Executive Vice President – Dancing Star Foundation
Jane Gray Morrison is Executive
Vice President of Dancing Star Foundation.
Morrison has been making films about the
environment ever since retiring at a young age as
an opera singer in Europe. In more than 30
countries she has brought to public focus issues
pertaining to biodiversity loss, animal
protection, pollution, human health, and explored
stunning interdisciplinary approaches to
mitigating conflicts, whether in Ireland, India,
China or the Antarctic. Morrison produced the
ten-hour epic docu-drama, Voice of the Planet, for
Turner Broadcasting, which involved filming for
two years in 25 countries. The series was a
veritable biography of the earth, starring William
Shatner and Faye Dunaway, and detailed such themes
as water, chemical and oil pollution, animal
cruelty, deforestation, the population explosion,
the history of imagination in the wilderness,
alternative energy and ecological anthropology. In
later films, Morrison has chronicled the crisis of
industrialized agriculture, the crisis of human
consumerism and its impact on habitat, and
biodiversity loss. As a filmmaker, Morrison has
produced numerous films for such networks as
Discovery, PBS (where she also co-directed A Day
in the Life of Ireland for Irish Television and
WNET/New York). Morrison recently completed a
feature film documentary trilogy; Mad Cowboy, No
Vacancy and Hotspots.
Her expertise ranges from the behavioral ecology of burros, to ecological restoration issues in New Zealand, ecological aesthetics, and family planning. Many of these topics have emerged in her several books.
As Executive Vice President of Dancing Star Foundation for nearly a decade, Morrison has worked with partners in two dozen countries in an effort to help increase protection for threatened habitats, as well as overseeing domestic sanctuaries protecting rescued farm animals. Morrison also oversees a program sponsored by Dancing Star Foundation at UCLA Medical School that brings together new and vital research and education with the goal of ending cancer through integrative oncology innovation.
