Randy Olson

Randy Olson used to be smart, but made himself dumb in the interest of science communication. Once upon a time he was a tenured professor of marine biology at the University of New Hampshire (Ph.D. Harvard, 1984). But in the early nineties he began making humorous films about sea creatures (including a music video about the sex lives of barnacles) which eventually led him to resigning from his tenured slot (the first sign of impending stupidity), moving to Hollywood (second sign), going to film school (third), and entering a two year acting class (case closed).

Today he is the writer/director of the feature documentary, "Flock of Dodos: the evolution-intelligent design circus," www.flockofdodos.com, which premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and will be released in early 2007. Variety said the film is, "poised for instant success," The National Review called it, "an important accomplishment," and the New York Times said, "you'll flip over Flock of Dodos."

He is also the co-founder and executive producer of The Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project, www.shiftingbaselines.org, which is a partnership between ocean conservation and Hollywood to explore more innovative ways to communicate the crisis facing our oceans. Their projects have included short films and television commercials written and directed by Randy, including The Ocean Symphony conducted by Jack Black which was recently featured on Youtube.com producing nearly a half million views, and the Tiny Fish PSA starring Cedric Yarbrough (Deputy S. Jones of Comedy Central's "Reno 911").