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Aria McKenna is a versatile filmmaker and climate impact strategist trained by Al Gore, dedicated to connecting climate scientists, policymakers, media, and the public. Hailing from Miami—the epicenter of sea level rise in the U.S.—her brand, "Saving Planet Us," focuses on using storytelling to dismantle cultural barriers hindering climate restoration.
With a background as a producer, writer, director, voice-over artist, and award-winning actress, Aria’s career spans appearances at festivals such as the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Warsaw International Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival. She has organized a Scientific Advisory Panel for Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries, lobbied senators with Citizens Climate Lobby, and co-founded the Healthy Planet Action Coalition with climate scientists and policy experts worldwide, promoting climate restoration through the comprehensive "climate triad." Additionally, she has produced environmentally focused content for Global Cooling Productions and the Sierra Club, created political ads for New York candidates via Quantum Surge Media, contributed to the Healthy Climate Alliance narrative team, and hosted on camera for GreenTV and the Long Island International Film Expo. Aria has also been a keynote speaker for Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, helped produce the American Renewable Energy Institute’s AREDay Summit featuring Tom Steyer, served on the Climate and Energy Working Group for the American Sustainable Business Council, advised the Love the Wild Foundation, and actively participated in Aspen Ideas Climate and Covering Climate Now.
Raised partly in Rome, Italy, Aria is fluent in Italian and conversant in French and Spanish. Her early exposure to theater in Rome revealed how culture shapes beliefs and behavior. After graduating from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, she performed in musicals at Shakespeare Santa Cruz and began her professional acting career on stage alongside Paul Rudd and Adam Scott in Bloody Poetry, produced by Paul Rudd. Following a summer working by the Italian seaside, she relocated to New York, where she managed The New York Voice Over Success Program and Voice Tree Productions for nearly twenty years, training actors and producing numerous voice-over demos while acting in theater, film, TV, commercials, and audiobooks.
The BP Oil Spill’s devastation of the Gulf of Mexico, her favorite childhood swimming spot, deeply affected her and sparked a desire to find greater purpose for her work, especially for her daughter’s future. This led to co-creating the TV series REVOLUTION EARTH with Golden Globe and People's Choice Award winner Jeff Abugov (Roseanne, Cheers, Two and a Half Men). As she immersed herself further in the environmental movement, Aria took leadership in deepening her involvement in this community.
Aria is convinced that storytelling can bring out humanity’s best qualities and that a shared love of water and family can unite us to protect what we cherish.
