Addison O’Dea Biography – Addison O’Dea Wiki
Addison O’Dea is an American filmmaker and writer who specializes in anthropology. His work has been published and broadcast by National Geographic, Discovery, and Ozy. Both a writer and a documentarian, his work focuses on access and understanding of cloistered worlds and communities. Born and raised in New York City, Addison spent considerable time spent in The Bahamas where his family has long ties. His interests are informed by his mother’s family who has worked in various aspects of science, government, and the arts all over the world since the 19th century.
His documentary work has been broadcast by publishers such as Discovery, Inc., National Geographic, Seeker, YouTube, and OZY. Over the course of his career, he has worked on six of the seven continents and in countries as varied as Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Bolivia, East Timor, Benin, South Africa, Algeria, Myanmar, Oman, and Western Sahara, Vietnam, Togo, Brazil, and Mexico.
O’Dea, a former contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler, has written and directed a number of virtual reality documentary films focusing on subjects such as the origin of voodoo through West African Vodun in Togo and Benin; and ancient Quranic libraries in the Sahara.
As of 2019, he was producing an action film set in the Sahara written and directed by Eugene Jarecki. Featuring a Tuareg character as the protagonist, the working title is “Tuareg Project”. He is also the writer and producer of a documentary series called Beat Nation, currently in development with Ginedo Films, also produced by Nabil Elderkin and Mattia Bogianchino. It was reported in 2021 that he was directing a feature film financed by Endeavor Content titled Unlikely Heroes.
His largest project to date is writing and directing the thirty-six-episode series Discovery TRVLR for Discovery, Inc., and Google. Filmed on all seven continents, the series centers around a “Guru, Renegade, Entertainer or Explorer” in each environment as they pull the curtain back on varying rituals, unique traditions, and life-threatening quests that encompass their culture.” At that time, Discovery TRVLR was Discovery’s largest virtual reality project to date.
The series was designed by him to go to as remote locations as possible and focus on the universality of the people who live there. Rather than sending a message of ‘we are all the same’ or forcing Western ideals on the characters, the idea is to create an elegant juxtaposition at a hyperlocal level. “Defying Convention” in Communist Vietnam is significantly different when contrasted alongside the same idea in Catholic Mexico.
From an interview with him in Filmmaker about the show: A core tenet of TRVLR is accessing, getting into closed communities that are otherwise not open to visitors. Given how popular the travel genre is, you have to work harder as a producer and director to seek out these communities and earn their trust. That meant we were shooting in locations that required negotiations for safe passage through gangland and armed security.
He attended the Dwight School in Manhattan for an international baccalaureate and holds a BSc. from New York University.
Addison O’Dea Age
He was born on June 15, 1979, in New York, New York City, United States.
Addison O’Dea Wife
He has been in a long-term relationship with Minnie Driver. On September 23, 2019, he was reported to be engaged to be married to actress Minnie Driver.
Addison O’Dea Children
He has no children of his own. However, he acts as a father figure to his partner’s son Henry Story Driver.
Addison O’Dea Family
He was born and brought up in New York City, he spent considerable time spent in The Bahamas where his family has long ties. His interests are informed by his mother’s family who has worked in various aspects of science, government, and the arts all over the world since the 19th century.
He is the son of and Sara (née Greenway) O’Dea and the late Hugh Patrick O’Dea Jr.(1938–2007). His father, Patrick, was murdered in August 2007. His mother Sara was partially raised in Greece and is a classical and medieval historian. She studied in England and worked for The National Gallery in Washington D.C.
He was brought up as the eldest of three brothers, John Remsen Varick O’Dea, and Patrick Gannon Greenway O’Dea, in New York City, the family traveled internationally extensively for both personal and professional reasons. He is a cousin of Senator John V. Tunney (CA-D) whose 1970 campaign was the basis of Michael Ritchie’s 1972 film The Candidate starring Robert Redford.
Addison O’Dea Instagram
His Instagram handle is @addisonodea.
