Justine Shapiro
{{short description|American actress and film director}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1963|3|20}}
| birth_place = South Africa
| nationality = American
| occupation = Actress, TV travel host, documentary filmmaker, director, producer, writer
| years_active = 1992–present
| website = [https://www.justineshapiro.com Justine Shapiro profile]
}}
Justine Shapiro (born March 20, 1963) is a South African-born American actress, filmmaker, writer, hostess and producer, who was one of several main hosts of the Pilot Productions travel/adventure series Globe Trekker (also called Pilot Guides in Canada and originally broadcast as Lonely Planet).
Television and film career
Before hosting Globe Trekker (Pilot Guides), Shapiro appeared in various roles in film and television. Eventually, she was involved in several documentaries including co-production/direction duties on 2001's Promises, which won two 2002 Emmy Awards, for Best Documentary and Outstanding Background Analysis, and was nominated for best Documentary Feature at the 74th Academy Awards.{{cite web |title=Promises (2001) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282864/ |publisher=IMDb |location=Seattle, Washington |access-date=April 30, 2016}}{{cite news |date=August 1, 2001 |title=ITVS Celebrates 20 Years of Funding and Service to Independent Filmmakers With the ITVS Indies Showcase |url=http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2011/08/itvs-celebrates-20-years-of-funding-and-service-to-independent-filmmakers-with-the-itvs-indies-showcase/ |newspaper=We Are Movie Geeks |location=Lanier Media |access-date=April 30, 2016 }}[http://www.promisesproject.org/awards.html Promises Project Awards]. Promises attempts to humanize the Arab–Israeli conflict by examining it in microcosm, through the eyes of seven Palestinian and Israeli children living in or near the divided city of Jerusalem.{{cite news |date=March 15, 2002 |title=Promises |url=https://www.imdb.com/news/ni0186329/ |newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter |location=Los Angeles, California |access-date=April 30, 2016|quote=The movie is a collaboration among three filmmakers: Justine Shapiro, an American of South African descent; B.Z. Goldberg, an American who has lived in Israel for many years, and Carlos Bolado, a Mexican film editor. Together, they shot this effort on video, primarily between 1997 and 2000, during a period of relative calm in the region following the Oslo Accords.}}
She produced and directed a feature-length documentary entitled Our Summer in Tehran.{{cite web |title=Our Summer in Tehran (2009) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326956/ |publisher=IMDb |location=Seattle, Washington |access-date=April 30, 2016}}
In 2013 she became host of Time Team America, shown on PBS.{{cite web|title=Justine Shapiro|website=PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/time-team/meet-the-team/justine-shapiro/|accessdate=25 March 2015|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129064440/https://www.pbs.org/time-team/meet-the-team/justine-shapiro/|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last=Obenson |first=Tambay A. |date=August 18, 2014 |title=PBS Goes on Archaeological Dig for Josiah Henson - Escaped Slave Who Inspired 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/pbs-goes-on-an-archaeological-dig-for-josiah-henson-the-escaped-slave-who-was-an-inspiration-for-uncle-toms-cabin-20140818 |newspaper=Indiewire |location=Los Angeles, California |access-date=April 30, 2016}}
Personal life
Shapiro was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California. She is Jewish.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jweekly.com/2011/04/29/in-iran-berkeley-jewish-filmmaker-finds-plenty-of-love/|title = In Iran, Berkeley Jewish filmmaker finds plenty of love|date = 29 April 2011}}
Shapiro is a survivor of the World Airways Flight 30H airplane crash at Boston's Logan Airport on January 23, 1982.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/03/special/tv/sp_tv_shapiro052203.htm|title=Washingtonpost.com: Live Online|work=washingtonpost.com|accessdate=6 April 2015}}
During an October 2006 broadcast of the Globe Trekker Venice City Guide episode, Shapiro revealed that she went to Tufts University (majoring in history and theater){{cite news |last=Time Team America |title=Host: Justine Shapiro |url=https://www.pbs.org/time-team/meet-the-team/justine-shapiro/ |newspaper=PBS |location=Arlington, Virginia |accessdate=January 23, 2015 |archive-date=November 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129064440/https://www.pbs.org/time-team/meet-the-team/justine-shapiro/ |url-status=dead }} with Oliver Platt, who recognized her in the crowd while she was covering the Venice Film Festival, where Platt was promoting Casanova.
In her lead-up to a Globe Trekker visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp she stated "Like many Jewish Americans, I have Polish roots. And the Auschwitz concentration camp was where many of my relatives died during World War II."{{cite web|title=Globe Trekker TV Shows World War II Special|url=http://www.pilotguides.com/tv_shows/globe_trekker/shows/specials/world-war2.php |accessdate=April 30, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228163733/http://www.pilotguides.com/tv_shows/globe_trekker/shows/specials/world-war2.php |archive-date=December 28, 2009}}
In Globe Trekker's "South Africa 2", Shapiro and co-host Sami Sabiti traveled to South Africa. While in Soweto, Shapiro visited the nanny she had as a child.[http://www.pilotguides.com/tv_shows/globe_trekker/shows/africa/south_africa2.php Globe Trekker TV Shows: South Africa 2], Pilot TV Shows, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813222516/http://www.pilotguides.com/tv_shows/globe_trekker/shows/africa/south_africa2.php |date=August 13, 2007 }}
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- [https://justineshapiro.com/]Official Website justineshapiro.com
- [http://www.oursummerintehran.com/Film_JustineShapiro.html Official biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110407100641/http://www.oursummerintehran.com/Film_JustineShapiro.html |date=2011-04-07 }}
- [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/03/special/tv/sp_tv_shapiro052203.htm Globe Trekker: South Africa with Justine Shapiro] a Washington Post chat transcript
- {{IMDb name|0035184}}
- [https://www.pbs.org/time-team/meet-the-team/justine-shapiro/ Time Team America Host] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129064440/https://www.pbs.org/time-team/meet-the-team/justine-shapiro/ |date=2020-11-29 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Justine}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:South African people of Polish-Jewish descent
Category:American television actresses
Category:CableACE Award winners
Category:News & Documentary Emmy Award winners
Category:Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents
Category:Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Category:American people of South African-Jewish descent