Jimmy Chin

Jimmy Chin
金國威
Jimmy Chin speaking at the University of Michigan
Born1973 (age 50–51)[1]
Mankato, Minnesota, U.S.
Alma materCarleton College (BA)
Occupation(s)Climber, skier, film director, and photographer
Known for
SpouseElizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Children2

Jimmy Chin (born October 12, 1973)[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]

Chin's work documenting expeditions and climbs has been featured in numerous publications, including National Geographic,[4] 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 wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Together they directed the documentary Meru, which won numerous awards including the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival[5] and was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and Free Solo, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature,[6] a BAFTA[7] and seven Primetime Emmys.[8] 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,[9] 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.[10]

  1. ^ a b Nick Paumgarten (20 July 2015). "Pipsters". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2015-07-24. Retrieved 11 March 2024. Chin, who is forty-one, was born and reared a flatlander, in Mankato, Minnesota, where his parents, Chinese immigrants, worked as librarians.
  2. ^ "Jimmy Chin - The North Face Mountaineer, Photographer, and Director". www.thenorthface.com. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  3. ^ "First ascent of the Shark's Fin route, Meru Peak".
  4. ^ "Jimmy Kuo Wei Chin - National Geographic Society". www.nationalgeographic.org. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  5. ^ "Climbing Film 'Meru' Wins Audience Choice at Sundance". Adventure. 2015-02-01. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  6. ^ Slavsky, Bennett (25 February 2019). "Free Solo Wins Oscar for Best Documentary (Videos + Photo Gallery)". Climbing Magazine. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  7. ^ "Documentary - Free Solo". www.bafta.org. 2019-01-04. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  8. ^ "Free Solo". Television Academy. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  9. ^ "The Rescue Wins TIFF People's Choice Award for Documentary". POV Magazine. 2021-09-19. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  10. ^ Grobar, Matt (2022-03-16). "'Nyad': Rhys Ifans Joins Annette Bening & Jodie Foster In Netflix Biopic From Oscar Winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi And Jimmy Chin". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-06-23.