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Jimmy Chin: Biography, Facts and Career

Who is Jimmy Chin? An evergreen, sourced profile: biography, key facts and career.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team4 min read✓ Fact-checked
Jimmy Chin
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Jimmy Chin (born October 12, 1973) is an American professional mountain athlete, photographer, skier, film director, and author. Chin has been a professional climber and skier on The North Face Athlete team for over 20 years. In 2006, Chin achieved the first successful American ski descent from the summit of Mount Everest with Kit and Rob DesLauriers. Five years later, Chin, Conrad Anker, and Renan Ozturk captured the first ascent of "Shark's Fin", a granite wall on India's Meru Peak. Chin's work documenting expeditions and climbs has been featured in numerous publications, including National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Outside magazine and others. In 2019, Chin was awarded the National Geographic "Photographer's Photographer Award" by his peers. His first book of photography documenting his career in the mountains, There and Back, became a New York Times Best Seller in 2021. Chin co-directs with his ex-wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Together they directed the documentary Meru, which won numerous awards including the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and Free Solo, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, a BAFTA and seven Primetime Emmys. Free Solo had the highest-grossing opening weekend in history for a documentary. The film eventually grossed $29 million in the box office. Chin and Chai's 2021 documentary, The Rescue, chronicles the Tham Luang cave rescue. The Rescue won numerous awards, including the People's Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival, and was also shortlisted for an Academy Award. In 2022, they released their documentary Return to Space about Elon Musk and SpaceX. Their first scripted feature Nyad, about Diana Nyad's historic swim from Cuba to Florida, starred Annette Bening and Jodie Foster and premiered in 2023.

Quick facts about Jimmy Chin

  • Full name: Jimmy Chin
  • Born: 1973-10-12
  • Nationality: United States
  • Known as: Creator
  • Wikidata ID: Q6199802

Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Jimmy Chin?

Jimmy Chin (born October 12, 1973) is an American professional mountain athlete, photographer, skier, film director, and author. Chin has been a professional climber and skier on The North Face Athlete team for over 20 years.

What nationality is Jimmy Chin?

Jimmy Chin is United States.

When was Jimmy Chin born?

Jimmy Chin was born on 1973-10-12.

Sources

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