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 Céline
Cousteau.
Life and career Cousteau is the son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau
and Simone Melchior.
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.
Cousteau advocates for a world free of nuclear weapons, and is a member of the Advisory Council
of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
Cousteau is 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.
During 2012, he wrote the book "My Father, The Captain: My Life with Jacques Cousteau".
Film production and appearances He has produced over 70 films.
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
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 140,000 square miles of ocean waters, islands and atolls — one of the largest
Marine Protected Areas in the world.
Filmography Unless noted otherwise, all are appearances
as himself.
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau associate producer
"Search in the Deep" "Savage Worlds of the Coral Jungle"
The Alan Thicke Show Les Pièges de la mer aka Cries from the Deep
delegate producer Cousteau: Alaska: Outrage at Valdez also executive
producer & director The Sacred Mirror of Kofun - video game/digital
multimedia encyclopedia Stories of the Sea
Exploring the Reef with Jean-Michel Cousteau - included on Disc 2 of the Finding Nemo DVD.
MacGillivray Freeman's Coral Reef Adventure Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina also
thanked by the Ocean Futures Society Deadly Sounds in the Silent World
Sharks 3D presenter Tout le monde en parle
The 100 Greatest Family Films/ films about ocean
Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures also executive producer [1]
"America's Underwater Treasures" Robert Redford "Sharks at Risk" narrated by Pierce Brosnan
"The Gray Whale Obstacle Course" narrated by Pierce Brosnan
"Voyage to Kure" narrated by Pierce Brosnan "Return to the Amazon" narrated by Delroy
Lindo "Sea Ghosts" narrated by Anne Heche
"Call of the Killer Whale" narrated by Chris Noth; two parts, focusing on New Zealand,
reintroducing Keiko of Free Willy fame to the wild, and Norway [2]
Slater Meets Her Hero Jean-Micheal Cousteau Voxtours: "Karibische Jungferninseln - Die
British Virgin Islands" Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean
presenter The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
References
External links Jean-Michel Cousteau at the Internet Movie
Database 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.comtt0799879/ Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures