James Reed (filmmaker)
James Reed is a British filmmaker known for documentaries such as Shark Whisperer, Chimp Empire, and My Octopus Teacher, the latter of which earned him an Academy Award in 2020.
Biography
[edit]Reed graduated from Prudhoe Community High School in 1997 and went on to attend University of Leeds where he studied Zoology.[1] He founded Underdog Films in 2015.[2]
Reed won an Academy Award in 2020 for his co-directing of My Octopus Teacher.[3] He followed up with Chimp Empire, a Netflix documentary he directed and produced.[4] In 2022 he signed a one year agreement with BBC to work with its commercial producer-distributor on natural history feature documentaries.[2] While with the BBC, he directed an episode of Frozen Planet II.[4]
Select filmography
[edit]- 2025, Shark Whisperer, Director[5]
- 2023, Chimp Empire, Director, Producer[6][4]
- 2020, My Octopus Teacher, Co-Director[3]
- 2017, Rise of the Warrior Apes, Director[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Hall, Daniel (26 April 2021). "Prudhoe director wins Best Documentary at 2021 Oscar Awards". Hexham Courant. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
- ^ a b Goldbart, Max (10 October 2022). "'My Octopus Teacher' Director James Reed Ties With BBC Studios". Deadline. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
- ^ a b Morfoot, Addie (21 February 2024). "'My Octopus Teacher' Filmmaker to Focus on Restoration of Extinct Species Such as the Dodo Bird in Upcoming Doc". Variety. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
- ^ a b c Morfoot, Addie (21 February 2024). "'My Octopus Teacher' Filmmaker to Focus on Restoration of Extinct Species Such as the Dodo Bird in Upcoming Doc". Variety. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
- ^ France, Lisa Respers (1 August 2025). "'Shark Whisperer' is the latest controversial entertainment to swim into our shark obsession". CNN. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
- ^ a b Cummings, Mike (8 June 2023). "Conflicted opinion: Yale chimpanzee expert weighs in on 'Chimp Empire'". Yale News. Retrieved 1 August 2025.