Rob Whitehair sitting at Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, CA. Photo by Pam Voth.

Rob Whitehair is an award-winning filmmaker, artist, ecologist, storyteller, and entrepreneur whose work celebrates life and explores the connections between people and the Earth. His films have won multiple awards at international festivals, enjoyed theatrical release in the US and have been broadcast worldwide.

He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mammalz, the first interactive live streaming platform dedicated to nature storytelling, presenter-led shows, and IRL experiences. Rob Co- founded Mammalz to bring new voices into the natural history conversation, diversify perspectives across the globe, give creators economic opportunity, and use modern technology to provide real time impact for the issues surround the natural world. 

His work in film explores the crossroads of art, nature, love and our spiritual connection to the Earth.  He recently completed a feature length art film, the first in a series of  what he calls “post documentary” films entitled, The Ecology of Jazz 80 min (2017). This black and white film embraces slow cinema and breathes new life into the simple pleasure of deep listening while poetically exploring the art of nature and the nature of art.  Prior to this Whitehair directed the feature documentary True Wolf (2012)  World Premiering at the Seattle International Film Festival and picked up for theatrical distribution by Shadow Distribution, True Wolf is an intimate story about a young Montana couple who  gave up everything for the love of an abandoned wolf pup named Koani.  He directed the multiple award-winning feature documentary The Little Red Truck (2008) which enjoyed a US theatrical release in the top 50 major markets in 2008 and was subsequently released on DVD worldwide, including Netflix and Blockbuster. In 2006, he made the wildlife film Hollywood Fox (June 2006) for Parthenon Entertainment, National Geographic International, NDR, Animal Planet US and Voom TV, a unique blue chip high definition special about the endangered San Joaquin Kit Fox in California. Over the years, he has produced and directed award winning music videos and shorts, including the award winning Right Now, Living With Mountain Lions (2013).

In between his directorial efforts, Whitehair lends his skills to projects that he believes in. He served as writer, editor and co-producer on two films, Battle on the Booming Grounds (2016 dir. Tim Barksdale) and the film It’s a Wild Life (2014 dir. Kennan Ward), which resulted in both films being selected to multiple film festivals with Battle on the Booming Grounds winning best nature film at the 2016 Life Sciences Film Festival in Prague.

As a cinematographer, his camera work has been used in productions for Nat Geo, Discovery, Animal Planet, PBS, and international broadcasters as well as many feature documentaries. He has been an on-camera host of a television series for PBS about wildlife films (1999,2000).

Whitehair is the founder and chief instigator of Wild Propaganda™ a lifestyle brand and worldwide campaign to use art and clothing to call attention to the massive impact humans have on Earth’s wildlife species. Drawing on cues from vintage propaganda, film, pop art, fine art and his intensive studies of the natural world, he creates striking, colorful images that juxtapose animals and graphics that manifest multiple meanings and emotions and ultimately question our relationship to the natural world, its wild creatures and wild spaces.   His fine art paintings are inspired by his fascination with all things wild and his attraction to those elements of the natural world that aren’t always readily visible. His intention is to capture the spirit of each animal as he sees it and in turn, leave a soulful piece of art to the world.  

He cites his influences as Jacques Cousteau, Orson Welles, Mary Oliver, John Wayne, Black Elk, Jackson Pollock, Maya Angelou and music…any and all types of music. Originally from Los Angeles, he lived in the Northern Rocky Mountains in Missoula Montana for 20 years before moving back to the ocean in San Diego with his wife Pam Voth and their two dogs. He still believes that anything is possible and he wants to live to 120.