Biography

Lionel Friedberg is a documentary film director, producer and writer who has written or produced films for, among others, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, PBS, the History Channel and National Geographic. He has 18 credits as Director of Photography on feature motion pictures, and has worked all over the world on both dramatic and nonfiction productions.

Friedberg was born in South Africa. He began his career working in the television industry in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1961. He later directed numerous TV episodes and single dramas and documentaries in South Africa and was the Chairman of the South African Film and Television Association (SAFFTA) for many years. In 1966 he worked in Canada, where he was affiliated with the National Film Board of Canada, Montreal. In 1986 he moved to the United States. For the past 30 years he has specialized in fiction and non-fiction series, episodes and single shows, as well as writing non-fiction books. He is an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer, an author of three non-fiction books and a New York Times bestselling author. He is a vegan and active in the environmental and animal welfare movements.