Jean-Michel Cousteau
Encyclopedia
Jean-Michel Cousteau is a French
explorer, environmentalist
, educator, and film producer. The first son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, he is the father of Fabien Cousteau
and Celine Cousteau.
. Cousteau first dived with an aqua-lung
in 1945 when he was 7 years old. Although he went to school to study architecture, he became part of his father's Cousteau Society, serving for twenty years as executive vice president before striking out on his own in 1993 to produce environmental films. Cousteau and his father had disagreed about the management and policies of the Society.
After Cousteau opened a resort on a Fiji
Island utilizing the family name, Jacques-Yves Cousteau filed a lawsuit against him in 1995. In June 1996, a court signed an injunction requiring him to add, with equal prominence in placement, his first name to the hotel. Jean-Michel then founded the Ocean Futures Society in 1999, a marine conservation and education organization which fosters a conservation ethic, conducts research, and develops marine education programs. In 2003, Francesca Sorrenti and Marisha Shibuya of the SKe GROUP project, in partnership with Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society, collaborated to produce Water Culture, a Trolley Books
publication featuring a wide variety of photographer's water related imagery and interviews with prominent world personalities on the problems facing our water supply. Cousteau is also Chairman of Green Cross France.
Jean-Michel Cousteau is also working on a documentary highlighting the epic and disastrous 2010 Gulf Oil Spill
in which 11 workers were killed during an explosion of the Deepwater Rig 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.
He appeared on a documentary-type
special feature on the DVD version of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
in which he and Stephen Hillenburg
talk about all of the real-life counterparts to the sea creatures seen in the cartoon series and the movie and even some that are not in the movie.
He did a similar feature for the DVD of the Disney/Pixar
movie Finding Nemo
.
Jean-Michel Cousteau made a new documentary series Ocean Adventures released in 2006.
In Disney's DVD release of the Pixar film Finding Nemo
, Cousteau makes an appearance interacting with the characters from the film, Marlin
, Nemo
and Dory
, and touting the need for better pollution control, showing videos of sick coral reefs.
He also appears in the IMAX
documentary film Coral Reef Adventure
.
Ocean Futures Society, KQED and PBS are continuing production on the Ocean Adventures series for 2007 and 2008. In October 2006, Jean-Michel Cousteau, and an expedition team that includes his son Fabien and daughter Céline, began filming along the Amazon River. Twenty years ago scientists predicted devastation and irreversible environmental damage here, and 25 years ago Jean-Michel Cousteau and his legendary father traveled with their teams chocolate team. the entire length of the Amazon to document, learn, and see for themselves.
In 2006, Cousteau's documentary Voyage to Kure inspired then United States President George W. Bush
to protect the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, making it — with its 140000 square miles (362,598.3 km²) of ocean waters, islands and atolls — one of the largest Marine Protected Area
s in the world.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
explorer, environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
, educator, and film producer. The first son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, he is the father of Fabien Cousteau
Fabien Cousteau
Fabien Cousteau is a French aquatic filmmaker and oceanographic explorer. He is son of Jean-Michel Cousteau and grandson of the noted oceanographic explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Born in Paris, he grew up in both France and the United States, and frequently accompanied his grandfather and father...
and Celine Cousteau.
Biography
Cousteau is the son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Simone MelchiorSimone Melchior
Simone Melchior Cousteau was the wife and business partner of undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The first woman scuba diver, Simone was at Jacques's side during his major underwater accomplishments...
. Cousteau first dived with an aqua-lung
Aqua-lung
Aqua-Lung was the original name of the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing set in reaching worldwide popularity and commercial success...
in 1945 when he was 7 years old. Although he went to school to study architecture, he became part of his father's Cousteau Society, serving for twenty years as executive vice president before striking out on his own in 1993 to produce environmental films. Cousteau and his father had disagreed about the management and policies of the Society.
After Cousteau opened a resort on a Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
Island utilizing the family name, Jacques-Yves Cousteau filed a lawsuit against him in 1995. In June 1996, a court signed an injunction requiring him to add, with equal prominence in placement, his first name to the hotel. Jean-Michel then founded the Ocean Futures Society in 1999, a marine conservation and education organization which fosters a conservation ethic, conducts research, and develops marine education programs. In 2003, Francesca Sorrenti and Marisha Shibuya of the SKe GROUP project, in partnership with Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society, collaborated to produce Water Culture, a Trolley Books
Trolley Books
Trolley Books is an independent UK publisher, specialising in art and photography books. Areas covered by Trolley include social reportage, photojournalism/current affairs and contemporary art and architecture....
publication featuring a wide variety of photographer's water related imagery and interviews with prominent world personalities on the problems facing our water supply. Cousteau is also Chairman of Green Cross France.
Jean-Michel Cousteau is also working on a documentary highlighting the epic and disastrous 2010 Gulf Oil Spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
in which 11 workers were killed during an explosion of the Deepwater Rig 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.
Film production and appearances
He has produced over 70 films.He appeared on a documentary-type
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
special feature on the DVD version of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 American animated film based on the popular Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The film stars the voices of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Doug Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson, Alec Baldwin, Jeffrey Tambor, and...
in which he and Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen McDannell Hillenburg is an American animator, writer, producer, actor, voice actor, and director best known for creating the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. He currently owns his own production company, United Plankton Pictures...
talk about all of the real-life counterparts to the sea creatures seen in the cartoon series and the movie and even some that are not in the movie.
He did a similar feature for the DVD of the Disney/Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
movie Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
.
Jean-Michel Cousteau made a new documentary series Ocean Adventures released in 2006.
In Disney's DVD release of the Pixar film Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
, Cousteau makes an appearance interacting with the characters from the film, Marlin
Marlin
Marlin, family Istiophoridae, are fish with an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long rigid dorsal fin, which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to derive from its resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike...
, Nemo
Nemo
Nemo is a Latin word meaning "no man" or "no one". "Nemo" may also refer to:-Fiction:* Captain Nemo, captain of the submarine Nautilus in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island...
and Dory
Dory
The dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about long. It is a lightweight and versatile boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. They are easy to build because of their simple lines. For centuries, dories have been used as traditional fishing boats, both in coastal waters and in the...
, and touting the need for better pollution control, showing videos of sick coral reefs.
He also appears in the IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
documentary film Coral Reef Adventure
Coral Reef Adventure
Coral Reef Adventure is a 70mm American documentary film released in 2003 to IMAX theaters. It is narrated by actor Liam Neeson, and directed by Greg MacGillivray....
.
Ocean Futures Society, KQED and PBS are continuing production on the Ocean Adventures series for 2007 and 2008. In October 2006, Jean-Michel Cousteau, and an expedition team that includes his son Fabien and daughter Céline, began filming along the Amazon River. Twenty years ago scientists predicted devastation and irreversible environmental damage here, and 25 years ago Jean-Michel Cousteau and his legendary father traveled with their teams chocolate team. the entire length of the Amazon to document, learn, and see for themselves.
In 2006, Cousteau's documentary Voyage to Kure inspired then United States President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to protect the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, making it — with its 140000 square miles (362,598.3 km²) of ocean waters, islands and atolls — one of the largest Marine Protected Area
Marine Protected Area
Marine Protected Areas, like any protected area, are regions in which human activity has been placed under some restrictions in the interest of conserving the natural environment, it's surrounding waters and the occupant ecosystems, and any cultural or historical resources that may require...
s in the world.
Filmography
Unless noted otherwise, all are appearances as himself.- The Undersea World of Jacques CousteauThe Undersea World of Jacques CousteauThe Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau is a nonfiction documentary television series focusing on marine biodiversity, hosted by French filmmaker, researcher and marine explorer, Jacques Cousteau. New episodes of the series aired from 1968 until 1975....
(1968) associate producer- "Search in the Deep"
- "Savage Worlds of the Coral Jungle"
- The Alan Thicke ShowThe Alan Thicke ShowThe Alan Thicke Show was a Canadian talk show hosted by Alan Thicke. It aired on CTV between 1980 and 1983. The show aired in different versions also re-titled as Prime Cuts and as Fast Company....
(17 October 1980) - Les Pièges de la mer aka Cries from the Deep (1982) delegate producer
- Cousteau: Alaska: Outrage at Valdez (1989) also executive producer & director
- Stories of the Sea (1996)
- Exploring the ReefExploring the ReefExploring the Reef is a humorous short documentary film included on the second disc of the Finding Nemo DVD. It features Jean-Michel Cousteau in a documentary film he is trying to make about coral reefs, but Marlin, Dory, and Nemo keep interrupting him....
with Jean-Michel Cousteau (2003) - included on Disc 2 of the Finding NemoFinding NemoFinding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
DVD. - MacGillivray Freeman's Coral Reef AdventureCoral Reef AdventureCoral Reef Adventure is a 70mm American documentary film released in 2003 to IMAX theaters. It is narrated by actor Liam Neeson, and directed by Greg MacGillivray....
(2003) - Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina (2003) also thanked by the Ocean Futures Society
- Deadly Sounds in the Silent World (2003)
- Sharks 3D (2004) presenter
- Tout le monde en parleTout le monde en parleTout le monde en parle is a French talk show broadcast on France 2 from September 5, 1998 to July 8, 2006. It was hosted by Thierry Ardisson and produced by Catherine Barma....
(10 April 2004) - The 100 Greatest Family Films (2005)/ films about ocean
- Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures (2006—) also executive producer
- "America's Underwater TreasuresUnited States National Marine SanctuaryA U.S. National Marine Sanctuary is a federally-designated area within United States waters that protects areas of the marine environment with special conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, cultural, archeological, scientific, educational, or aesthetic qualities. The National Marine...
" (two parts, 20 & 27 September 2006) Robert RedfordRobert RedfordCharles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime... - "SharkSharkSharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s at Risk" (12 July 2006) narrated by Pierce BrosnanPierce BrosnanPierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years... - "The Gray WhaleGray WhaleThe gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of about , a weight of , and lives 50–70 years. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were...
Obstacle Course" (19 July 2006) narrated by Pierce BrosnanPierce BrosnanPierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years... - "Voyage to KureKure AtollKure Atoll or Ocean Island is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean beyond Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at . The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds...
" (two parts, 5 & 12 April 2006) narrated by Pierce BrosnanPierce BrosnanPierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
(ASIN B000CSUNL6) - "Return to the AmazonAmazon RiverThe Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
" (two parts, 2 & 9 April 2008) narrated by Delroy LindoDelroy LindoDelroy George Lindo is an English actor and theatre director. Lindo has been nominated for the Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards and has won a Satellite Award... - "Sea Ghosts" (8 April 2009) narrated by Anne HecheAnne HecheAnne Celeste Heche is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer,...
- "Call of the Killer Whale" (22 April 2009) narrated by Chris NothChris NothChristopher David "Chris" Noth is an American actor. He is known for long-running television roles as Det. Mike Logan on the police procedural and legal drama television series, Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and as Big on Sex and the City. For the latter role, he has been...
- "America's Underwater Treasures
- Slater Meets Her Hero Jean-Micheal Cousteau (2006)
- Voxtours: "Karibische Jungferninseln - Die British Virgin Islands" (19 August 2006)
- Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean (2008) presenter
- The Late Late Show with Craig FergusonThe Late Late Show with Craig FergusonThe Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
(1 April 2008, 31 July 2008, 25 June 2010, 11 February 2011 and 4 August 2011)
External links
- Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures at PBS.org
- Ocean Futures
- Public School Insights' interview with Jean-Michel Cousteau Posted April 21, 2009
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799879/ Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures (TV Series 2006)