In the year 2000, Stroud took a
few small cameras out into the wilderness of Northern Ontario, Canada and spent a week surviving alone without
food, water, equipment or camera crew. He single-handedly created, produced,
wrote, filmed, hosted, edited and wrote the theme music for these first two
original, one-hour pilots for what would eventually become the series
Survivorman. He remains the only producer in the history of television to produce
an internationally broadcast series entirely written, videotaped and hosted
alone.
Survivorman has gone on to become
the highest rated show in the history of both OLN Canada and the Science
Channel US and is quickly becoming one of the most popular shows on the
Discovery Channel US, along with becoming hugely popular worldwide. Survivorman
Productions Inc. was listed as one of the 'Global Top 100' on the coveted list
for Realscreen magazine. The show was also the number one pick of Wired
Magazine's 'Top Ten' list for February 2007, and Stroud made the 2007 'Top 100
People We Love to Watch' list for Entertainment Weekly magazine.
'This is my favorite new TV show ...
absolutely amazing' - Ellen DeGeneres
'This show is extremely addicting, I love
it!... it's the only guest my brother asked me to have on The View this year' -
Rosie O'Donnell
Les Stroud has more than 20 years
experience as a naturalist and outdoor adventurer and instructor in survival,
white water paddling, sea kayaking, hiking, dog sledding and winter travel. His
career in film began in the early 1980s working on rock videos and eventually
becoming a producer of MuchMusic TV the Canadian music video channel.
Combining his love for the
outdoors and his skills as a filmmaker, Stroud has appeared in and/or produced
numerous television specials and interstitials including hosting in 2007 the
twentieth anniversary of Discovery Channel's Shark Week, The Mad Trapper -
Cineflix, The True Story of Robinson Crusoe - Cinenova, Discovery Channel's Shark
Feeding Frenzy, I Shouldn't Be Alive, Expedition Everest, Surviving Urban
Disasters, as well as OLN Canada's Off the Grid with Les Stroud. He was the
subject of the series Extraordinary Lives. His documentary film Snowshoes and
Solitude, about the year he and his wife spent living in the remote Boreal
Forest of Northern Ontario, has won numerous independent awards.
In addition to his success in
film and television, Stroud is an avid musician having recently released an
album with Canada's hit band The Northern Pikes (renamed: Les Stroud and The
Pikes) and having composed the theme to Survivorman. Les is a proud member of
the Explorers Club.