- Ziya Tong is a television personality and producer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is co-host of Discovery Channel's long-running primetime science magazine, Daily Planet (1996), Canada's daily science show, where she brings to the stage a wealth of knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm for science and the environment, and addresses issues such as the shifting nature of time and space, and our place within the universe.
Before co-hosting "Daily Planet", Ziya served as host and field producer for PBS' national primetime series, Wired Science (2007), produced in conjunction with Wired Magazine.
In Canada, she hosted the CBC's Emmy®-nominated series ZeD (2002), a pioneer of open source television, for which she received a Gemini Viewer's Choice Award nomination in 2005. Ziya also served as host, writer, and director for the Canadian science series "The Leading Edge" and joined the team at Nova ScienceNow (2005) as a new contributor in 2009.
In New York, Ziya served as a senior producer for Orientation.com (now defunct), a global internet news portal for developing countries partnered with the BBC and UNDP. In 2003, Ziya launched the Ethical Media Division for Cowie and Fox Creative, one of Vancouver's leading interactive agencies, to promote green branding for non-profit and environmental groups. A strong supporter of public broadcasting, Ziya also participates in "Media that Matters", a conference that promotes social change and media activism.
Ziya received her Masters Degree in communications from McGill University, where she graduated on the Dean's Honour List. Ziya also received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in psychology and sociology from the University of British Columbia.
With a passion for culture and world travel, Ziya is working to further develop her language skills speaking fluent English and Cantonese and working on her French, Mandarin and Arabic. Ziya has also travelled extensively to more than 50 countries and has hosted Island Escapes (2006), a travel show on CTV.
Ziya also serves on the Board of Directors of WWF (World Wildlife Fund).- IMDb Mini Biography By: anonymous - Award-winning broadcaster Ziya Tong is best known as the anchor of Daily Planet, Discovery Channel's flagship science program, which she hosted for a decade. Her book The Reality Bubble, won the Lane Anderson Prize for best science writing in Canada, and was shortlisted for the prestigious RBC Taylor Prize. It has earned praise from luminaries including Naomi Klein and David Suzuki who calls Tong's book "required reading for all who care about what we are doing to the planet."
Tong also hosted the CBC's Emmy-nominated series ZeD, PBS's national prime-time series, Wired Science, and worked as a correspondent for NOVA scienceNOW alongside Neil deGrasse Tyson on PBS. In the spring of 2019, she participated in CBC's annual "battle of the books". After a national four-day debate, she won Canada Reads.
Ziya is a featured guest expert on The Daily Climate Show on Sky News in the UK. She served as the Vice Chair of the World Wildlife Fund Canada and has been on the board of directors of WWF International since 2020.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Admin
- Worked selling encyclopaedias door-to-door in Northern BC, Canada.
- Has a tattoo of a question mark on the back of her neck as a manifestation of her inquisitiveness and her passion for knowledge.
- Was discovered by a casting agent who thought she'd be perfect for an Apple ad. She initially declined - she didn't want to be a model but was still interested in pursuing a media career. She reconsidered it when she realized that doing the ad would provide an opportunity to test herself in front of the camera. She was cast by none other than Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, in the first iPod ads in the US.
- Is fluent in English and Cantonese, and dabbles in Mandarin, French, and Arabic, which she finds particularly beautiful.
- Serves on the Board of Directors of WWF (World Wildlife Fund).
- [on being a co-host of Daily Planet (1996)] I have my dream job / I get to speak with great minds and have all of these adventures. With this job, you get to see stuff that other people never get to see.
- I love sharing and exploring the amazing and extraordinary wonders that are on the planet every day. It's almost like a teaching gig.
- I'm endlessly curious. I'm just constantly fascinated by people's discoveries, and I love talking to smart people. I mean there's really nothing better.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content