Les Stroud

Biography Stroud was born in the Mimico neighbourhood of Toronto and graduated from Mimico High School. He went on to complete the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. Stroud worked for several years at the Toronto-based music video channel MuchMusic, and as a songwriter for the band New Regime before a Temagami canoe trip sparked a career change.

In 1990, Stroud became a guide for Black Feather Wilderness Adventures leading canoe excursions into the Northern Ontario wilds.

In 2001, Stroud produced two one-hour specials for the science news show @discovery.ca. These segments follow the same format as Survivorman with Stroud filming his own survival in the wilderness. They were originally broadcast as daily segments over the course of one week but were repackaged as two one-hour specials titled Stranded.

In 2006, Stroud produced a 90-minute special documenting his family's journey to building an off-the-grid home. The show, Off the Grid with Les Stroud, chronicled the process of buying property and refitting an old farm house with solar and wind power, a raincatcher and well, as well as the adjustments the Stroud family had to make to adapt to this style of living.

Stroud has also hosted an episode of the Discovery channel show I Shouldn't Be Alive titled Lost In The Snow, which aired during its first season and the television program Surviving Urban Disasters, which aired on the Science Channel and the 20th annual Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

In 2010, Stroud hosted and produced the Gemini nominated hit kids TV series Survive This and Survive This 2 (YTV, Cartoon Network) that takes teens into the wilderness to teach them how to survive by giving them some instruction and challenging them with survival scenarios. Stroud's follow-up show to Survivorman was titled Beyond Survival with Les Stroud and debuted in 2010.

On 27 April 2018, National Geographic aired Stroud's Alaska's Grizzly Gauntlet on their NGW channel. In four episodes, Stroud explores the survival methods and social structure of the Kodiak brown bear. Since 2020, Stroud has collaborated with chef Paul Rogalski on their PBS series Wild Harvest, where Stroud forages for wild ingredients and challenges Rogalski to use them in the preparation of different dishes in each episode.

Music In addition to film making and wilderness survival, Stroud has also worked in the music industry as a professional musician. After graduation, Stroud worked both as an associate producer for the nascent music channel MuchMusic as well as production manager on music videos for artists such as Rush and Corey Hart. During this time Stroud also played in the David Bowie cover band Diamond Dogs and played lead guitar and composed music for his band New Regime

Awards Stroud has received several accolades as a musician. He has won "Best Acoustic/Folk Act", "Best Blues Act", and "Best Overall" awards at the Spirit of the North music festival in New Liskeard, Ontario. In 2010, Stroud and his production team was nominated for Best Children's or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series for Survive This.

Personal life Stroud has extensive experience with survival and primitive living skills, initially training with expert David Arama. He went on to study with many others including John "Prairie Wolf" McPherson.

Stroud has been an active participant in adventure racing and has competed at the Canadian championships.