Les Stroud

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Les Stroud
Born (1961-10-20) 20 October 1961 (age 62)
Filmmaker, musician
SpouseSusan Jamison (1994–2008)
Children2

Les Stroud (born 20 October 1961)

YTV. The survival skills imparted from watching Stroud's television programs have been cited by several people as the reason they lived through harrowing wilderness ordeals.[4]

Biography

Stroud was born in the

MuchMusic, and as a songwriter for the band New Regime before a Temagami canoe trip sparked a career change.[1] During this time he also worked as garbage collector for the City of Toronto.[3]

In 1990 Stroud became a guide for Black Feather Wilderness Adventures leading canoe excursions into the Northern Ontario wilds.[3] It was also during this time while on a survival course he met his future wife, photographer Sue Jamison.[2] They married in 1994 and together left for a year-long honeymoon in the remote Wabakimi area of Ontario which was to become the basis of the documentary Snowshoes and Solitude. Afterwards, the couple moved to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories where Stroud was employed as an outdoor instructor to special needs individuals of aboriginal descent.[7] Stroud and Jamison then settled in Huntsville, Ontario where they had two children and started both the outdoor instructional outfit Wilderness Voice and the media company Wilderness Spirit Productions.[6]

Inspired by the popularity of the television show

@discovery.ca in 2001.[2] The success of these specials led to the development of Survivorman
, a show that followed a similar format of leaving Stroud on his own, with minimal equipment, in the wilderness to videotape his survival experience.

Film and television

After his marriage to Jamison in 1994, the two of them spent one year in the Canadian wilderness to attempt a

squash, beaver and moose meat, bear fat, and maple sugar. In late September, Stroud's friends Doug Getgood and Fred Rowe brought in food for the next six months and chopped firewood for the couple. Stroud and Jamison built and equipped a winter cabin using an axe, a modern bow saw
, and a trapper's tin wood stove left by Getgood and Rowe, along with a metal pot they found.

Family and medical emergencies brought them out of the bush on three occasions. Once when Stroud's father was dying from cancer, another when they both went to be treated for giardiasis, and again when Jamison had a miscarriage. Stroud filmed their primitive living experience and released the 50 minute documentary, Snowshoes and Solitude, which was named Best Documentary at the Muskoka Film Festival and Best Film at the Waterwalker Film Festival.[8]

In 2001 Stroud produced two one-hour specials for the science news show

@discovery.ca. These segments follow the same format as Survivorman with Stroud filming his own survival in the wilderness. They were originally broadcast as daily segments over the course of one week but were repackaged as two one-hour specials titled Stranded.[2] The popularity of these pilots spawned the show Survivorman. Stroud produced 23 episodes of the show which began airing in 2004.[2] Stroud also composed and performed the opening theme music of Survivorman.[9]

In 2006, Stroud produced a 90-minute special documenting his family's journey to building an

The View, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Larry King Live.[10]

Stroud has also hosted an episode of the Discovery channel show

Surviving Urban Disasters, which aired on the Science Channel and the 20th annual Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.[11]

In 2010, Stroud hosted and produced the Gemini nominated hit kids TV series Survive This and Survive This 2 (

Beyond Survival with Les Stroud and debuted in 2010.[12]

On 27 April 2018,

broken anchor] on their NGW channel. In 4 episodes, Stroud explores the survival methods and social structure of the Kodiak brown bear.[13] Since 2020,[14] Stroud has collaborated with chef Paul Rogalski on their PBS series Wild Harvest, where Stroud forages for wild ingredients and challenges Rogalski to use them in the preparation of different dishes in each episode.[15]

Music

In addition to film making and wilderness survival, Stroud has also worked in the music industry as a professional musician. After graduation, Stroud worked both as an associate producer for the nascent music channel

MuchMusic as well as production manager on music videos for artists such as Rush and Corey Hart.[16] During this time Stroud also played in the David Bowie cover band Diamond Dogs and played lead guitar and composed music for his band New Regime[1] which signed with RCA Records shortly after Stroud left the band.[7][17]

As frequently illustrated in his show Survivorman, Stroud is considered an exceptional blues harmonica player.[17] This instrument is featured prominently in his self-titled debut CD which has been described as "a collection of diverse roots/blues and traditional folk, acoustic music that reflects the uniquely northern spirit of freedom and adventure." Several songs off of this album can be downloaded from his official site.[17] Stroud has performed in and around the Muskoka area and at the Orillia Blues Festival and Toronto Beaches International Jazz Festival.

Stroud and The Northern Pikes have struck up a musical collaboration under the name Les Stroud and the Pikes. Throughout 2005 and 2006 they performed together live several times, and an EP born from this collaboration entitled Long Walk Home was released in the spring of 2007.[7][17]

Awards

Stroud has received several accolades as a musician. He has won "Best Acoustic/Folk Act", "Best Blues Act" and "Best Overall" awards at the Spirit of the North music festival in

New Liskeard, Ontario.[6][7][17]

Stroud's documentary Snowshoes and Solitude was named Best Documentary at the Muskoka Film Festival and Best Film at the Waterwalker Film Festival.[8]

Stroud was nominated for six

Gemini Awards for his work on Survivorman.[18][19] In 2010, Stroud and his production team was nominated for Best Children's or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series for Survive This.[20]

Personal life

Stroud has extensive experience with survival and

primitive living skills, initially training with expert David Arama.[21][22] He went on to study with many others including John "Prairie Wolf" McPherson.[23]

Stroud has been an active participant in adventure racing and has competed at the Canadian championships.[21]

In late 2008, Stroud and his wife, Sue Jamison, separated.[24][25]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gwilt, Alwynne (7 March 2006). "'I am really alone'; Les Stroud, star of OLN's Survivorman, goes to the world's toughest spots, but always gets out alive". Toronto Star. pp. D2.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Fralic, Shelly (24 September 2005). "Survivor reality? Les Stroud does it without the net". Vancouver Sun. pp. F3.
  3. ^
    The Toronto Star
    . pp. H10. Retrieved 11 September 2008.
  4. The Sudbury Star
    . New Glasgow News. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  5. ^ "Mimico Yearbook – 1980". Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
  6. ^ a b c "Les Stroud website – Bio". Archived from the original on 4 September 2004. Retrieved 4 September 2004.
  7. ^ a b c d "Les Stroud – Music". Les Stroud Official Site. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
  8. ^ a b Deachman, Bruce (29 March 2001). "'The best year of our lives'". Ottawa Citizen. pp. D8.
  9. ^ "Survivorman Official Website: Credits". Archived from the original on 30 March 2010.
  10. ^ Edwards, Trent (26 November 2008). "A Real Survivor; In an exclusive interview, Les Stroud dishes on his life as Survivorman". Calgary Herald. pp. E6.
  11. ^ Huff, Richard (29 July 2007). "Swimming with sharks". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
  12. The National Post. Archived from the original
    on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  13. ^ "Alaska's Grizzly Gauntlet (TV Series 2018) - Season 1 - IMDB". IMDb.
  14. ^ "Wild Harvest - Episodes - IMDb". IMDb.
  15. ^ "About, Wild Harvest Television Series". IMDb.
  16. ^ "Survivorman Les Stroud". Paddler Magazine Online. Vol. 26, Issue 5. 31 January 2006. Archived from the original on 10 December 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
  17. ^ a b c d e "Survivorman a catch for the Northern Pikes". Entertainment. Parry Sound North Star. 22 March 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
  18. ^ "27 Gemini Nominations for Rogers Media Television Properties Citytv and OLN". Canada NewsWire. 5 September 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2008.
  19. The Gemini Awards
    . Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  20. The Gemini Awards. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  21. ^ a b "Les Stroud FAQ". Les Stroud Official Site. Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
  22. ^ Frenette, Brad (11 November 2006). "Cooler heads prevail in the wild". Financial Post: Weekend. The National Post. pp. FW.3.
  23. ^ Walker, Thayer (July 2007). "Me. By Myself. For A Long Time. (Very Long.)". Outside Magazine. Retrieved 25 September 2007.
  24. ^ Jian Ghomeshi, Les Stroud (12 February 2009). Survivorman (Les Stroud) on QTV. Toronto: CBC Radio One. Event occurs at 5:30. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  25. ^ Brady, James (14 December 2008). "In Step With Les Stroud". Parade. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2010.

External links

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