John Heminway is a writer and filmmaker. Educated in New York, Switzerland, Massachusetts and at Princeton University, his award-winning body of work has focused on nature, science, history, biography, the American West and Africa.

Heminway’s filmmaking career at ABC Sports, Anglia Television, the Discovery Channel, PBS (WNET/Thirteen and WGBH), Disney and National Geographic Television, spans five decades and several hundred films. For PBS, he helped produce, write and direct “The Brain,” “The Mind” and the “Evolution” series, and has contributed to the Nature series. For four years he was the producer and the presenter/host of the PBS series, “Travels.” His many awards include two Emmys, two Peabodys and a DuPont Columbia Journalism award.

In 2016, Montana State University awarded John Heminway an honorary doctorate of Arts.

In 2012, Heminway wrote, directed and co-produced “Bones of Turkana” a National Geographic Special broadcast on PBS. His 2013 documentary, “Battle For The Elephants,” produced with Katie Carpenter and J.J. Kelley, was voted Best Conservation Film of 2013, at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, and in September 2014, it was awarded Science Media’s “Best Environmental and Conservation Sciences Program.” The film is still noted for its impact in Bangkok at C.I.T.E.S. (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), through Africa, in the U.S. Senate, Department of Fish & Wildlife and at the State Department.

As sequel to “Battle For The Elephants,” Heminway initiated and helped produce, direct and write “Warlords of Ivory,” featuring investigative journalist, Bryan Christy. It premiered on 30 August 2015, re-launching National Geographic Channel’s Explorer Series. Linked to an innovative magazine cover story, its findings already have had geo-political impact in the U.S. and overseas. The New York WILD Film Festival honored “Warlords of Ivory” as Best Conservation film of the year. In addition, it was singled out for its conservation message at the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations and was nominated for an Emmy for “outstanding cinematography.”

Heminway has served on many board and advisory councils, including the African Wildlife Foundation (Board Chairman for nine years), Trout Unlimited, American Prairie Reserve, White Oak Conservation Center, Okapi Conservation Project, Tusk and Elephant Family. In 2013, Dr. Richard Leakey appointed Heminway international Chairman of WildlifeDirect, in Kenya. He served in this position until late in 2017.

Between 2015 and 2023, Heminway was adjunct professor in Montana State University’s Film Department where he taught a course on story telling. In December 2016, Montana State University awarded John Heminway an honorary doctorate of Arts. In 2017 the American Computer and Robotics Museum awarded him the Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award for distinguished nature filmography.

Heminway’s sixth book, In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement, was published by Alfred. A. Knopf in 2018.

Heminway travels widely for work from his base in Bozeman, Montana where he lives with his wife and daughter.