Duke George Brady

Duke George Brady is an American/Canadian Biologist, Wilderness Guide, Artist and Actor based in California and Alaska. Duke was raised in Hawaii, California, and Arizona by his Latin/Spanish/Irish father, Swedish/Welsh mother, and stepfather, whom instilled in him a reverence and love for nature and the arts. From an early age, Duke was near-feral and mostly barefoot growing up in Maui, Hawaii. His mother said that he cried on the first day of school when we was forced to wear flip flops to class. By his teen years, he was assisting on private whitewater excursions in the Canyonlands area of the Southwest United States and going on multi-day, self-supported backpacking trips. Around this time Duke also gained an interest in the visual arts, skateboarding, and music. Having learned to DJ vinyl records, breakdance, and about music/lyrics production, Duke attended college in the Pacific Northwest with an interest in combining his passions of art and nature. In his first year his professor received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, and recruited Duke to perform a nature-themed song during her keynote address at a tropical biology conference in Panama City, Panama. This and subsequent performances went on to be included in TED talks and mentioned in the New York Times as well as other publications. After earning his Bachelor of Arts in the study of film, visual arts, and Latin American Politics, Duke earned a second Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science, focusing on graduate level studies in ecology. During his last semester, he landed the lead role of Bob in a student production of "Moon Children", and was one of four students chosen to work under a National Geographic grant to study insects in Chiapas, Mexico. After university, Duke traveled to Alaska where he was a researcher for the Department of the Interior and a Backcountry Wilderness Guide. Although Duke studied documentary filmmaking in college and has had recent roles in student film projects in Los Angeles, his TV and film career was not very active until a former participant recommended him for Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid series. He participated in the challenge alongside his partner in the Premiere Episode of Season 9, completing the 21 day challenge in a Florida swamp, and again successfully for season 5 of Naked and Afraid XL, Philippines. Duke continues to work and live in California and Alaska, doing conservation biology and backcountry guiding, as well as performing various roles in TV and film production.