Allison Argo - Award-Winning Filmmaker Speaks Out for Animals

For nearly 30 years, Allison Argo has made award-winning documentaries about endangered and abused animals. Her films have won six national Emmys (11 nominations) and over 100 awards internationally.

When asked why she has devoted her career to abused animals, Argo says, “I believe that most humans are inherently compassionate, but if they’re unaware of the suffering of others, how can they make compassionate choices?” Her mission is to provide a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Argo was raised in the theater on Cape Cod and enjoyed a successful acting career, but an encounter with a gorilla named Ivan living in a shopping mall in Tacoma, Washington, led her to work behind the camera. Concerned about the lives of gorillas in captivity, Argo was compelled to write, produce and direct her first film The Urban Gorilla. The film was narrated by Glenn Close and broadcast by National Geographic in 1992. It earned the prestigious duPont-Columbia award for journalism, a Genesis Award, the Jackson Hole Newcomer’s Award and was nominated for two national Emmys – but more importantly, after the film aired, Ivan was moved to Zoo Atlanta so that he could live with other gorillas.

Since then, Argo has traveled the globe searching for gorillas in the Impenetrable Forest, combing the Amazon for endangered frogs and scouring the underbelly of Bangkok in search of displaced elephants.

Among the many films she’s produced, directed and written, are: The Urban Gorilla, Chimpanzees: an Unnatural History, The Urban Elephant, and Parrot Confidential. All were broadcast by PBS and National Geographic, reaching audiences worldwide. Argo’s latest film, The Last Pig, continues her mission to speak out for the silenced. Through this film, she hopes to to inspire compassion for all living beings.