A man with short dark hair and a beard wearing a light-colored button-up shirt outdoors during dusk or dawn, with a blurred natural landscape in the background.
A man operating a camera on a tripod on a grassy field near the water, with mountains in the background and a bird flying in the foreground.
A man in a beige suit holds two awards with deer antlers design at an event with 'Jackson Wild' branding background.
A man dressed in outdoor gear, including a yellow jacket and backpack, holding a professional video camera with a microphone, standing in a mountainous landscape with colorful hills in the background.

Ryan Wilkes turns science into stories people want to watch. With a PhD in Bioengineering and experience as a materials scientist, he understands research and knows how to make it compelling. In his work as a documentary director, cinematographer, and photographer, Ryan aims to connect audiences with the natural world. He shares his work with over 180k followers on @itsryanwilkes.

Ryan has filmed on all seven continents and his cinematography can be seen in many documentaries made for major networks such as CBC, PBS NOVA and ARTE, including Emmy award-winning Hunt for the Oldest DNA. Most recently he produced, directed and filmed the short documentary, The Bird in My Backyard, for CBC which won the Wildlife & Environment Shorts category at the 2024 Jackson Wild Media Awards, Best Short Film at the 2024 Banff Mountain Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Short Documentary at the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards. A Jackson Wild Media Lab alumnus and recipient of the 2024 Jackson Wild Rising Star Award, Ryan is also a member of the Canadian Conservation Photographers Collective and an Associate Member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

Ryan is a published photographer and has received several awards for his wildlife photography. He has twice won Canadian Geographic’s Canadian Wildlife Photography of the Year competition (2022 Aquatic Life and 2024 Flora & Fungi).