Profession: Assistant Producer, Underwater Specialist
Episode: "Great White Shark, Crocodile, Chimps and Iceberg"
Encounter: A shifting iceberg closes in on Jeanie.

Jeanie Ackley heads up most of Natural History New Zealand's dive teams as dive leader. Her advanced skills as a trained rebreather, nitrox diver, scuba diver and instructor are used in underwater shoots for camera work, lighting and dive assistance.

She has lead dive teams under the ice in Antarctica; filmed breeding southern right whales in the sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand; and dived with marine iguanas in Galapagos, with sea lions in the Aleutians and on the sunken ghost fleet of Bikini Atoll. She's spent 14 months of her life filming Antarctica, the planet's coldest and windiest continent.

Jeanie's academic strengths (she has a master of science in marine biology), interest in marine environments and passion for outdoor pursuits ideally suit her to a range of field roles as well as research for natural history films.

In addition to her work on the Emmy award-winning program The Crystal Ocean, she has helped film Squid Search, The Lost Whales and the 13-part dive/adventure series Deep Blue. She has just finished working on the production of the Animal Planet series Up Close and Dangerous.

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