Richard Wiese

Personal life

Wiese was born in Long Island, New York. His father, Richard Wiese, Sr., was the first man to solo the Pacific Ocean in an aircraft. Richard's climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at the age of 11. He attended St. Anthony's High School in Smithtown, New York, and then Brown University, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Biology. He also studied Applied Physiology at Columbia University and completed the USDA Graduate Program in Meteorology.

Wiese lives in Weston, Connecticut.

Expeditions

In early 2002, he became president of The Explorers Club - the youngest in the organization's history. During his four-year term, he worked in Mexico's Yucatán jungle placing satellite collars on jaguars. .He also climbed and sampled Tanzania's volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai .and participated in two expeditions to Antarctica to core glaciers for climatological studies..

During the same period, Wiese joined a medical expedition on Mount Everest. He also cross-country skied to the North Pole . and was a member of the 2004 Yeronisos Island expedition in Cyprus. .In addition, he led an expedition to bio-prospect for extremophiles and new life forms in Mount Kilimanjaro's Ngorongoro Crater, resulting in the discovery of 29 new life forms.. That expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro also involved placing the first weather station on its slopes, which has been crucial for tracking the effects of global warming.

Television series

Born to Explore with Richard Wiese was one of six original half-hour educational/informational (E/I) programs on Litton's Weekend Adventure. The series aired Saturday mornings on ABC stations in the United States and was distributed internationally on National Geographic by Rive Gauche Television. The series premiered on ABC Saturday, September 3, 2011 and aired its final show on September 24, 2016. In January 2017, Born to Explore debuted on American Public Television (APT) stations nationwide.

In 2012, Wiese won the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Exploration and Journalism and the series received a Daytime Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Children's Series. In 2013, Born to Explore was nominated for 2 Daytime® Emmys, including Outstanding Travel Program and won the Daytime Emmy® for Outstanding Single Camera Photography. In 2014, the series received 5 Emmy® nominations for Outstanding Travel/Adventure series, Outstanding Host in a Lifestyle/Travel Program, Outstanding Directing in a LIfestyle/Culinary Travel Program, Outstanding Writing Special Class, and Outstanding Music Composition and Direction. In 2015, the series was nominated for Outstanding Travel program and Outstanding Writing Special Class and won the Daytime Emmy® for Outstanding Sound Mixing. In 2016, Born to Explore received two nominations for Outstanding Travel and Outstanding Sound Mixing. The series has been honored with the Parents’ Choice Gold Award for teens 13-16, the CINE Golden Eagle and numerous Telly awards.

The production team filmed in Botswana, Uganda, Iceland, England, Morocco, Australia, Canada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Chile, Cyprus, South Africa, Namibia, India, British Columbia, and South Dakota. Other locations included Scotland, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Namibia, Arizona, Maine and New York City.

TV & Film

Wiese appeared in two feature films: in 1982, in a brief love scene with Brooke Shields in Endless Love and in 1986, as ‘Chris’ in Club Paradise. He was host of Exploration with Richard Wiese, a TV series that was syndicated in the U.S. and distributed internationally. He also hosted Hell on Earth, which aired on Discovery in the U.S. and BBC in the UK.

Print

Wiese is the author of the guidebook, Born to Explore: How to Be a Backyard Adventurer., published by Harper in 2009. According to WorldCat the book is held in 116 libraries.