through sustainable business practices.  In the first year alone, Honest products were listed on the Environmental Working Group’s Sunscreen Guide and recognized by top parenting and eco-friendly awards, including the National Parenting Publication Awards, the Natural Child World Eco-Excellence Awards, Parent Tested Parent Approved, SheKnows Parenting Awards, and The Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards.

 

Jessica’s activism endeavors are extensive.   In 2010, she was the global ambassador and co-chair for 1Goal, an international campaign tied to the World Cup to expand global education, alongside Queen Rania Abdullah of Jordan and Bono. She has been an avid supporter of several non-profits, including V-Day, Healthy Child Healthy World, Step Up Women’s Network, The Children’s Defense Fund, Declare Yourself and VotoLatino. Her passion for social justice, particularly for women and children, has led to several trips to Capitol Hill. Currently, she is the spokesperson for the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition, joining leading public health experts to demand government leadership increase protections against toxic chemicals. She is also on the board of directors of Baby2Baby (Baby2Baby.org), which supplies essential baby gear and clothing to families in need.

 

Jessica was in the top twenty of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business and one of Fortune’s 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2012. She has been named part of Vanity Fair's Next Establishment and Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2012 UK Glamour Women of the Year Awards. She is also the recipient of the Entertainment Media Association’s Green Parent Award and the Mt. Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center Champion for Children Award.  Published in 2013, her book, The Honest Life, an accessible, creative guide to authentic, healthy and stylish living, was a New York Times bestseller.

 

Jessica's acting career began at the age of 12.  After studying at the Atlantic Theatre Company with founders William H. Macy and David Mamet, she went on to gain worldwide recognition as the star of James Cameron’s Dark Angel.  She has since made over 25 feature films, from comedies to dramas, gritty independents to major studio blockbusters that have earned a combined box office total of over $800 million.

 

MARK BITTMAN

Correspondent

There is no one like Mark Bittman, who has been writing about food and cooking—and changing the way Americans eat—since 1980. A food movement visionary, Bittman can make the most complicated topics accessible, including issues as far-ranging as veganism, energy use, global population, all while helping millions of people figure out what to cook for dinner.

Bittman’s core messages—that food and things related have the power to make or break not only our personal health, but that of the planet—are increasingly accepted and broadcast widely. For The New York Times and a wide variety of other publications, Bittman covers policy, agriculture, health, the environment, and more, along with cooking and eating. His body of work spans all media with print and web columns, videos, interviews, TV appearances and shows (he is a regular on The Today Show, has hosted four TV series, and has two more in the works).  He has also published more than 15,000 recipes, many of which have been published in his ground-breaking, best-selling books; three of those are now among the most successful cooking apps ever.

Bittman’s most recent book, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00,  was a number one New York Times bestseller and was credited by Forbes magazine as spawning one of the most important trends of the year. How to Cook Everything—widely considered the new bible of American cooking with well over 1 million copies sold —continues to demonstrate his signature combination of common sense and approachable authority after more than 15 years in print.

 

DON CHEADLE

Correspondent

 

With a resume that’s as varied and expansive as it is rich in depth of the characters he brings to life, Academy Award^® nominee Don Cheadle is, without question, one of the most highly sought after and premier actors of his generation. 

 

Turning in consistently powerful performances, Don has not only taken on challenging roles, but put his talents into producing projects he believes in as well.

 

Don currently stars as MARTY KAAN on the critically acclaimed SHOWTIME^® series House Of Lies. In the midst of its third season, and already having been picked up for a fourth, House Of Lies has earned multiple nominations for the series and Don himself, including two Emmy^® nominations for season one and season two, a Golden Globe^® Award for season one, and a Golden Globe^® nomination and SAG Award^® nomination for season two.  Don also is Executive Producer of the series, and has even stepped behind the camera as director. 

 

2014 is shaping up to be another busy year as Don prepares to direct his first feature, Run The Voodoo Down, which he co-wrote and will produce.  Don will be pulling double duty, starring in the film as well, based on the life of legendary jazz artist, Miles Davis, along with Ewan McGregor and Zoe Saldana. Cheadle is also producing the feature St. Vincent Of Van Nuys in 2014 which stars Bill Murray and Naomi Watts, and he will soon begin filming the sequel to the mega-box-office-hit Avengers: Age Of Ultron, reprising his role of “Colonel James Rhodes” from the 2010 and 2013 Marvel films Iron Man 2 and 3.

 

Don is well known for his passionate performances on stage and screen, stemming from his breakout performance opposite Denzel Washington in Devil In A Blue Dress, where he was named ‘Best Supporting Actor’ by the Los Angeles Film Critics.

 

In 2012 Cheadle garnered critical acclaim for his role in Robert Zemeckis’ Flight, which premiered at the New York Film Festival and was released by Paramount Pictures.  In 2011, Cheadle produced and starred in The Guard, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics, and in 2008, he starred opposite Guy Pearce in Overture Films’ Traitor, an international thriller which he also produced. Cheadle was honored by both the CineVegas Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Festival and in 2007, receiving ShoWest’s ‘Male Star of the Year’ Award.

 

Additional film credits include Talk To Me; the 2006 Oscar^® winning Best Picture, Crash, which Cheadle also produced; Hotel Rwanda, for which his performance garnered Academy Award^®, Golden Globe^®, Broadcast Film Critics Award and Screen Actors Guild^® Award nominations for Best Actor; Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen, directed by Steven Soderbergh; Mike Binder’s Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler; the Academy Award^® winning film Traffic and Out Of Sight, both also directed by Soderbergh; Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed Boogie Nights; Bulworth, Swordfish, Mission To Mars, John Singleton’s Rosewood, for which Cheadle earned an NAACP Image Award nomination; Family Man, directed by Brett Ratner and starring Nicolas Cage; Colors, Hamburger Hill, and the independent features Manic and Things Behind The Sun.

 

For his work on television, Cheadle received a Golden Globe^® Award and an Emmy^® nomination for his remarkable portrayal of Sammy Davis Jr. in HBO’s The Rat Pack in 1999. That same year, he received an Emmy^® nomination for his starring role in HBO’s adaptation of the critically-acclaimed, best-selling novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. He also starred for HBO in Rebound: The Legend Of Earl ‘The Goat’ Manigault, directed by Eriq La Salle. Cheadle is also well-known for his two-year stint in the role of “District Attorney John Littleton” on David E. Kelley’s critically-acclaimed series Picket Fences, and an Emmy^® nominated guest-starring role on ER and a series regular role on The Golden Palace.

 

An accomplished stage actor, Cheadle originated the role of “Booth” in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize winning play Top Dog Underdog at New York’s Public Theatre under the direction of George C. Wolfe. His other stage credits include Leon, Lena and Lenz at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis; The Grapes Of Wrath and Liquid Skin at the Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis; Cymbeline at The New York Shakespeare Festival; ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore at Chicago’s Goodman Theater; and Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot at The Complex Theater in Hollywood. He also directed Cincinnati Man at the Attic Theatre and The Trip at Friends and Artists Theater in Hollywood.

 

In addition to his many acting honors, Cheadle was nominated for a Grammy^® Award in 2004 for ‘Best Spoken Word Album’ for his narration/dramatization of the Walter Mosley novel Fear Itself.

 

Cheadle’s philanthropic work includes serving as a U.N. Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme. He also produced the documentary film, Darfur Now, an examination of the genocide in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

 

MATT DAMON

Correspondent

 

Matt Damon has been honored for his work on both sides of the camera, most recently earning Emmy Award^®, Golden Globe Award^®, Screen Actors Guild Award^® and BAFTA Award^® nominations for ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries’ for his performance opposite Michael Douglas in Stephen Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra. This HBO telefilm, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at the tempestuous relationship between legendary entertainer Liberace (Douglas) and Scott Thorson (Damon), his younger limo driver and live-in lover, is the seventh film that Damon has done with Soderbergh.

 

Damon also earned Academy Award^®, Screen Actors Guild Award^® and Critics’ Choice Award nominations for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his portrayal of South African rugby hero Francois Pienaar in Clint Eastwood’s true-life drama Invictus.  In addition, he garnered dual Golden Globe Award nominations: one for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his performance in Invictus and one for ‘Best Actor’ for his starring role in Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!  Earlier in his career, Damon won an Academy Award^® for Best Screenplay and received an Oscar^® nomination for ‘Best Actor’, both for his breakthrough feature Good Will Hunting.

 

Most recently, audiences saw Damon star in The Monuments Men, alongside the film’s director, co-writer George Clooney. Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action-thriller focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. 

 

In 2002, Damon originated the role of “Jason Bourne” in the blockbuster actioner The Bourne Identity. He went on to reprise his role in the two hit sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, both directed by Paul Greengrass. He has also repeatedly teamed with Steven Soderbergh: as part of the all-star cast in the Ocean’s trilogy and in a cameo role in the second part of the director’s two-part biopic Che.

 

Damon’s other recent film credits include the sci-fi thriller Elysium for director Neil Blomkamp, Promised Land, which reunited Damon with director Gus Van Sant and was written and produced by Damon and John Krasinki; We Bought A Zoo, directed by Cameron Crowe; the Coen brothers’ remake of the classic Western True Grit; George Nolfi’s thriller The Adjustment Bureau, opposite Emily Blunt; Happy Feet 2, to which he lent his voice to the animated feature; the thriller Contagion for director Steven Soderbergh; the drama Hereafter, which reunited him with director Clint Eastwood; the action thriller Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass; Martin Scorsese’s Oscar^® winning ‘Best Picture’ The Departed, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg; Robert De Niro’s dramatic thriller The Good Shepherd, with De Niro and Angelina Jolie; and Stephen Gaghan’s geopolitical thriller Syriana, with George Clooney.

 

For the small screen, Damon both executive produced and appeared in the History Channel project The People Speak, based on a book co-written by famed historian Howard Zinn and featuring dramatic readings and performances from some of the most famous names in the entertainment industry.

 

Hailing from Boston, Damon attended Harvard University and gained his first acting experience with the American Repertory Theatre. He made his feature film debut in Mystic Pizza, followed by roles in School Ties, Walter Hill’s Geronimo: An American Legend, and the cable projects Rising Son and Tommy Lee Jones’ The Good Old Boys. He first gained attention with his portrayal of a guilt-ridden Gulf War veteran tormented by memories of a battlefield incident in 1996’s Courage Under Fire.

 

Together with his lifelong friend Ben Affleck, Damon co-wrote the acclaimed 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, for which they won an Academy Award^® and a Golden Globe^® Award, as well as several critics groups awards for ‘Best Original Screenplay’.  Damon also garnered Oscar^®, Golden Globe^® and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award^® nominations for ‘Best Actor’. Additionally in 1997, Damon starred as an idealistic young attorney in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker and made a cameo appearance in Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy.

 

The following year, Damon played the title role in Steven Spielberg’s award-winning World War II drama Saving Private Ryan and also starred in John Dahl’s drama Rounders, with Edward Norton. Damon earned his third Golden Globe^® nomination for his performance in 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, under the direction of Anthony Minghella. He also reunited with Ben Affleck and director Kevin Smith to star in the controversial comedy Dogma.

 

Damon’s subsequent film credits include starring roles in Robert Redford’s The Legend Of Bagger Vance; Billy Bob Thornton’s All The Pretty Horses; the Farrelly brothers’ comedy Stuck On You, opposite Greg Kinnear; Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm, with Heath Ledger; and a cameo in George Clooney’s Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind.

 

In 2000, Damon and Affleck formed the production company LivePlanet to produce film, television and new media projects. LivePlanet produced three Emmy^®nominated seasons of Project Greenlight, chronicling the making of independent films by first-time writers and directors. The Project Greenlight films produced to date are Stolen Summer, The Battle of Shaker Heights and Feast. LivePlanet also produced the documentary Running The Sahara, directed by Oscar^® winner James Moll.

 

In 2008, Oscar^® winners Damon and Affleck formed Pearl Street Productions to produce stories in film and television. Pearl Street recently co-produced Promised Land.  Current projects in development include Whitey Bulger, Father Daughter Time – a tale of armed robbery and Eskimo kisses, Live By Night, and Race To The South Pole.  Jennifer Todd (Memento, Alice In Wonderland) serves as President of the company, which has a first look deal with Warner Brothers Pictures.

 

In addition, Damon co-founded H20 Africa in 2006, now known as Water.org.

 

AMERICA FERRERA

Correspondent

America Ferrera is perhaps best known for her fearless portrayal of Betty Suarez on ABC’s hit comedy Ugly Betty.This breakthrough role has earned Ferrera an Emmy^®, Golden Globe^®, and Screen Actors Guild Award^®, as well as ALMA and Imagen Awards.

Ferrera recently wrapped production on Ryan Piers Williams’ X/Y opposite Amber Tamblyn, Melonie Diaz and Common. Ferrera also serves as a producer on the film. Ferrera will next be seen in Diego Luna’s biography, Cesar Chavez: An American Hero, which centers on the civil-rights activist and labor organizer, Cesar Chavez. Portraying his wife, Helen Chavez, Ferrera stars opposite Michael Peña and alongside an impressive cast including Rosario Dawson and Gabriel Mann. The film is scheduled to premiere at this year’s SXSW Festival. Ferrera will also lend her vocal talents to How To Train Your Dragon 2 which will be released by Dreamworks on June 13^th.

She was last seen in David Ayer’s crime thriller, End Of Watch co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, Michael Peña and Cody Horn; and Todd Berger’s comedy It’s A Disaster, opposite Julia Stiles and David Cross. 

In October 2012, Ferrera was seen in the four-hour television series for PBS and international broadcast, the Half The Sky project. The series, which was shot in 10 underprivileged countries, delivers audiences with an intimate and dramatic portrayal of the women and young girls in the world that live under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. Ferrera joined reporter Nicholas Kristof, and actresses Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde, in an inspiring program that captivates the struggling and empowering stories of females fighting for change. 

In tandem with her work on the Half The Sky series, Ferrera served as ambassador on a campaign called, America4America joining Voto Latino, the leading non-partisan national youth empowerment organization. The campaign aimed to reach people across the country by using online content to engage in conversations with the actress and discusses issues related to voter ID laws, education and immigration. 

Ferrera starred as “Roxie Hart” in the West End production of the hit musical Chicago for an eight week run that started in November 2011. Earlier that year she was also seen in a recurring role on the second season of the CBS hit series The Good Wife, in which she played an illegal, nanny and object of Eli’s (Alan Cumming) affection.

Prior to this, she was seen in Ryan Piers Williams' The Dry Land opposite Melissa Leo and Jason Ritter. Ferrera also executive produced the film, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won Best International Film at the 2010 Edinburgh Film Festival. The film was released by Maya Entertainment. 

Other feature film work includes Fox Searchlights’ Our Family Wedding, Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon and Warner Bros.' The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2, the sequel to the 2005 original. She also starred in the bilingual independent film Towards Darkness, which she executive produced, and Fox Searchlight’s independent film Under The Same Moon. Additional credits include the Brian Jun film Steel City, Catherine Hardwicke’s Lords Of Dogtown and the 2005 Sundance Film Festival entry How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer. America also appeared Off-Broadway in Dog Sees God: Confessions Of A Teenage Blockhead, directed by Trip Cullman. 

Ferrera first secured her place as one of Hollywood’s most vibrant young talents with her starring role in the Patricia Cardoso film Real Women Have Curves. Her performance earned her a Sundance Jury Award for ‘Best Actress’, an Independent Spirit Award nomination for ‘Best Debut Performance’, and a Young Artist Award nomination for ‘Best Performance for a Leading Young Actress’.  

HARRISON FORD

Correspondent

 

HARRISON FORD has starred in some of the most successful and acclaimed films in cinema history, including the landmark Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and a total of eight ‘Best Picture’ Oscar^® nominated movies. Ford earned an Academy Award^® nomination for his compelling portrayal of Detective John Book in Peter Weir’s 1985 Oscar^® nominated hit Witness, for which he also received Golden Globe^® and BAFTA Award nominations, all for ‘Best Actor’. Ford subsequently garnered three more ‘Best Actor’ Golden Globe^® nominations: for his performances in Weir’s 1986 drama The Mosquito Coast; the 1994 Oscar^® nominated blockbuster The Fugitive, for director Andrew Davis; and Sydney Pollack’s 1996 remake of Sabrina.

 

Over the course of his illustrious career, Ford has also been repeatedly honored for his contributions to the film industry, including the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award, in 2002, and the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2000.  In 1994, the National Association of Theater Owners named him the Box Office Star of the Century.

 

Ford most recently starred in Brian Helgeland’s acclaimed drama 42, the true story of legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color line. Ford has received widespread praise for his portrayal of Branch Rickey, the General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who changed history when he signed Robinson to the team. This spring, Ford will begin shooting the Lionsgate romantic drama, The Age Of Adaline, opposite Ellen Burstyn and Blake Lively.

 

A native of Chicago, Ford launched his film career in 1973 with the breakthrough role of hot-rodder Bob Falfa in George Lucas’s seminal hit, American Graffiti.  Four years later, he reunited with Lucas to play the iconic role of “Han Solo” in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.  The sci-fi epic earned 12 Oscar^® nominations, including ‘Best Picture’, and went on to become the top-grossing film in history, a record it held for 20 years. Ford reprised the role of “Han Solo” in the sequels The Empire Strikes Back and The Return Of The Jedi.

 

In 1981, Ford created another legendary screen character, “Indiana Jones”, in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar^® nominated mega-hit Raiders Of The Lost Ark. During the 1980s, he starred in the blockbuster sequels Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.  In 2008, he returned to the title role in the hugely successful Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

 

Ford’s many other film credits include Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar^® nominated features The Conversation and Apocalypse Now; Ridley Scott’s 1982 science-fiction classic Blade Runner; Mike Nichols’ Oscar^® nominated romantic comedy Working Girl; the title role in the Nichols directed drama Regarding Henry; Alan J. Pakula’s Presumed Innocent; Philip Noyce’s Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger, both based on the Tom Clancy bestsellers; Wolfgang Petersen’s Air Force One; Robert Zemeckis’ What Lies Beneath; Kathryn Bigelow’s K-19: The Widowmaker, which he also executive produced; Roger Michell’s Morning Glory; Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens; Robert Luketic’s Paranoia; and Gavin Hood’s Ender’s Game.

 

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Correspondent

Thomas L. Friedman is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist – the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and the author of six bestselling books, among them: From Beirut To Jerusalem and The World Is Flat.

In high school, Friedman developed two passions that would define his life from then on: the Middle East and journalism. He attended the University of Minnesota and Brandeis University, graduating summa cum laude in 1975 with a degree in Mediterranean studies. In 1978, he received an M.Phil. degree in modern Middle East studies from Oxford. That summer he joined the London Bureau of United Press International (UPI) on Fleet Street. In 1979, he was dispatched to Beirut as a correspondent where he lived until 1981, covering the civil war there.   

In May 1981, Friedman was offered a job by the legendary The New York Times editor A. M. Rosenthal. He left Beirut and joined the staff of The New York Times in Manhattan. From May 1981 to April 1982, he worked as a general assignment financial reporter specializing in OPEC and oil-related news.  

In April 1982, he was appointed Beirut Bureau Chief for The New York Times, a post he took up six weeks before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In June 1984, Friedman was transferred to Jerusalem, where he served as The Times’ Jerusalem Bureau Chief until February 1988.

In January 1989, Friedman started a new assignment as The Times’ Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, based in Washington, DC. In November 1992, Friedman shifted to domestic politics with his appointment as The Times’ Chief White House Correspondent. In that role he covered the post-election transition and the first year of Bill Clinton’s presidency.  

In January 1994, Friedman shifted again, this time to economics, and became The Times’ International Economics Correspondent, covering the nexus between foreign policy and trade policy. Since January 1995, Friedman has been The Times’ Foreign Affairs columnist, traveling extensively in an effort to anchor his opinions in reporting on the ground.

After 9/11, Friedman began making documentaries for The New York Times/Discovery Channel joint venture. Over the next few years he co-produced, reported and narrated six documentaries: Straddling The Fence (2003); Searching For The Roots Of 9/11 (2003); The Other Side Of Outsourcing (2004); Does Europe Hate Us? (2005); Addicted To Oil (2006); and Green: The New, Red, White And Blue (2007).

In 2008, Friedman published Hot, Flat, And Crowded: Why We Need A Green Revolution – And How It Can Renew America. It became his fifth consecutive The New York Times bestseller. A 2.0 version of Hot, Flat, And Crowded was published in paperback in 2009, with three new chapters exploring the parallels between the climate crisis and the global economic crisis.

Friedman has won three Pulitzer Prizes: the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting (from Lebanon), the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting (from Israel), and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. In 2004, he was also awarded the Overseas Press Club Award for lifetime achievement and the honorary title Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2009, he was given the National Press Club’s lifetime achievement award. 

Friedman is a member of the Brandeis University Board of Trustees and, since 2004, of the Pulitzer Prize Board. He was a visiting lecturer at Harvard University in 2000 and 2005. He has been awarded honorary degrees by Brandeis University, Macalester College, Haverford College, the University of Minnesota, Hebrew Union College, Williams College, Washington University in St. Louis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion, the University of Maryland at Baltimore, Grinnell College, the University of Delaware and Tulane. 

Friedman and his wife, Ann, reside in Bethesda, Maryland. 

For more information, visit www.thomaslfriedman.com.

MICHAEL C. HALL

Correspondent

 

Moving from an uptight funeral director on Six Feet Under, to a serial killer on DEXTER^®, to Beat Generation figure “David Kammerer” in Kill Your Darlings, Michael C. Hall continues to illuminate humanity in transformative, complex characters.

 

A formally trained stage actor, Hall first made an impression as younger brother “David Fisher” on Six Feet Under. During the series’ five year run, Hall received nominations for an Emmy^® and the AFI Male Television Actor of the Year Award.

 

For his performance as the title character “Dexter”, Hall (who served as an executive producer) won Golden Globe^® and Screen Actors Guild Awards^® in 2010 and the 2007 TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama. He also received five consecutive Emmy^® Award nominations. Hall recently made his directorial debut with “Every Silver Lining,” the second episode of the eighth and final season.  

 

Hall will continue to work with SHOWTIME^® to develop and executive produce American Dream Machine, a serial adaptation of Matthew Specktor’s acclaimed novel about two generations of Hollywood royalty.  Last year, he also traveled to Bangladesh to film an episode of the network’s documentary series about climate change, YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY.

 

In the fall, Hall appeared on the big screen as “David Kammerer”, the former professor obsessed with and later murdered by Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan) in John Krokidas’s Kill Your Darlings (Sony Pictures Classics), the Beat Generation drama that also stars Daniel Radcliffe as Alan Ginsberg. Cold In July, Jim Mickle’s feature adaptation of the Joe Lansdale cult novel in which Hall stars with Sam Shepard and Don Johnson, recently premiered to significant acclaim in US Dramatic Competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.  IFC will release the film this summer.

 

A North Carolina native and graduate of NYU’s MFA program in acting, Hall made his Broadway debut as “The Emcee” in Cabaret, directed by Sam Mendes and also portrayed “Billy Flynn” in Chicago. His New York stage credits also include Mr. Marmalade, Macbeth, Cymbeline, Timon Of Athens, Henry V, The English Teachers and Corpus Christi.

 

In mid-February, Hall began rehearsals for the Broadway production of Will Eno’s new dark comedy, The Realistic Joneses, co-starring Toni Collette, Tracy Letts and Marisa Tomei.  Directed by Sam Gold, the play about two suburban couples who discover they have an unsettling amount in common, begins preview performances in March with an opening night in early April.

 

CHRIS HAYES

Correspondent

Chris Hayes hosts All In With Chris Hayes at 8PM ET Monday through Friday on MSNBC.  Hayes is also Editor-at-Large of The Nation.

Previously, Hayes hosted the weekend program Up With Chris Hayes, which premiered in 2011. Prior to joining MSNBC as an anchor, Chris had previously served as a frequent substitute host for The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell. Chris became a MSNBC contributor in 2010 and has been with The Nation since 2007.He is a former Fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. From 2008–2010, he was a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation. From 2005–2006, Chris was a Schumann Center Writing Fellow at In These Times.

Since 2002, Hayes has written on a wide variety of political and social issues, from union organizing and economic democracy, to the intersection of politics and technology. His essays, articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Time, The Nation, The American Prospect, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, The Guardian and The Chicago Reader.

His first book, Twilight Of The Elites: America After Meritocracy, which is about the crisis of authority in American life, was published in June 2012. Chris grew up in the Bronx and graduated from Brown University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.

 

OLIVIA MUNN 

Correspondent

Olivia Munn stars on Aaron Sorkin's hit HBO drama series “The Newsroom."  The series, which also stars Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston, will soon begin filming its third season. On July 2, she will star with Eric Bana in the Jerry Bruckheimer film Deliver Us From Evil which is based on the true story of an NYPD officer who becomes involved in a case that is believed to be demonic. She is currently filming Mortdecai, an action comedy where she stars opposite Johnny Depp, Ewan McGregor and Gwyneth Paltrow for director David Koepp. 

Munn was last seen on the big screen opposite Channing Tatum in Magic Mike for director Steven Soderbergh. 

Munn, a former cast member on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, is also a New York Times best-selling author. 

 

M. SANJAYAN

Correspondent

Dr. M. Sanjayan, Executive Vice President and senior scientist at Conservation International, is a leading global conservation scientist, writer and an Emmy^®-nominated news contributor focused on the role of conservation in improving human well-being, wildlife and the environment. He serves on Conservation International’s senior leadership team, overseeing the organization’s Development, News and Publicity and Marketing and Branding strategies.

Sanjayan is currently filming his new TV series, Earth – A New Wild, produced by National Geographic Television in association with the Academy Award-winning Passion Pictures. It will air on PBS in 2015. In January 2014, he returned as a featured contributor to the BBC World News series The Power of Nature.

 

Until recently, Sanjayan served as the Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy, where he spent 16 years specializing in development and conservation strategies, focusing on Africa, wildlife ecology and media outreach as their lead scientist and messenger. 

 

He holds a Masters from the University of Oregon and a Doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His scientific work has been published in journals including Science, Nature and Conservation Biology. Raised in Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone, Sanjayan’s unique background and expertise have also attracted mainstream media coverage in Vanity Fair, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Afar, Outside and The New York Times. He frequently contributes to CBS News’ science and environment coverage and has hosted documentaries including Planet Earth: The Future (BBC), Expedition Alaska (Discovery Channel), Mysteries Of The Shark Coast (Discovery Channel) and the critically acclaimed four-part series on energy called Powering The Future (Discovery Channel).  Guest appearances include NBC’s The Today Show, The Late Show With David Letterman, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. 

 

Sanjayan is a sought after speaker on college and business campuses with recent appearances on stage at TED Global, International Women’s Forum, Aspen Environment Forum, Aspen Ideas Festival, Clinton Global Initiative, Google, and the Summit Series.  He is a Catto Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a senior advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative.

 

He was recently selected to serve on the Explorers Council, a distinguished group of top scientists, researchers and explorers who provide advice and counsel to National Geographic Society across disciplines and projects.

 

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Executive Producer/Correspondent

 

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER is one of the most recognized individuals on the planet, having led an amazing life and achieving beyond his dreams in Hollywood, fitness, and public service. In an effort to give back to the country that allowed him to accomplish so much, Schwarzenegger ran for public office and was elected California's 38th Governor.

 

As governor, Schwarzenegger worked with leaders of both major political parties to address the greatest challenges facing the state in a bold and historic manner. His leadership put California at the forefront of the nation in addressing climate change, pushing for the development of renewable energies, rebuilding critical infrastructure, investing in stem cell research, and putting in place health care and political reforms.

 

Since leaving office in 2011, he has continued to promote state and local clean energy efforts by founding the non-profit R20: Regions of Climate Action. Just last year, he established the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, devoted to seeking bipartisan solutions to environmental, economic, and other public policy issues. He serves as chair of the think-tank's board and also holds a public policy professorship at the school.

 

Schwarzenegger stars in the new film, Sabotage, which will be released in early 2014. Escape Plan, also staring Schwarzenegger, was released in October 2013. Last year, Schwarzenegger released his long-awaited autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.

 

IAN SOMERHALDER

Correspondent

Ian Somerhalder is best known for his portrayal of “Damon Salvatore” on the Warner Brothers international hit TV show, The Vampire Diaries, and his role as “Boone Carlyle” on the ABC critically acclaimed drama Lost. Ian also represents a new generation of dedicated activists. A Louisiana native, he demonstrated a reverence for nature from a young age.

With a career that brings him to the four corners of the world, Ian received the gift of being imprinted to the planet, but it wasn’t until a disaster hit his home that his voice became a catalyst for change. When the BP Oil Spill devastated the Gulf Coast, Ian did the only thing he could: he went back home to help. Witnessing the unprecedented devastation to the water, wildlife and individuals of his childhood was pivotal in igniting his unwavering support for a better earth. For the first time, he realized the powerful platform he had been given to manifest this change. Through his involvement in CNN’s Disaster In The Gulf: How You Can Help telethon and his constant call to action in media, Ian received a standing ovation from both Hollywood and the environmental community for taking a stand to action.

It is that stand to action combined with the widespread global support that led to the launch of the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which aims to empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects to positively impact the planet and its creatures. ISF is run by a dedicated team from every corner of the globe and focuses on the most under-utilized resource in the world – our youth – to forward its mission. Ian and ISF have experienced a substantial amount of success leveraging his entertainment-based social media presence to activate and create quantifiable change around the world. ISF has more than 800 Community Crews worldwide and over 200 ISF Youth Crews achieving change collaboratively.

Ian received the first World of Good Award from Clint Eastwood at the 2011 Carmel Film and Art Festival, testified in front of the US Congress on behalf of HR 50, a multi-national Species Conservation Funds Reauthorization Act and hosted Discovery Planet's Blue August.  For his work raising awareness about animal issues in the media, Ian received the Humane Society of the United States Wyler Award at the 2012 Genesis Awards and a host of 2013 Goody Awards for his environmental work.  In 2012, he joined Gisele Bundchen and Don Cheadle as a United Nations Environment Programme and World Environment Day Ambassador. Additionally, he was chosen as Josie Maran’s Model Citizen in 2013, received an EMA Futures Award at the 2012 Environmental Media Awards and was named the Most Responsible Celebrity at the International Green Awards.

Ian also serves on the advisory board of RYOT.org, and in 2010, he co-founded and launched Go Green Mobile Power, the world leader in providing "ecofficient" power and LED lighting solutions for a variety of mobile applications.

 

LESLEY STAHL

Correspondent

 

One of America’s most recognized and experienced broadcast journalists, Lesley Stahl’s career has been marked by political scoops, surprising features and award-winning foreign reporting. She has been a 60 Minutes correspondent since March 1991.

In 2012, Stahl was recognized with two Emmy^® Awards for her uplifting feature, Gospel For Teens. That same year, her whistleblower interview with F-22 Raptor pilots provided the first public personal accounts of the fighter’s oxygen system troubles, spurring the Secretary of Defense to take action. Stahl’s interview of a former CIA Clandestine Services chief about the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" on al Qaeda operatives sparked a national debate.

Stahl’s two reports from the Middle East in the fall of 2010, Unfinished Business, about Iraq, and City Of David, about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, were honored by the Overseas Press Club for Best Interpretation on International Affairs. Her reporting on the life of a young, musical savant won her an Edward R. Murrow award for feature reporting for her 2008 follow-up on Rex-Lewis Clack.

Prior to joining 60 Minutes, Stahl served as CBS News White House correspondent during the Carter and Reagan presidencies and part of the term of George H. W. Bush.  During much of that time, she also served as moderator of Face The Nation, CBS News' Sunday public-affairs broadcast, where she interviewed such newsmakers as Margaret Thatcher, Boris Yeltsin, Yasir Arafat and virtually every top U.S. official, including George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle.

She was co-host with Charles Kuralt of America Tonight, a daily CBS News late-night broadcast of interviews and essays (Oct. 90-March 91).

Her experiences covering Washington for more than 20 years became the subject of her book Reporting Live (Simon & Schuster, 1999). The stories she has covered since joining CBS News in the Washington bureau in 1972 range from Watergate through the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan to the 1991 Gulf War.

Stahl won her first Emmy^® for reporting on a bombing in Beirut for the CBS Evening News in 1983. Other Emmy^® wins include a ‘Lifetime Achievement Emmy^®’ in 2003; her Face The Nation interview with Sen. John Tower won Stahl her second statuette; her 60 Minutes reports: How He Won The War, about former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s battle with the tobacco industry, and Punishing Saddam, which exposed the plight of Iraqi citizens, both garnered Emmys as well. Punishing Saddam also won Stahl electronic journalism’s highest honor, an Alfred I. duPont/Columbia University Silver Baton. Her profile of search engine giant Google earned her a 2005 Business and Financial Emmy^® award, and her timely 2006 interview of ex-Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn won an Emmy^® for coverage of a breaking news story.

In 1996, Stahl was awarded the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award, given by Quinnipiac College in Hamden, Conn., in recognition of her journalistic achievements. She was also honored that year by the Radio/Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) with an Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence in Television for her 60 Minutes report on the Michigan Militia. In 1990, she was honored with the Dennis Kauff Journalism Award for lifetime achievement in the news profession.

Born in Swampscott, MA, Stahl graduated cum laude in 1963 from Wheaton College, where she served on the board of trustees. She currently serves on the board of the New York City Ballet. She and her husband, author Aaron Latham, live in New York. They have a daughter, Taylor.

JAMES CAMERON

Executive Producer

 

JAMES CAMERON is an acclaimed film-maker and explorer.  As director, writer and producer, he is responsible for some of the most memorable films of the past three decades: The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, Titanic and Avatar.

Avatar currently holds both the domestic and worldwide box office records having grossed over $2.7 billion at the global box office, beating the previous record holder, his own film Titanic, which held that record for 12 years.  They remain the only two movies to gross more than $2 billion worldwide.  Cameron's films have also earned numerous nominations and awards, most notably Titanic’s 14 Academy Award^® nominations (a record) and 11 Oscars^®  (the most any movie has received), including Cameron's own 3 Oscars^®  for Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Editing.  Avatar won the Golden Globe^® for Best Director and Best Picture.  It was nominated for 9 Academy Awards^®  and won 3.

Over the last 15 years Cameron developed cutting edge 3D camera systems for movies and documentaries, as well as for broadcast sports and special events. He was at the vanguard of the 3D renaissance that has transformed the movie industry in recent years.  He also developed unprecedented deep ocean exploration vehicles, lighting and 3D camera equipment.  Cameron has led 8 deep ocean expeditions, during which he has personally logged over 80 submersible dives, including 33 to the wreck of Titanic. These expeditions resulted in a number of acclaimed documentaries, including Ghosts of the Abyss¸ Expedition Bismark, and Aliens of the Deep.  Most recently, Cameron led his eighth deep ocean expedition to some of the deepest trenches in the world.  His engineering team spent seven years building a unique manned submersible, the Deepsea Challenger, capable of diving to the ocean’s greatest depths.  On March 26, 2012, Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive to the earth’s deepest point in the Challenger Deep (in the Mariana Trench), successfully setting a depth record of 35,787’, or nearly 7 miles (11 kilometers.) 

 

National Geographic will release a 3D feature documentary chronicling that adventure, called Deepsea Challenge, later this year.  Cameron is a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, and recipient of their most prestigious award, the Hubbard Medal.  He is also passionately involved in sustainability issues, working with several NGO’s on climate change, energy policy, deforestation, indigenous rights, ocean conservation, sustainable agriculture and the impact of our food choices on the environment.

He is currently in preproduction for Avatar 2, 3, and 4, and will begin production on those films in late 2014.

 

JERRY WEINTRAUB

Executive Producer

 

JERRY WEINTRAUB is one of the most influential and successful people in the entertainment industry, with a career spanning more than 50 years and encompassing the genres of feature films, television, theatre and music.

 

Weintraub had already enjoyed tremendous success in the management and music fields when he made an auspicious motion picture producing debut with Robert Altman's seminal 1975 feature film, Nashville.  Released to widespread acclaim, the film went on to earn five Academy Award^® nominations, including one for Best Picture. Over the next decade, Weintraub repeatedly demonstrated an eye for emerging talent, producing such features as September 30, 1955, starring Richard Thomas under the direction of James Bridges; Oh, God!, directed by Carl Reiner and starring George Burns and John Denver in his first acting role; Barry Levinson's directorial debut, Diner, which helped launch the careers of Kevin Bacon, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin and Steve Guttenberg; and the inspiring drama The Karate Kid, which spawned three sequels, including one starring a young Hilary Swank. To underscore the enduring popularity of the series, the most recent The Karate Kid, released in 2010, starring Jaden Smith was just as successful as the original film.

 

Now heading up Jerry Weintraub Productions, he previously produced the hit remake of the Rat Pack comedy Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen, all directed by Steven Soderbergh and featuring an all-star cast. Additionally, Weintraub produced the family film Nancy Drew, starring Emma Roberts as the intrepid teenage detective.

 

Jerry Weintraub Productions also has a number of films in development, including a new live-action version of Tarzan, and a biopic of Hugh Hefner both for Warner Bros. Films. Also in development are The Wild Bunch, 40 Summers, and Matt Helm.

 

Brooklyn-born and Bronx-bred, Weintraub likes to joke that his goal when starting out in entertainment was to get out of the Bronx. He began his career as a talent agent, eventually segueing to personal management. Forming Management III, he handled such names as The Muppets, Jack Paar and Norm Crosby, among others. His success opened the door to the music industry at the height of the Rock 'n Roll revolution. He produced the legendary Elvis Presley's first arena tour and, throughout the 1950s and '60s, continued to make his mark as a concert promoter for some of the biggest names in the business. Founding Concerts West, Weintraub broke new ground when he presented Frank Sinatra at Madison Square Garden in the celebrated "first around the world by satellite" concert, called "The Main Event." He also helped boost the careers of such renowned artists as Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond, John Denver, The Carpenters and The Beach Boys.

 

Weintraub went on to produce a number of high-profile television specials and movies, many starring the musical artists with whom he had worked. In addition, he produced An Olympic Gala, the telecast of the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Weintraub also produced several Broadway shows, including Canterbury Tales and Starlight Express.

 

Returning to the motion picture arena, Weintraub was named Chairman and CEO of United Artists. He later left to form his own film and television production company, Weintraub Entertainment Group. Three years later, he founded Jerry Weintraub Productions, based at Warner Bros. Studios.

 

The first film produced under the Jerry Weintraub Productions banner was 1992's Pure Country, starring country legend George Strait. Weintraub subsequently produced The Specialist, starring Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone; Vegas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase; the big-screen version of The Avengers, teaming Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman; and the sci-fi actioner Soldier, starring Kurt Russell.

 

In addition to his professional endeavors, Weintraub is well known for his philanthropic efforts on behalf of a wide variety of worthwhile causes, ranging from health concerns to education to the arts and more. He joined forces with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle in "Not On Our Watch," a humanitarian campaign to end the genocide in Darfur.

 

Weintraub has also been the recipient of several professional honors. He was one of the first independent movie producers to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame^® and, in 2001, won the Kodak Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Filmmaking. In 2007, the National Association of Theatre Owners named him ShoWest Producer of the Year. In June 2007, he became the first producer ever to be "cemented" in the courtyard of Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theatre when he joined George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon in a Hand and Footprint Ceremony in celebration of the opening of Ocean’s Thirteen.  At the Boston Film Festival, he was awarded the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, in December 2007 he received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, and in January 2008 he received the SAG Foundation Patron of the Arts Award.

 

In 2009, he was honored by UNICEF as Man of the Year with the organization's Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award for his philanthropic contributions. In 2010, he was awarded the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award at Celebrity Fight Night XVI, an event that has raised nearly $60 million to benefit the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center.

 

In 2010, Weintraub authored his memoirs, The New York Times bestselling book When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories From A Persuasive Man, a witty chronicle of his remarkable career and life journey.

 

His Way, a documentary of Weintraub's life was released on HBO^® in April of 2011. It was a critical and audience hit, and went on to earn an Emmy^® nomination for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.

 

His most recent project is Behind The Candelabra, the story of the entertainer and showman Liberace. The biopic, directed for HBO^® Films by Steven Soderbergh stars Michael Douglas and Matt Damon and debuted to critical and audience acclaim at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

 

DANIEL ABBASI

Executive Producer

 

DANIEL ABBASI has been a leader on climate change issues for over two decades. Most recently, he founded the venture capital firm GameChange Capital to identify and fund transformational low-carbon solutions that will slow climate change, including an innovative aviation manufacturing company, Flowcastings, that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from jets. He brings this expertise to YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY which aims to spotlight the most promising solutions to the growing crisis. A Harvard MBA and Stanford PhD, Abbasi serves on the governing body of the U.S. National Climate Assessment, which will release a major federal study of the impact of climate change on all regions of the country in 2013. Previously, Abbasi served as an appointee in the Clinton Administration's Environmental Protection Agency, a media strategist at Time Warner and an Associate Dean at Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

 

JOEL BACH

Creator / Executive Producer

 

JOEL BACH produced stories at 60 Minutes^® for seven years, garnering 3 Emmy^® Awards. He worked with Ed Bradley, Scott Pelley, Steve Kroft and Lesley Stahl. Prior to joining 60 Minutes^®, he worked in ABC News^®' Investigative Unit. Before his distinguished achievements in journalism, Bach produced and directed television commercials, music videos and PSAs in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 

DAVID GELBER

Creator / Executive Producer

 

DAVID GELBER served as Ed Bradley's producer at 60 Minutes^® for twenty-five years, during which he won every major journalism award, including a Peabody, two DuPont Awards and eight Emmy^® Awards. During the nineties, Gelber was executive producer of Peter Jennings Reporting at ABC News^®. He spent two winters in Sarajevo producing documentaries on the Bosnian Conflict. He returned to CBS News^® in 1996 to head the Ed Bradley Unit. Most recently, a story he did with Scott Pelley on medical charlatans who peddle bogus stem cell therapy to patients dying of ALS won the Emmy^® for Best Investigative Story of 2010 by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

 

JOE ROMM, Ph.D

Chief Science Advisor

 

JOE ROMM, Ph.D is Founding Editor of ClimateProgress.org, which The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called "the indispensable blog." In 2009, Rolling Stone put Romm on its list of 100 "people who are reinventing America." Time named him a "Hero of the Environment″ and “The Web’s most influential climate-change blogger." In 2008, Romm was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for “distinguished service toward a sustainable energy.”

 

Romm was Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in 1997, where he oversaw $1 billion in R&D, demonstration, and deployment of low-carbon technology. Romm is the author of eight books on climate change, clean energy, and communications, most recently,  Language Intelligence. He has written for the journals Science And Nature, as well as The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic Monthly, Technology Review and Scientific American. Romm is a Senior Fellow at American Progress Action Fund and holds a Ph.D. in physics from MIT. 

 

HEIDI CULLEN, Ph.D.

Chief Science Advisor

Dr. Heidi Cullen serves as Chief Climatologist for Climate Central — a non-profit science journalism organization headquartered in Princeton, NJ. She is a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University and the author of The Weather Of The Future published by Harper Collins. Before joining Climate Central, where she reports on climate and energy issues, Dr. Cullen served as The Weather Channel’s first on-air climate expert and helped create Forecast Earth, a weekly television series focused on issues related to climate change and the environment. Prior to that Dr. Cullen worked as a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO. She received the NOAA Climate & Global Change Fellowship and spent two years at Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society working to apply long-range climate forecasts to the water resources sector in Brazil and Paraguay.

Dr. Cullen is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society and the Society of Environmental Journalists. She also serves as a member of the NOAA Science Advisory Board and was recently elected to the AMS Council. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University and went on to receive a Ph.D. in climatology and ocean-atmosphere dynamics at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. 

When it comes to our warming climate, Americans are suffering from a lack of public engagement and vocal leadership to convey the real story.   In collaboration with the YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY team, Vulcan Productions will create a public engagement campaign to educate and activate audiences around the country. Leveraging the momentum of the series and using tools and information on a dynamic series website, the campaign will empower everyday people to connect with leaders and to encourage them to share where they stand on climate issues. The National Wildlife Federation will create an expansive educational program.”  To learn more about how to get involved, visit:

 

www.yearsoflivingdangerously.com.