Addison O'Dea (, ; born June 15, 1979) is an American filmmaker and writer who specializes in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. His work has been published and broadcast by

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

, and Ozy.

Family and education

Hugh Addison White O'Dea was born on June 15, 1979, in New York Hospital to Sara (née Greenway) and Hugh Patrick O'Dea Jr. He has two younger brothers. Based in New York City, the family traveled internationally extensively for both personal and professional reasons. O'Dea was a boarding student at Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Connecticut. O'Dea attended the Dwight School in Manhattan for

international baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

and holds a BSc from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. O'Dea's father, Hugh Patrick O'Dea Jr., was murdered in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

in August 2007.

Work

O'Dea, a former contributing editor at ''

National Geographic Traveler ''National Geographic Traveler'' is a magazine published by National Geographic Partners, NG Media in Armenia, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Latin America, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slov ...

'', has written and directed a number of virtual reality documentary films focusing on subjects such as the origin of voodoo through West African Vodun in

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

and

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

; and ancient

Quranic The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

libraries in the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. , O'Dea was producing an action film set in the Sahara written and directed by Eugene Jarecki. Featuring a

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

character as the protagonist, the working title is "Tuareg Project". It was reported in 2021 that O'Dea is directing a feature film financed by Fifth Season titled ''Unlikely Heroes''. He is the Executive Producer of Eugene Jarecki's The Six Billion Dollar Man which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival where it won the L'Œil d'or jury prize for best documentary.

Discovery TRVLR

His largest project to date is writing and directing the thirty six-episode series Discovery TRVLR for Discovery, Inc. and

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

. Filmed on all seven continents, the series centers around a "Guru, Renegade, Entertainer or Explorer" in each environment as they pull the curtain back on varying rituals, unique traditions and life-threatening quests that encompass their culture." At that time, Discovery TRVLR was Discovery's largest

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

project to date. The series was designed by O'Dea to go to as remote locations as possible and focus on the universality of the people who live there. Rather than sending a message of 'we are all the same' or forcing Western ideals on the characters, the idea is to create an elegant juxtaposition at a hyperlocal level. "Defying convention" in Communist Vietnam is significantly different when contrasted alongside the same idea in Catholic Mexico. From an interview with Addison in ''Filmmaker'' about the show:

Personal life

In September 2019, O'Dea was reported to be engaged to be married to actress

Minnie Driver Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is a British and American actress and singer. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in the 1995 film ''Circle of Friends (1995 film), Circle of Friends''. She went on to star i ...

Additional reading

Essay by O'Dea on the principals of Vietnamese Buddhism in the afterlife in ''OZY''Essay by O'Dea on the religious cult of Santa Muerte in ''Monster ChildrenO'Dea being interviewed on Cheddar

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ODea, Addison Living people 1979 births Dwight School alumni Mass media people from New York City 21st-century American explorers American documentary film directors New York University alumni