2022 Ken Burns American Heritage Prize Recipient:
Jimmy Chin

Jimmy Chin is an Academy® Award-winning filmmaker, National Geographic photographer, and professional mountain sports athlete. He has led or participated in cutting-edge expeditions around the world for over 20 years. He made the coveted first ascent of the Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru and is one of the only people to ski Mount Everest from the summit. His photographs have graced the covers of National Geographic Magazine and the New York Times Magazine.

Jimmy also co-produces and co-directs with his wife, Chai Vasarhelyi. Their film Meru won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was on the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature. Their documentary Free Solo won a BAFTA, seven primetime Emmys, and the Academy® Award for Best Documentary Feature. Most recently they directed and produced The Rescue, a documentary chronicling the enthralling, against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018: the daring rescue of twelve boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand.

Jimmy and Chai split their time between New York City and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with their daughter, Marina, and son, James.