Philippe Cousteau

The grandson of legendary oceanographic documentarian Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Philippe Cousteau, Jr. carried on his family's legacy of environmental causes as host and producer of numerous nature and science programs, including the Emmy-nominated "Xploration Awesome Planet" (syndicated, 2014-) and "Caribbean Pirate Treasure" (Travel Channel, 2017-) Born Philippe-Pierre Jacques-Yves Arnault Cousteau, Jr., in Santa Monica, California, he was a scion of the famed Cousteau family of explorers and filmmakers who documented the oceans of the world. His father, Philippe Cousteau, died in an air accident before his son's birth, leaving his mother, Jan Cousteau - herself a member of many oceanographic missions - to introduce him and his sister, Alexandra, to the work of his grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and his extended family. Philippe Jr's initial interest was sports, which he played at St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island. But he also joined his family on numerous expeditions around the world through his adolescence and years in higher education at St. Andrews University in Scotland, and upon graduation, he and his mother and sister founded EarthEcho International, a non-profit organization devoted to environmental causes. He also delved into media with two companies, Thalassa Ventures Corporation and later, Azure Worldwide, which provided consulting, development and marketing for environmental concerns. Eventually, these twin focuses culminated in his following in the Cousteau family business of television documentaries; Cousteau served as Chief Ocean Correspondent for Animal Planet's programming, and handled similar duties for BBC Two, CNN and the National Public Radio series "Living on Earth." In 2012, Cousteau took his philanthropic efforts to the global market by establishing the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF Exchange, an exchange-traded fund that provided fees to socially responsible efforts around the world. But television remained his primary showcase for informing viewers about the world around them, and with his wife, entertainment journalist Ashlan Gorse, he served as host and/or producer of numerous nature and environment shows, including "Xploration Awesome Planet," which earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination for children's series host; the hour-long documentary "Nuclear Sharks" (2016) for Discovery Channel's massively popular Shark Week, which looked at grey reef sharks living in waters contaminated by atomic testing during the 1940s and 1950s; and "Caribbean Pirate Treasure," for which the Cousteaus explore myths and history about pirates in the former West Indies.