Philip Robert Cousineau (born 1952) is an American author, lecturer,

independent scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker. He lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Early life and education

Phil Cousineau was born on 26 November 1952 in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the ci ...

. He grew up just outside

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, with French Canadian roots. He studied journalism at the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic univer ...

Career

Before turning to writing books and films full-time, Cousineau’s peripatetic career also included playing semi-professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

in Europe, harvesting date trees on an Israeli

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

, painting 44 Victorian houses (also known as

Painted Ladies In American architecture, painted ladies are Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings repainted, starting in the 1960s, in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco ...

), teaching, and leading art and literary tours to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. He has worked as a sportswriter and taught screenwriting at the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

(AFI). American mythologist

Joseph Campbell Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of th ...

was a mentor and major influence; Cousineau wrote the documentary film and companion book about Campbell's life, ''

The Hero's Journey In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed. Earlie ...

''. The author of more than 25 nonfiction books, and contributed to magazine publications including

Parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactly the same curves. One descri ...

, and Paris magazine. Cousineau has more than 15 documentary screenwriting credits to his name, including the 1991

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

-nominated '' Forever Activists''. His best known works include ''Soul: An Archaeology, Readings from Socrates to Ray Charles'', which ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' columnist

Jonathan Kirsch Jonathan Kirsch is an American attorney, writer, and a columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He is a bestselling author of books on religion, the Bible, and Judaism. Biography Life Kirsch earned a B.A. degree in Russian and Jewish history f ...

reviewed as "Inspiring, often mind-blowing, sometimes even a little scary," and the best-selling book, ''The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide the Making Travel Sacred''. Cousineau worked with religion scholar

Huston Smith Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was an influential scholar of religious studies in the United States, He authored at least thirteen books on world's religions and philosophy, and his book about comparative religion, ' ...

on three books as well as four documentary films on contemporary Native American issues. His books have been translated into nine languages. Cousineau is the host and co-writer of the Link TV television series, ''Global Spirit'', interviewing guests such as

Robert Thurman Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at ...

, Karen Armstrong, Andrew Harvey, Deepak Chopra, and

Joanne Shenandoah Joanne Lynn Shenandoah (June 23, 1957November 22, 2021) was a Native American singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist based in the United States. She was a citizen of the Oneida Indian Nation, Wolf clan, based in New York. Her music combi ...

. The first season of ''Global Spirit'' was presented by

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

and broadcast on PBS-TV stations nationwide in the United States in 2012 and 2013. A self-avowed night owl, Cousineau published ''Burning the Midnight Oil'', a book of essays and poems about finding inspiration in the night, in 2013.

Filmography

Bibliography

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cousineau, Phil American male screenwriters American people of French-Canadian descent 1952 births Living people University of Detroit Mercy alumni American non-fiction writers American spiritual writers Writers from San Francisco Independent scholars American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from California