ARIEL WALDMAN

EXPLORER + FILMMAKER

Ariel Waldman is an explorer and filmmaker. Her expeditions take her from tallgrass prairies and deep-sea canyons to the icy realms of Antarctica. In these remarkable places, she films otherworldly life beneath the surface, including the extraordinary lives of microscopic animals. Ariel is the creator and host of LIFE UNEARTHED with Ariel Waldman, an ongoing series on PBS that reveals Earth’s ecosystems through radical shifts in scale—from microscopic wildlife to the planet’s most iconic species, and even the potential for life beyond Earth.

Ariel is also a National Geographic Explorer, TED speaker, and author. For over a decade, she has served as an advisor to NASA on astrobiology, human spaceflight, and advanced technologies. In 2013, she was honored by the Obama White House as a “Champion of Change” for her work in citizen science. She lives in San Francisco and enjoys collaborating with researchers to illuminate the unseen corners of our world.