Addison O'Dea

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.{{cite web|title='Discovery TRVLR': Exploring and Experiencing the Discovery/Google VR Series|url=https://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/videoedge/discovery-trvlr-exploring-and-experiencing-discoverygoogle-vr-series-636417 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924033504/https://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/videoedge/discovery-trvlr-exploring-and-experiencing-discoverygoogle-vr-series-636417 |archive-date=September 24, 2019 |last=Romanek|first=Neal|access-date=September 23, 2019|work=Creative Planet|date=December 5, 2017}}

O'Dea was a boarding student at Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Connecticut. O'Dea attended the Dwight School in Manhattan for international baccalaureate and holds a BSc from New York University.

O'Dea's father, Hugh Patrick O'Dea Jr., was murdered in Louisville, Kentucky in August 2007.{{cite web|title=Obituary, Patrick O'Dea|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/181433077/|access-date=January 4, 2021|work=Louisville Courier-Journal|date=August 15, 2007 |quote=O'DEA, HUGH PATRICK, 69,of Louisville passed away Saturday, August 4, 2007. He was the son of the late Hugh Patrick Sr. and Edna Deters O'Dea and was a sales associate for Rodes Department Store. Survivors include three sons, Hugh Addison White O'Dea, John Remsen Varick O'Dea, and Patrick Gannon Greenway O'Dea; two sisters, Jean O'Dea Green and Mary Kimball O'Dea; two brothers, Don Alan O'Dea and Kevin Deters O'Dea; the mother of his children, Sara Greenway O'Dea, and many relatives and friends. Visitation will be 4-8 p.m. Thursday, August 16, at Ratterman's, 3711 Lexington Road, with a private family burial. Memorial contributions in memory of Patrick may be made to the Wayside Christian Mission Men's Shelter.}}{{cite news |last1=MacPherson |first1=James |title=Murder suspect caught in a field |url=https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/murder-suspect-caught-in-a-field/article_cba73d6d-e4d8-5e63-8092-b8dd257040a8.html |access-date=March 17, 2022 |work=Bismarck Tribune |agency=Associated Press |location=Bismarck, North Dakota |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Couple charged with two murders in Kentucky |url=https://www.twincities.com/2007/08/20/couple-charged-with-two-murders-in-kentucky/ |access-date= March 17, 2022 |work=Pioneer Press |date=August 20, 2007}}{{cite news |last1=Reid |first1=Molly |title=Slidell crime started spree that ended in Midwest murder, police say |url=https://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/10/slidell_crime_started_spree_th.html |access-date= March 17, 2022 |work=The Times-Picayune |date=October 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101220135/https://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/10/slidell_crime_started_spree_th.html |archive-date=November 1, 2007 |location=New Orleans, Louisiana}}{{cite news |title=Authorities identify second Ky. man in case against fugitives |url=https://www.jamestownsun.com/news/authorities-identify-second-ky-man-in-case-against-fugitives |access-date=March 17, 2022 |work=Jamestown Sun |publisher=Forum Communications |date=August 22, 2007 |location=Jamestown, North Dakota |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Leonard |first1=Connie |title=Louisiana couple to be charged in Louisville murders |url=https://www.wave3.com/story/6943037/louisiana-couple-to-be-charged-in-louisville-murders/ |access-date=March 17, 2022 |work=WAVE 3 |date=2007-08-16 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Hugh Patrick O'Dea Obituary (2007) Courier-Journal |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/louisville/name/hugh-o-dea-obituary?id=25688386 |website=Legacy.com |access-date=17 March 2022 |quote=Published by Louisville Courier Journal on August 15, 2007.}}{{cite news |last1=Reaves |first1=Shayla |title=WAVE 3 Investigates: The disappearance of Hugh O'Dea |url=https://www.wave3.com/story/6855493/wave-3-investigates-the-disappearance-of-hugh-odea/ |access-date=March 17, 2022 |work=WAVE 3 |date=July 29, 2007 |language=en}}

O'Dea, a former contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler,{{cite web|title=Speakers, corporate sponsors boost Energy session |url=https://naples.floridaweekly.com/articles/speakers-corporate-sponsors-boost-energy-session/|access-date=January 4, 2021|work=Florida Weekly|date=March 3, 2011}} 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 and Benin;{{cite AV media | people=O'Dea, Addison (Director) | date=May 12, 2017 | title=Witness the Mysterious World of West African Voodoo | url=https://www.seeker.com/videos/witness-the-mysterious-world-of-west-african-voodoo | medium=Virtual Reality | location=Togo | publisher=Seeker}} and ancient Quranic libraries in the Sahara.{{cite AV media | people=O'Dea, Addison (Director) | date=April 19, 2017 | title=Discovering the Hidden Treasures of Mauritania's Deadly Sahara Desert | url=https://www.seeker.com/videos/discovering-the-hidden-treasures-of-mauritanias-deadly-sahara-desert | medium=Virtual Reality | location=Mauritania | publisher=Seeker}}

{{As of|2019}}, O'Dea was producing an action film set in the Sahara written and directed by Eugene Jarecki. Featuring a Tuareg character as the protagonist, the working title is "Tuareg Project".{{cite magazine |last=Dale |first=Martin | title=Sundance Winner Eugene Jarecki Prepares 'Tuareg Project' in Morocco | magazine=Variety | url=https://variety.com/2019/film/global/eugene-jarecki-tuareg-project-1203426648/ | access-date=December 9, 2020}} He is also the writer and producer of a documentary series called Beat Nation, currently in development with Ginedo Films, also produced by Nabil Elderkin and Mattia Bogianchino.

It was reported in 2021 that O'Dea is directing a feature film financed by Endeavor Content titled Unlikely Heroes.{{cite web|title=Endeavor Content, Division7 and Film 45 Producing Addison O'Dea Giant Panda Doc 'Unlikely Heroes'|url=https://deadline.com/2021/09/endeavor-content-divison7-film-45-addison-odea-giant-panda-doc-1234846837/|last=Kroll|first=Justin|access-date=January 7, 2022|work=Deadline|date=September 29, 2021}}

His largest project to date is writing and directing the thirty six-episode series Discovery TRVLR for Discovery, Inc. and Google. 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 project to date.{{cite web|title=Discovery Sets Biggest VR Project to Date, Teaming With Google on Epic Travel Series|url=https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/discovery-vr-travel-series-google-trvlr-1202581384/|last=Spangler|first=Todd|access-date=September 23, 2019|work=Variety|date=October 5, 2017}}

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.{{cite magazine |last=Astle |first=Randy |title="Speaking to a New World": Addison O'Dea on the Virtual Reality Series Discovery TRVLR | magazine=Filmmaker Magazine | date=December 4, 2017 | url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/103978-speaking-to-a-new-world-addison-odea-on-the-virtual-reality-series-discovery-trvlr/ |access-date=September 23, 2019}}

From an interview with Addison in Filmmaker about the show:

{{blockquote|A core tenet of TRVLR is access, getting into closed communities that are otherwise not open to visitors. Given how popular the travel genre is, you have to work harder as a producer and director to seek out these communities and earn their trust. That meant we were shooting in locations that required negotiations for safe passage through gangland and armed security.{{r|Astle 2017}}}}

In September 2019, O'Dea was reported to be engaged to be married to actress Minnie Driver.{{cite magazine |last=Williams |first=Marielle |title=Minnie Driver Debuts Blinged Out Engagement Ring From New Love Addison O'Dea At Emmys After Party | magazine=Access Hollywood | date=September 23, 2019 | url=https://www.accessonline.com/articles/minnie-driver-debuts-blinged-out-engagement-ring-from-new-love-addison-odea-at-emmys-after-party | access-date=December 9, 2020}}

• [https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/hunting-the-haunts-in-the-hills-of-hanoi/86991/ Essay by O'Dea on the principals of Vietnamese Buddhism in the afterlife in OZY]
• [https://www.monsterchildren.com/shadow-world-santa-muerte/ Essay by O'Dea on the religious cult of Santa Muerte in ''Monster Children]
• [https://cheddar.com/media/no-money-or-time-to-travel-discovery-new-vr-series-wants-to-fix-that O'Dea being interviewed on Cheddar]

{{Reflist}}

• [https://addisonodea.com/ Official website]
• {{IMDb name|9974390}}
• {{IMDb title|8807938|Discovery TRVLR}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1979 births

Category:Mass media people from New York City

Category:21st-century American explorers

Category:American documentary film directors

Category:New York University alumni