Biography
Tim Noonan is a multi-award winning filmmaker, explorer, and TV presenter who works on both sides of the camera. He is best known for traveling to challenging environments to film himself enduring the rites of passage and rituals of diverse cultures.
Timothy John Noonan was born in Launceston, Tasmania (AUS) - the eldest of three children to Caroline Noonan, a nurse, and Paul Noonan, a TV reporter, and executive producer. His parents separated when he was 9, and his mother raised Tim throughout his teens.
As a young man, he secured a place at Griffith Film School in Queensland, Australia. Three years later, he received the University Medal for Screen Production as the highest achieving graduate. His university films won multiple awards including the NYU International Student Film Festival. At 23, he scored funding from the Australian government to make a short film about divorce "Operating Instructions," which he wrote and directed.
Hungry to explore all aspects of filmmaking, Tim was picked to co-host, film and produce on the Australian children's show "[Hot] Source" for the Nine Network. There, he mastered the art of turning a handheld camera back on himself before 'selfies' were popular. Tim discovered that if he could shoot, present, and edit his own stories, he could become a one-person film crew.
In 2005, Tim jumped ship to rival Seven Network, as a self-shooting reporter for two of its flagship current affairs programs, namely "Sunday Night." Tim got a kick out of embedding himself in extreme situations and as a solo operator, gained unrivaled access to difficult stories, people, and places. He went one-on-one with drug lords, gangs, murderers and forged hard-hitting stories around the world that would otherwise go untold. He was a finalist for a Kennedy 'Journalist of the Year' Award and has won two Walkley Awards (Australian-style Emmys) for his cinematography. In December 2014, Tim became engaged to fellow "Sunday Night" reporter and newsreader, PJ Madam.
In late 2013, Tim helmed his own adventure docuseries, "Boy to Man" (a.k.a. Rite of Passage in the US, Wildman: Extreme Adventurer in the UK, Man vs Tribe in India). He traveled the globe for 2 years, immersing himself in native cultures and experiencing the most extreme and dangerous coming-of-age rituals. With just the clothes on his back and his camera gear, Tim earned the trust of some of the world's least known tribes before being put through their rituals, initiations, and grueling tests to discover what it means to be the ultimate man.
"Boy to Man" was first commissioned by the Travel Channel US and took 2 years to produce. Tim produced, filmed, and starred in the program. It launched to a global audience in 2014 airing in more than 100 countries on Discovery (Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and India), BBC Earth / Knowledge (Asia Pacific), El Rey Network (US), Channel 5's Spike TV (UK), France 5, YLE (Finland), RUV (Iceland), Canal Evasion & Blue Ant Media (Canada), RTL (Germany), Mediaworks / TV3 (New Zealand), Tokyo Vision (Japan) and SBS Discovery (Sweden).
In 2016, Tim and PJ started their own production company called Wildman Films which produced an original docuseries for Netflix called "Extreme Engagement." Tim was Executive Producer, Director of Photography and Co-Host, roles he shared with PJ. The show launched globally in July 2019.
