Masha Nordbye is an award-winning Television/Documentary Producer, Director & Writer, Book author, Expedition leader, Explorer and Photographer who has traveled through 135 countries and worked on hundreds of documentary productions.
Masha's new 785-page Russian Travel Book, Moscow, St Petersburg & The Golden Ring (as Writer/Photographer) was published in 2015 by Odyssey Publications, Hong Kong, and distributed worldwide by WW Norton, New York. Available on Amazon.com See Listing under Books.
The Flight Fantastic, Associate Producer, a theatrical feature documentary (92 minutes) on one of the most famous families of the Flying Trapeze, filmed around the world from Paris to Los Angeles. Currently being shown at national and international film festivals. Its National Premiere was at the 2015 Sarasota, Florida film festival, and its Australian debut at the Byron Bay Film Festival on the Gold Coast of eastern Australia. www.theflightfantasticfilm.com
MISS UNIVERSE (WME/IMG for FOX-TV), Field Director/Segment Producer. Filming for three weeks in Las Vegas, Nevada. Performances by BAND PERRY and SEAL.
MISS USA Pageant (Reelz TV), Field Producer/Director. Filming took place for three weeks in June/July in Baton Route, Louisiana. The Pageant has been held since 1952.
MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT (NBC/Trump), Field Producer & Interviewer. Filming took place in January for 4 weeks in Miami, Florida. Performances by Nick Jonas, Prince Royce and Gavin DeGraw. Live show with a worldwide audience of over half a billion viewers.
OceanGEMS, currently in production, a global educational series on the world's oceans with female scientists and marine biologists. Filming areas include: New Guinea, New Zealand, Mozambique, South Africa, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico and Hawaii....
Expedition Leader & Guest Lecturer for two months in Asia that included expeditions in Tibet, China, Nepal, Bhutan, India and the Sultanate of Brunei.
2014:
July-September: China and Tibet. On an expedition in China across Tibet to the far western part of the country to climb and circumambulate (up to 19,000 feet) the sacred Mt Kailash during the Year of the Horse. Month of camping with yak packs!
Underwater Filming in Indonesia, from Bali to Komodo Islands, for scientific and television projects: from giant Manta Rays to coral reefs and Komodo dragons, aboard the Seven Seas, a refitted Indonesia Bugis Pirate ship.
Miss Universe Live in Moscow (NBC). Producer, Field Production. Held in Moscow, Russia, and filmed for 6 weeks throughout the capital. Performances by Steven Tyler, Emin, & Panic at the Disco. Work in Moscow and St Petersburg.
Expeditions: This summer, Masha led several expeditions throughout Mongolia and eastern Siberia (Russia) and the Lake Baikal regions.
National Geographic Adventure TV series--producer on two shows (DIE-TRYING), filmed in Turkmenistan and researched for New Guinea.
2012:
2011:
Masha was on assignment throughout Indonesia to film the world's MOST venomous sea creatures, including the lion, stone, devil, wasp and scorpion fish--sea snakes, cone shells, and one of the planet's most poisonous animals--the blue-ringed octopus. Locations included dive expeditions to Sulawesi in northeastern Indonesia-- at Buyat Bay, the Banga Islands, and the remote Lembeh Strait. Additional areas from Sumatra to Singapore.
Other assignments took her to Germany, Austria, Albania, Prague and St Petersburg, Russia.
In Paris, Masha filmed at the famed Cirque d'hiver (the Winter Circus) for the 150th anniversary celebration of Jules Léotard, the inventor of the trapeze, for a documentary on the Flying Trapeze. (She's an avid trapeze flyer herself.)
Masha is also on the production team (Producer/Director/Writer) for the award-winning HD series on: Our Ocean World
Sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation and narrated by Martin Jarvis, OBE
Marine life has been documented in over 20 countries, with shows filmed in South Africa (White sharks); England/Scotland (basking sharks); Cocos Island, Costa Rica (Hammerheads); the Revillagigedo Archipelago & Sea of Cortez, Mexico (Manta rays, Blue whales & Whale sharks); Bahamas (Reef sharks); Hawaii (Manta rays); Truk Lagoon, South Pacific (wrecks); Tonga, Micronesia (Humpback Whales)'; Okinawa, Japan (Underwater monuments); United Arab Emirates (Dugongs); Florida (Manatees); the Channel Islands, CA; and Alaska (Salmon sharks). The organization is also producing a series of Childrens’ Adventure Books about the oceans and marine life. (See Books and Documentaries under Main Menu).
THE BLUE REALM - Field Producer Ocean documentary series for HD Discovery Canada
An expedition across the Khanates of Central Asia—Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The four books include: The Great White Red Alert; The Devil Fish; Manatees and Mermaids; the Hammerheads of Treasure Island. Available on Amazon.com
See Books under the Main Menu
TRAVEL CHANNEL SECRETS - Senior Field Producer/Director, Writer Series for TheTravel Channel
Directed over 35 feature segments in 15 countries from Australia and Asia to Europe, the South Pacific and Caribbean, including one-hour specials on Fiji, the Yucatan, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.
On Hotel Presidential Suites (with on-camera host), filmed across the United States.
THE UNDERWATER WORLD OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Dugongs of Abu Dhabi
HD Documentary Senior Field Producer/Writer Narrated by Michael York, OBE
Winner: Gold Millennium Award; Runner-up Santa Barbara Film Festival
GOLDEN DREAMS – Producer/Director, Writer of 13-part REALITY SERIES.
Adventure Reality-series, filmed in North/South America. Contestant winners are able to compete for and fulfill their life-long adventure dreams. (Sponsored by Benson & Hedges)
ACTION-ASIA – Director, Writer Action-Adventure travel REALITY-series for The Discovery Channel Intl. Segments filmed throughout Asia from Korea and the Philippines to India and Burma/Mergui Archipelago.
BOOK on RUSSIA - Moscow, St Petersburg & The Golden Ring. Author/Photographer, Odyssey Publications
New 728-page edition. Distributed by W.W. Norton, New York
Hi-Definition documentary on Giant Manta Rays. Filmed in Africa, and three weeks at sea at the Revillagigedo Archipelago, located 300 miles south of Baja, and the Sea of Cortez.
Winner: Best of Show, Santa Barbara Film Festival; Golden Dolphin Award, Moscow Marine Film Festival; CINE Golden Eagle; Platinum Best of Show, Nature & Environment Aurora Award; Golden Millennium Award; Bronze Telly Award; Finalist, Japan Wildlife Film Festival.
Special Guest at the International Moscow Golden Dolphin Film Festival,
Journeyed 9,000 miles across western & southern Russia and Siberia from Murmansk to Vladivostok, covering a car racing REALITY competition along the first completed road network, built across all of Russia.
Hi-Definition Documentary on the White Shark, filmed in South Africa.
Winner Silver Telly Award; Platinum Best of Show Aurora Award.
A Hi-Definition Documentary on Giant Manta Rays of Mexico.
MARCO POLO’S SILK ROUTE – Expedition Leader for Geographic Expedition’s trek across China’s Northern Silk Route from Beijing, Xian, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Turpan, Urumchi, Kashgar to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Second expedition led across Nepal, Tibet & Bhutan.
ABC-TV Prime-Time Special with Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Had the Duchess flying away on the trapeze + other adventures.THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS VOLCANOES – Senior Field Producer
ABC-Primetime Special. Volcanoes filmed throughout the world, incl. Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean & Iceland. On an Icelandic Volcano
PATHFINDERS: EXOTIC JOURNEYS – Series Producer/Director (13- 1/2 hours) Sponsored by Nissan. 26 Celebrity Hosts.
For Fox International & The Travel Channel. Filmed throughout the world with guest celebrities (including actors, writers/authors, musicians, models, athletes, photographers & visionaries). Episodes include: Rafting down the Copper River and sea kayaking Alaska’s Inside Passage; Tracking Polar Bears with Inuit Eskimos in the Canadian Arctic; Horseback Trek cross Banff, Canada; Rafting Idaho’s Snake River; Exploring the Navajo Indian Nation; Diving in Baja with whales & sea lions; Climbing the third highest mountain of N. America, Mt Orizaba; Hiking Mexico’s Copper Canyon with Tarahumara Indians; Dogsledding in Wyoming; and Exploring the rainforests of Costa Rica…
3-D: HORACE’S VILLA: HOUSE OF THE IMPERIAL ASSASSINS - Director, Writer
Hi-Definition 3-D/Virtual Project on the famous 1st-century Roman Poet, Horace, whose country villa was discovered outside Rome. Twelve other shows researched and written up for proposed archeological series in conjunction with the Virtual World Hertitage Laboratory and the American Academy in Rome.
COCOS ISLAND -Field Producer/Writer
Hi-definition Documentary on Costa Rica's famous Cocos Island. A haven for many marine species (Hammerheads, Rays, Whale sharks); about the island, marine life, history of pirates, and the area's ecological studies & protection programs.
SAVE OUR SEAS –Producer/Writer
For the international SOS Foundation on a multitude of ecologically-minded HD documentary subjects. The international SOS Foundation is helping to implement world measures to curtail potential ecological tragedies, and bring awareness of the responsibility we must all share in protecting what is truly the last frontier on earth.
RUSSIA: Journeyed from the Russian/Finnish border to St Petersburg & Moscow, and down to the Crimea (on the Black Sea), Odessa & Moldova for magazine and book projects.
RUSSIA: Two-month trip to Russia and Baltic States working on various writing and TV development projects. With an expertise on Russia, Masha has been traveling to the former Soviet Union for over 25 years with 100+ trips that have taken her across all of the former Soviet Union from Murmansk to Kamchatka. She has helped produce over 15 documentary projects in Russia. As a leading authority on the Russian Circus, she has also helped organize international tours, as the US Tour of the Moscow Circus.
TRUK LAGOON & YONAGUNI, JAPAN - Field Producer, Writer The History Channel, The Discovery Channel Intl.
HD Documentary projects filmed on the wrecks of Truk Lagoon, and the underwater monuments off the island of Yonaguni, Okinawa.
MISS UNIVERSE - Director, Camera Operator, Writer for 'Behind-the-Scenes' of the Miss Universe Pageant, filmed throughout Panama for NBC Network.
Over 80% of some shark species are headed for extinction; and, even today, very little is known about sharks.
URBAN CANVAS – Feature Writer
Feature Length Documentary on the 600 year-old tradition (originating in Renaissance times) of the I’Madonnari Street (chalk) painters. Filmed in Italy, Switzerland and the U.S.
ASIAN ENIGMA: MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP – Producer, Director Winner of 'Best Documentary in Asia'.
Three-part one-hour series on mysteries of Asia for The Discovery Channel Intl. Based six months in Hong Kong and filmed throughout 10 Asian countries.
TRAVEL CHANNEL – Field Director
Russian segments on MIG fighters at Moscow’s once top secret Zhukovsky Airforce Base and Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City.
WORLD GONE WILD – Field Producer Wildlife series for Fox Family Channel.
Segments include, filming in the Brazilian Amazon jungle, South America, and the Big Island, Hawaii.
WILD THINGS – Field Producer Paramount/UPN.
Wildlife feature segments shot in exotic locales as far away as Siberia (Lake Baikal, Siberian Tigers in Russia’s Far East), and Outer Mongolia.
INSIDE THE SOVIET CIRCUS – Associate- Producer National Geographic (Aired on ABC)
Documentary on the Russian Circus, filmed throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Turkmenistan.
One-hour documentary on the city of Leningrad (St Petersburg), Russia.
ABC Network Special on the history of Russian Parapsychology, filmed throughout Russia.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO ADOLF HITLER? Associate Producer (Aired on ABC)
ABC Network Documentary on Hitler’s Last Days, filmed in Russia and Germany.
BACK IN THE USSR – Production Coordinator Largo/20th Century Fox. Theatrical Feature Film
with Roman Polanski and Natalya Negoda. First American feature shot entirely in Moscow (5 months).
BASHKAUS: HARD LABOR IN SIBERIA – Associate Producer & On-Air Talent.
The Discovery Channel. The first Westerners allowed to raft the Altai region, and film the first descent along the treacherous Bashkaus River across southern Siberia.
MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL CIRCUS FESTIVAL – Consultant Triage/Spy Productions.
ICEBREAKER: IMPRESSIONS OF THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC – Producer, Writer
One-hour special on journeying across Russia's Northeast Passage.
WITHOUT WARNING – Field Producer/Director, Writer For TLC (The Learning Channel) series.
WORLD OF WONDER - Field Producer/Writer For TLC Series
AMERICA’S GREATEST PETS (UPN)
ANIMAL’S ARE PEOPLE, TOO (PAX-TV)Field Producer/Writer on animal segments filmed throughout the U.S. and Canada.
OLYMPIC GAMES IN ATLANTA, USA – Event Producer
DISCOVERING RUSSIA – Writer Reader’s Digest. One-hour travel documentary.
HOLLAND, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG – Co-Producer/Director The Discovery Channel/Reader’s Digest. Award winner Bronze Apple National Education Film Festival.
MICKEY MOUSE GOES TO MOSCOW – Production Manager
A Disney Channel Special filmed in Moscow, St Petersburg and Tallinn, Estonia.
Documentary on the Moscow Circus, rehearsing throughout Russia and performing in the United States.
VILLAGES OF THE NORTH – Assoc. Producer/Soundman PBS.
Lived for one-month in a Russian village in the dead of winter on the Arctic Circle.
Mr. Rogers goes to Moscow & appears in popular Moscovite Children’s Show.
Russian Talent comes to Pittsburg. Special short documentary on the “Making of Matryushka Dolls.”
Masha on the Mr. Rogers Show
NORTH POLAR EXPEDITIONS – Co-Producer & Cameraman CBS-TV
Filmed from Ellsmere Island in northern Canadian Arctic to the NORTH POLE.
U.S. MOSCOW CIRCUS TOUR – Liaison Producer Voted 'Best Family Entertainment of the Year'. The first tour of the Russian Circus in the U.S. in a quarter-of-a-century. Writer of Circus Program.
WEIRD AL YANKOVIC – Associate Producer Showtime
Playing Accordion with Weird Al
ABC TELEVISION NETWORK – Camera & Sound Technician
Worked in Washington, DC (White House), Paris, Moscow and Los Angeles Bureaus for such shows as “Good Morning America,” "Nightline," and the “Nightly News.”
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING – Asst. Director for News & Public Affairs. Assignments included for “Inside Story” and “American Playhouse.”
Other freelance work for foreign networks including German ARD/ZDF, Japanese, French and the BBC.
BOOKS: Author/Photographer
2017: MOSCOW, ST PETERSBURG & THE GOLDEN RING (Writer, Photographer)
785-pages w/color pictures, Voted “Best Book” on Russia by Travel & Leisure Magazine (see Amazon.com)
Other books on MOSCOW & ST PETERSBURG
OUR WORLD IN COLOR, MOSCOW AND LENINGRAD, The Guidebook Company.
MOSCOW - LENINGRAD HANDBOOK, MOON Publications, In English and Italian.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES: Writer/Photographer include:
Winner of Lowell Thomas Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism
Author of over 1,000 published pages—Articles include:
The Great Siberian Tea Road --Russian Life Magazine
Thai Airlines Inflight Magazine- "St Petersburg: Land of Eternal Enchantments"
Korean Air Magazine: "St Petersburg, Russia: Babylon of the Snows"
The World and I Magazine: "In Search of Magic & Mystery in Tibet"
Marco Polo Club Magazine: “Twelve Things You Did Not Know About Russia"
Hi-Def Magazine: "Taking Hi-Definition to Greater Depths"
Russian Life Magazine- "The Magical World of the Russian Circus" and included in the book,
The Best of Russian Life (2011).
FINNAIR’s Blue Wings: “Thrills & Spills of Russia’s Big Top”
TWA’s Ambassador: “Tales from the Deep Freeze” (Alaska)
Korean Air’s Morning Calm: “Sumptuous St Petersburg,” “Moscow-2002,” “Sharks: A Job to Die For,” “The Russian Circus.”; China Airline’s Dynasty: “The Navajo Nation”
SPUR: “The Wild Bunch: Testing Oneself in the Canadian Rockies”
Los Angeles Time Magazine; Escape Magazine; Museum & Arts Magazine; Audubon Magazine; Friends Magazine; Departures Magazine; World Magazine; Soviet Pravda.
The World & I Magazine:
“St Petersburg 300th Jubilee"
"Panama: The Magical Meeting Place of the Americas"
“Marco Polo’s Silk Route” (15 pages)
“Bhutan: The Last Shangri-La” (20 pages)
“Into a Lost World: The Mergui Archipelago” (10 pages)
“The Jewel in the Sierre Madre: Copper Canyon, Mexico
“Antwerp: A Cultural Capital”
"Loving Chinese Snuff Boxes"
“The Majestic Land of Patagonia"
Stock Photo Agent, Bruce Coleman, Inc..
FEATURE ARTICLES on Ms Nordbye include:
ANTHOLOGY MAGAZINE: "One on One with Masha Nordbye" : 2016
GEOGRAPHIC EXPEDITIONS/RECCE: Literary Journeys for the Discerning Traveler: Interview, August, 2008
PASSPORT MAGAZINE: Full Page Interview, "The Last Word"
PRODUCER'S GUILD OF AMERICA: Feature Member Special
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, Hong Kong Feature newspaper article, entitled: On the Prowl for Adventure
Russian PRAVDA: Feature Article on Masha's work with the Russian Circus.
JUDGE - HDFEST, Los Angeles. International Hi-Definition Film Festival.
Her most most recent exotic expeditions include through Eastern Africa, Myanmar, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador & The Galapagos, Egypt, Jordan & Israel, the Himalayan Kingdoms of Tibet (and Everest Base Camp), Nepal, Bhutan, climbing the sacred Mt Kailash in western Tibet, Outer Mongolia, journeying across all of Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok, crossing the Middle East in Egypt, Jordan & Israel, along the Great Silk Road from Beijing to Samarkand, and through the Khanates of Central Asia—Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan—as a trip leader with Geographic Expeditions. (See a further listing on Expeditions/Adventure Travel)
Some of her remarkable ADVENTURES around the world include making a solo journey across Tibet (tracing the footsteps of 19th-century French explorer Alexandra David-Neel); journeying across Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kenya—and documenting life in a Masai village; filming Great White sharks off the South African coast; rafting across the southern Altai region of Siberia; sailing across the Bering Sea from Alaska to Kamchatka aboard Green Peace’s Rainbow Warrior; backpacking across Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego, South America; canoeing down Brazil’s Amazon River; trekking to Machu Picchu, Peru; traveling with Inuit Eskimos in search of Polar Bears in the Canadian Arctic; climbing the second highest peak in Baja by horse; hot air-ballooning across the European Benelux; in Mexico, climbing Mt Orizaba—an 18,000-foot volcano—and trekking across Copper Canyon with Tarahumara Indians; kayaking Alaska’s Inside Passage, rafting down the Copper River, and filming Kodiak bears on the Katmai Peninsula; living with isolated minority tribes in southwestern China; journeying 9,000 miles across Russia from Murmansk in the northwest, south along the Volga, and across all of southern Siberia to Vladivostok; tracking Siberian Tigers in the Russian Far East; documenting the bear population of Lake Baikal; traveling across India with the Russian Circus; riding on Bactrian camels across Mongolia’s Gobi Desert; documenting erupting volcanoes in Iceland; skiing & training with avalanche rescue dogs, Squaw Valley, USA; scuba diving with sharks around the world from Mergui, Burma (Myanmar) to the Bahamas, diving to depths up to 180 feet at the infamous Truk Lagoon, Micronesia, and documenting the mysterious underwater monument off the island of Yonaguni, Okinawa; tracking Dugongs in the Persian Gulf of the United Arab Emirates; journeying across Oman from the mountains in the north to the remote desert in the Lost Quarter; filming Manta Rays at the remote Revillagigedo archipelago, 300 miles off the southern coast of Baja; trekking across the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan; crossing Marco Polo’s Silk Route from Beijing across all of China to Kashgar; and standing, as one of the first women in history atop the North Pole.
Education: Middlebury College, Vermont. (B.A. Russian/German) Minor in Astrophysics.
Work toward Masters Degree in Russian Studies at Georgetown University, Wash DC.
Nominated for Honorary Doctorate at Middlebury College for achievements and work in Russia.
Further studies at Moscow University, Russia; the Johannes Gütenberg University in Mainz, Germany, and Alliance Française in France.
Member: Producer's Guild of America; Television Academy of Arts & Sciences; Society of American Travel Writers; Author's Guild; Women in Film; Travelers' Century Club; and Assoc Member of Writer’s Guild of America, West.
Special Skills: include the Flying/Single Trapeze, SCUBA (PADI/Nitrox/Dry Suit Certified), Horse riding, Kayaking, Climbing, Camera & Soundman, and Musical Instrument, Accordion.
Masha Playing her Accordion on Christmas Day
