Bios
Host Biographies
Estelle Bingham
Estelle is experienced as both a TV presenter and radio broadcaster. She has recently been filming in Southwest Australia, Istanbul and Kenya for “Globe Trekker,” and Egypt and Pakistan for the Pilot TV show “Treks in a Wild World.” She has also visited popular holiday destinations for the British TV series “Dream Ticket.”
Estelle can be heard broadcasting a weekly music review, “The Edge” for BBC World Service, where she also presented her own R&B and hip hop series entitled “R&B with DJEE” and presents music news for BBC Radio Scotland’s “The Mix”. Apart from being a lover of music, she’s also a huge fan of travel and culture.
She also uses her extensive travel experience to present travel pieces for BBC Radio 1’s energetic and upbeat program “Global Update.”
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper is known to television audiences for his roles in “Alias”and “Kitchen Confidential.” He also recently appeared on Broadway opposite Julia Roberts in “Three Days of Rain.”
A natural athlete, Bradley excelled in tennis, golf, basketball, track and crew throughout high school and college. At GeorgetownUniversity, he was a medalist on the men’s heavyweight crew team. At the same time he was actively involved in local theater.
A sportsman through and through, Bradley enjoys running and basketball and still holds a deep passion for rowing. He also loves to cook and draw. He resides in New York.
Neil Gibson
Scotsman Neil Gibson was born in Aberdeen and received a bachelor’s degree in communication from NapierUniversity, Edinburgh.
Before joining “Globe Trekker,” Neil had a wide and varied range of jobs. When he applied for the “Globe Trekker” position, he was working in a stationery office in book sales and assisting on the Edinburgh Gazette, a financial newspaper.
Beforehand, Neil was a reviewer of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe festival for Triple F magazine, a financial administrator, a bank clerk and a commercial producer for Festival FM in Great Britain.
Neil has backpacked through Asia, Australia and America, working in hostels, cafés and a New Zealand supermarket. His main interests other than traveling are scriptwriting and the cinema, reading, the theater and photography. In his spare time, Neil practices hypnotherapy and plays the harmonica in a band. With “Globe Trekker,” Neil has journeyed through the Baltic States and Central America as well as Finland, Pakistan and Peru.
Zay Harding
Zay Harding has a fear of heights; but he is not afraid to try new things, and he loves to travel. His daring and outgoing personality lands him the “Globe Trekker” gigs that no other hosts are willing to do. This is fine for Zay, because he loves exploring new cultures and finds his most challenging journeys to be the most rewarding ones.
With the enviable background of growing up on the beaches of Hawaii, Zay is a true outdoorsman. His childhood was spent in the Boy Scouts where he achieved the highest level in scouting, which served as early preparation for his globe-trekking adventures.
Zay’s first taste of adventure travel was presenting “Treks in a Wild World” for Pilot Productions. This led to a pilot show titled “Tribal Challenge,” where Zay and a co-host lived with Ethiopia’s Surma tribe for 10 days. They shared huts with livestock and drank cow blood between sessions of herding, fishing, farming and stick fighting. His love of adventure travel is what landed Zay on “Globe Trekker.”
“Being in a true wilderness is a rare experience for most people, and I never tire of it,” says Zay. “Living in Los Angeles can be quite stressful, and I find an incredible balance to my life whenever I’m out in the middle of nowhere — away from the cars, away from the noise, away from the people. The tranquility and beauty of the wild sets me free and is refreshing for my soul.
Zay’s travels with “Globe Trekker” include trips to Austria, Cameroon, Canada, Kuwait, Laos, Oman, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi is an actress, food expert, model and award-winning writer. She may be best known in the United States as the host of Bravo’s enormously popular “Top Chef,” which returns for a 4th season in March 2008.
Padma established herself as a food expert early on in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing a best-selling cookbook. She follows this success with the publication of her second cookbook, “Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet,” released by Weinstein books in October 2007. A follow-up to her successful book “Easy Exotic,” for which she won the International Versailles Event for best cookbook by a first time writer, her new book is a larger endeavor filled with over 120 recipes from around the world and intriguing personal memoirs.
For The Food Network, Padma hosted “Padma’s Passport,” where she cooked diverse cuisine from around the world. She has also hosted “Planet Food,” a documentary series produced by Pilot Productions and broadcast on The Food Network and worldwide on the Discovery Channel.
Padma was last seen with Aishwarya Rai and Dylan McDermott in Paul Mayeda Berges’ newest film, “Mistress of Spices.” She received a positive response for her performance as Princess Bithia in ABC’s much anticipated mini-series, “The Ten Commandments” alongside Naveen Andrews (“Lost”), Omar Sharif and Dougray Scott. The program was the second-highest rated television film of 2006. She also recently starred in BBC America's “Sharpe's Challenge” opposite Sean Bean.
Padma is also an accomplished writer. In addition to her food writing, she has contributed to such magazines as American Vogue, Gourmet and British and American Harper’s Bazaar. She is currently a monthly syndicated columnist for The New York Times syndicate.
Originally known as the first internationally successful Indian supermodel, Padma started modeling while an exchange student in Spain with Clark University, where she received a B.A. with honors in Theater Arts.
Megan McCormick
Megan McCormick was raised in Florida and graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science. Before joining the “Globe Trekker” team, Megan worked as an English teacher in Japan, as a social worker, and behind the scenes on “The News with Brian Williams” for MSNBC.
Megan’s credentials include extensive independent travel in Asia and Europe. She has visited Belgium, China, England, France, Hong Kong, Inner Mongolia, Ireland, Japan, Java, Sumatra, Thailand and Vietnam. For “Globe Trekker,” she has traveled to many places including the Arab Gulf, Egypt, Hawaii, India, the Maldives, Micronesia and Sri Lanka.
“All of these experiences have informed who I am and have given me an enriched perspective,” says Megan. “Plus, if I have any memories that start to fade, I have a good video to watch to remind me.”
Holly Morris
A natural in front of the camera, Holly had early media exposure. She won her first Emmy Award at the age of eight, when she and her siblings narrated a program about their family’s travels through Europe and the Soviet Union.
As editorial director at an independent company that publishes an eclectic list of fiction and non-fiction books by women writers, Holly developed and edited the publisher’s successful imprint, Adventura Books, a line of titles that celebrates women’s travel, and outdoor and sports activities.
Holly has published two books of her own, Uncommon Waters and A Different Angle; both are collections of stories about fly-fishing. Her writing has appeared in literary journals and magazines, including The New York Times Book Review.
She is a contributing columnist for abcnews.com and frequently speaks on topics as diverse as publishing, gender politics, creative writing, women and travel, and fly-fishing. Holly resides in Seattle.
Justine Shapiro
Justine Shapiro was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California, where she lives today. She attended Tufts University in Boston where she studied history and theater. She moved to Paris to study theater with Phillippe Gaulier and later went to Hollywood where she appeared in films and television movies including “I’ll Do Anything” (by James L. Brooks), “Storyville” (20th Century Fox), “Floodtide” (Granada Television) and “SeaQuest DSV” (Amblin Entertainment). During four years in Los Angeles, Justine taught English to immigrants, and their stories inspired her to take the next step in her life.
Justine returned to the San Francisco Bay area and became involved in several documentary projects, including “Voices from the Storm” about Gulf War veterans and IDG Film’s “Nagasaki Journey.” In 1995, Justine began producing an independent documentary film titled “Promises,” featuring seven Israeli and Palestinian children in Jerusalem. Rather than focusing on hard news, “Promises” offers a human portrait of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The film was nominated for a 2002 Academy Award for best documentary. It won News and Documentary Emmys for best documentary and for outstanding background/analysis. The film also received audience awards at the San Francisco, Vancouver, Sao Paolo and Rotterdam film festivals, as well as juried awards at the Hamptons, Valladolid, Locarno, Munich and Jerusalem film festivals.
With “Globe Trekker,” Justine has nearly conquered her fear of flying as the show has taken her all over the world to Argentina, Australia, Belize, Benin, Burkina Faso, the Caribbean, China, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, the Galapagos Islands, Germany, Guatemala, India, Israel, Italy, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, the southwest United States, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
“I think that the way to connect with other ‘distinct’ cultures is to go with an open heart and spend time with the locals,” says Justine. “Many travelers spend time within the glass bubble of the resort or the hotel or the organized tour. People are the same the world over and the only way to experience this is to spend time with the people.”
Justine loves to travel and has explored much of Europe, Israel, Mexico, Morocco and the Palestinian territories on her own. She speaks French and Spanish.
Ian Wright
Englishman Ian Wright has packed a great deal of travel and adventure into his life. Before hosting “Globe Trekker,” Ian spent three months in Guyana with Operation Raleigh, a Prince’s Trust initiative, traveling in a self-made bamboo raft down uncharted rivers. In addition, he spent several months in each of the following countries — Egypt, India, Nepal, Poland and Romania.
An accomplished artist and theater performer, Ian has had an exhibition of his paintings at Chats Palace. He also devises plays in schools, runs drama and art workshops at the Children’s House in Islington on the weekends and works with children with behavioral difficulties in special schools.
On three occasions, Ian has won the prestigious U.S. Cable Ace Awards for Best Magazine Host for the “Globe Trekker” Morocco, Central Asia and Ethiopia programs.
His “Globe Trekker” adventures have taken Ian to Alaska, the American Rockies, Armenia, Australia, Baja California, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Corsica, Cuba, Easter Island, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greenland, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lapland, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Samoa, Sardinia, Sicily, South Korea, Syria, Tahiti, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zanzibar.
Ian Wright’s travel philosophy: “If you spend too much time thinking about it, then you miss it! Things come. Keep looking, meet different people, and exchange ideas. There is no rule.”