Justine Shapiro

Justine Shapiro
Born (1963-03-20) March 20, 1963
South Africa
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Actress, TV travel host, documentary filmmaker, director, producer, writer
Years active1992–present
WebsiteJustine 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.[1][2][3] 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.[4]

She produced and directed a feature-length documentary entitled Our Summer in Tehran.[5]

In 2013 she became host of Time Team America, shown on PBS.[6][7]

In 2021, Shapiro's company Matlana Media secured the rights to the Globe Trekker show archive. In 2024, she launched a reboot of the show titled Globe Trekker Now with fellow original hosts Ian Wright, Saami Sabiti, and Megan McCormick as well as other original crew members.[8]

Personal life

Shapiro was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California.[9] She is Jewish.[10]

Shapiro is a survivor of the World Airways Flight 30H airplane crash at Boston's Logan Airport on January 23, 1982.[11]

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)[9] 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."[12]

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.[13]

Shapiro has an adult son and lives in San Francisco Bay Area.[14] She is a lesbian and was formerly in a professional and personal relationship with Rabbi Sydney Mintz. Shapiro and Mintz owned the historic Albion Schoolhouse, purchasing it from record producer Bill Bottrell.[15][16][17] Their domestic partnership ended in 2017.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Promises (2001)". Seattle, Washington: IMDb. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  2. ^ "ITVS Celebrates 20 Years of Funding and Service to Independent Filmmakers With the ITVS Indies Showcase". We Are Movie Geeks. Lanier Media. August 1, 2001. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  3. ^ Promises Project Awards.
  4. ^ "Promises". The Hollywood Reporter. Los Angeles, California. March 15, 2002. Retrieved April 30, 2016. 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.
  5. ^ "Our Summer in Tehran (2009)". Seattle, Washington: IMDb. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  6. ^ "Justine Shapiro". PBS. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  7. ^ Obenson, Tambay A. (August 18, 2014). "PBS Goes on Archaeological Dig for Josiah Henson - Escaped Slave Who Inspired 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'". Indiewire. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  8. ^ "Globe Trekker Now". Globe Trekker Now. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  9. ^ a b Time Team America. "Host: Justine Shapiro". PBS. Arlington, Virginia. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  10. ^ "In Iran, Berkeley Jewish filmmaker finds plenty of love". 29 April 2011.
  11. ^ "Washingtonpost.com: Live Online". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Globe Trekker TV Shows World War II Special". Archived from the original on December 28, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  13. ^ Globe Trekker TV Shows: South Africa 2, Pilot TV Shows, 2007. Archived August 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Alexander Howard (18 May 2020). ""We were all in a state of wonder": Globe Trekker host Justine Shapiro reflects on the show". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  15. ^ "San Francisco Film Society Announces New Filmmakers Awarded FilmHouse Residencies". SFFILM. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  16. ^ Sarah Tilton (9 November 2016). "A Filmmaker and a Rabbi Walked into a Schoolhouse—and Now It's for Sale". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  17. ^ Lisa Johnson Mandell. "No More Teacher's Dirty Looks, Albion Schoolhouse Is an A-Plus Conversion". Realtor.com. National Association of Realtors. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  18. ^ San Francisco County Superior Courts (24 December 2017). "JUSTINE SHAPIRO VS. SYDNEY MINTZ". UniCourt. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
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