Arlo Hemphill
Encyclopedia
Arlo Hanlin Hemphill is an American explorer, ocean conservationist
Conservationist
Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...

, and film actor. With an educational background in marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...

, he is a Fellow National of the Explorers Club
The Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is a professional society dedicated to scientific exploration of Earth, its oceans, and outer space. Founded in 1904 in New York City, it currently has 30 branches world wide...

 and has been listed in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

 (Myers et al. 2000) as one of 100+ global biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

 experts, credited for his expertise pertaining to the Greater Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 and the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena
Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena
Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena is a biodiversity hotspot, which includes the tropical moist forests and tropical dry forests of the Pacific coast of South America and the Galapagos Islands. The region extends from easternmost Panama to the lower Magdalena Valley of Colombia, and along the Pacific coast of...

 biodiversity hotspots. Hemphill is currently a freelance writer, consultant and film professional, with an emphasis on ocean science and conservation.

Conservation career

As an international conservationist, Arlo Hemphill's career is segmented into a Florida-based education; exploration and field work focused largely on tropical South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

; and years spent working as a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

-based advocate of High Seas conservation.

Florida Years

Hemphill earned a B.S. in biology in 1994 from Palm Beach Atlantic University
Palm Beach Atlantic University
Palm Beach Atlantic University is a comprehensive nondenominational faith-based university with a core emphasis on character formation by integrating a Christian worldview with the liberal arts and selected professional studies...

 in West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...

. While earning this degree, he spent several summers conducting research on tropical forests on the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 island of Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

, W.I. In 2001, Arlo Hemphill returned to South Florida to pursue a M.S. degree in marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...

 at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center
Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center
The Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center is a center for oceanographical research at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Located on a site on the ocean side of Port Everglades, adjacent to the port's entrance, the center has a boat basin and affords immediate access to the Gulf...

 (NSUOC) in Dania Beach, Florida
Dania Beach, Florida
Dania Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 29,639. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census. Dania Beach is the location of one of the largest jai alai frontons in...

. While at NSUOC, he worked simulteanously as a research technician for the U.S. National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 at Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida, due east of Homestead. The park preserves Biscayne Bay, one of the top scuba diving areas in the United States. Ninety-five percent of the park is water. In addition, the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive...

, as a sea turtle
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...

 technician for the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program and as a research assistant and scientific diver for NSUOC's ichthyology
Ichthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish...

 laboratory.

South American Exploration and Conservation

Hemphill first visited South America in 1991 as part of a Palm Beach Atlantic University field course to the Ecuadorian Amazon
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...

, a region with which he would continue to work closely for years to come. After completing his undergraduate degree, he returned to this part of the Amazon to work as a forest mapper with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...

's Center for Tropical Forest Science
Center for Tropical Forest Science
The Center for Tropical Forest Science, or CTFS, is a consortium of forest researchers who pursue long-term research on tree populations using comparable census method. The work developed out of a study of 50 hectares of forest on Barro Colorado Island in Panama begun in 1981...

, based in Yasuni National Park
Yasuni National Park
Yasuni National Park is in Ecuador with an area of 9,820 km2 between the Napo and Curaray rivers in Napo and Pastaza provinces in Amazonian Ecuador. The park is about 250 km from Quito and was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989...

, Ecuador.

In 1997, shortly after leaving Yasuni, Arlo began working with Conservation International
Conservation International
Conservation International is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which seeks to ensure the health of humanity by protecting Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. CI’s work focuses on six key initiatives that affect human well-being: climate, food security, freshwater...

's Aquatic Rapid Assessment Program (AquaRAP), through which he served as an Internet correspondent and general field assistant for multi-disciplinary expeditions on the Rio Paraguay and the Brazilian Pantanal
Pantanal
The Pantanal is a tropical wetland and one of the world's largest wetland of any kind. Most of it lies within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay, sprawling over an area estimated at between and...



In 1998, Arlo returned to Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 as a conservation biologist working with the Jatun Sacha Foundation
Jatun Sacha Foundation
The Jatun Sacha Foundation is a private Ecuadorian Non profit NGO founded in 1985.The purpose of this organisation is outlined on its website as:...

. Initially based at the high altitude Guandera Biological Station
Guandera Biological Station
The Guandera Biological Station was established in 1994 and is situated in the northern inter-Andean valley of Ecuador. The station is managed by the Jatun Sacha Foundation and is located in Ecuador's Carchi Province.....

, located in the northern Ecuadorian Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

, Arlo was charged with developing a multi-faceted program addressing native tuber
Tuber
Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...

 conservation and montane deforestation. During this time, he traveled extensively throughout the tropical Andes
Tropical Andes
The Tropical Andes is a subregion of the Andes spanning all of the Andes except the southern mediterranean and temperate zones. The Tropical Andes is an biodiversity hotspot named the “global epicenter of biodiversity” according to the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.The Tropical Andes area is...

 of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, visiting remote Quechua communities in an effort to document the decline in their use of native tubers. After a year in Guandera, he shifted his base of operations for a short time to the Bilsa Biological Station within the Mache-Chindul mountain range of Ecuador's coastal region. While at Bilsa, he gained institutional support to found a coastal conservation program and, in partnership with Ecuador's Quiroga family, co-founded the Congal Biomarine Station
Congal Biomarine Station
The Congal Biomarine Station is a protected nature reserve created in 2000 and is located in southwestern Esmeraldas Province, close to the town of Muisne in northwestern Ecuador...

 - a sustainable aquaculture
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...

 research center and mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

 sanctuary. For the two years he served as director of Jatun Sacha's Coastal Conservation Program, Arlo maintained a residence in Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...

, Ecuador's capital city. For a time, Hemphill shared this residence with Scott Braman, a documentary filmmaker and Fulbright Scholar. Through Braman, Hemphill was re-acquainted with the Huaorani
Huaorani
The Huaorani, Waorani or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are native Amerindians from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate name Auca is a pejorative exonym used by the neighboring Quechua Indians, and commonly adopted by...

 people, a relatively recently contacted indigenous group from the Yasuni region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Their Quito home evolved into an urban basecamp for Huao leaders and both Hemphill and Braman developed strong, personal relationships with these men.

High Seas Conservation

In 2003, Hemphill returned to Conservation International (CI) in Washington, D.C. to serve as assistant editor on a marine conservation textbook entitled Defying Ocean's End
Defying Ocean's End
Defying Ocean's End is a global agenda for action in marine conservation compiled in a 2004 Island Press book. It is also the title of a 2003 Los Cabos conference, where the agenda was formulated....

. Following the book's publication in 2004, Hemphill went on to serve as an advocate of the book's global conservation agenda as a Director within CI's Global Marine Division. Of note, he, with Dr. Sylvia Earle
Sylvia Earle
Sylvia Alice Earle is an American oceanographer. She was chief scientist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1990–1992. She is a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, sometimes called "Her Deepness" or "The Sturgeon General".-Education and career:Earle received a...

, led the organization's efforts to reform ocean governance policies in international waters
International waters
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...

 via participation on the World Commission on Protected Area's (WCPA's) High Seas Task Force
WCPA High Seas Task Force
The World Commission on Protected Areas 's High Seas Task Force spans decades. It was officially established in 2003 following the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress where marine experts formulated a...

 and the Steering Committees of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition
Deep Sea Conservation Coalition
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition is an alliance of over 60 international organizations working to promote the conservation of biodiversity on the high seas...

 (DSCC) and the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea and Areas of Influence. At this stage in his career he was an active participant within the international ocean policy community, representing Conservation International and the DSCC within the United Nations Informal Consultative Process for Oceans and the Law of the Sea
Law of the sea
Law of the sea may refer to:* United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea* Admiralty law* The Custom of the Sea...

 (UNICPOLOS), various United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

' negotiations addressing fisheries and international waters, and the Convention on Biological Diversity
Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...

 (CBD)

Filmography

Influenced by the media prowess of mentor Dr. Sylvia Earle
Sylvia Earle
Sylvia Alice Earle is an American oceanographer. She was chief scientist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1990–1992. She is a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, sometimes called "Her Deepness" or "The Sturgeon General".-Education and career:Earle received a...

 and a belief that the medium of film holds an unprecedented capacity to inspire and catalyze positive change, Arlo Hemphill's career took a shift towards communications, particularly film, in the mid-2000s. Initially serving in the capacity of scientific consultant for short films with conservation messaging (such as the Center for a New American Dream
Center for a New American Dream
The Center for a New American Dream is a nonprofit organization with a stated mission to “help Americans to reduce and shift their consumption to improve quality of life, protect the environment, and promote social justice." The organization works with individuals, institutions, communities, and...

's The Hidden Cost of Shrimp (2002) and various in-house productions with Conservation International
Conservation International
Conservation International is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which seeks to ensure the health of humanity by protecting Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. CI’s work focuses on six key initiatives that affect human well-being: climate, food security, freshwater...

), his involvement increased in 2007 coinciding with a physical relocation to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. Following this relocation, he became actively involved in L.A.'s entertainment industry, variably serving in the capacity of production assistant
Production assistant
A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production...

, stand-in
Stand-in
A stand-in for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting.Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of production. Lighting setup can be a slow and tedious process; during this time the actor will often be somewhere else...

, photo double and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. Among other work, he assisted long time Peruvian friend and colleague, Olga Arana, as production assistant on the Academy Award nominated Viva La Causa, a documentary memorializing the life of farm labor activist, Cesar Chavez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....

. His work as an actor began with a small featured role in Randall Miller's Bottle Shock
Bottle Shock
Bottle Shock is a 2008 American comedy-drama film based on the 1976 wine competition termed the "Judgment of Paris", when California wine defeated French wine in a blind taste test. It stars Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, and Bill Pullman and is directed by Randall Miller, who wrote the screenplay along...

(2008), the story of the events that led up to the Judgment of Paris. This initial job segued into a series of historical re-enactments for the History and National Geographic
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...

 Channels. These roles included a Roman Centurion in Crucifixion (2008), John Needham
John Needham
John Turberville Needham FRS was an English biologist and Roman Catholic priest.He was first exposed to natural philosophy while in seminary school and later published a paper which, while the subject was mostly about geology, described the mechanics of pollen and won recognition in the botany...

 in How Life Began (2008), and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 in 42 Ways to Kill Hitler (2008).

Not restricted to academic work, he became involved in mainstream entertainment in 2008 with supporting and lead roles in a variety of independent features. Notable early roles include an imperial officer in The Mandalorian Legacy (2009), a villainous space alien in Tom Galt's The 4-21 (2009), a serial killer in Checkmate (2009), and a blue-collar father in Rains of Astoria (2008). He has additionally appeared as a guest co-star on Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

's 1000 Ways to Die
1000 Ways to Die
1000 Ways to Die is a docufiction anthology television series that premiered on May 14, 2008 on Spike. The program recreates unusual supposed deaths and debunked urban legends and includes interviews with experts who describe the science behind each death...

 
and has been featured in small spots on network television series such as Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

, Medium
Medium (TV series)
Medium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, and ended on CBS on January 21, 2011. Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois , is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office...

and Back to You
Back to You
Back to You is an American situation comedy series, which aired on Fox from September 19, 2007 to May 14, 2008. The creators and executive producers were Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, and the director was James Burrows. The series starred Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as squabbling...

. In the summer of 2008, he had the rare opportunity of working opposite actor Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

 as a photo double for actor Tom Wilkinson
Tom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...

 within Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.-Early life:Singer was born in New...

's World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 thriller Valkyrie
Valkyrie (film)
Valkyrie is a 2008 American historical thriller film set in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film depicts the 20 July plot in 1944 by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use the Operation Valkyrie national emergency plan to take control of the country...

(2008). By the close of 2008, his work in film had gained him eligibility into the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...

 (SAG).

External links

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