​​             Biography of Zack Heart

Zack Heart, (born in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian television & film personality. Heart is recognized as a TV Host, Actor, Stunt man, Producer, Wildlife Expert, Public Educator, Conservationist and California State Licensed Wildlife Trapper.

Heart is the Television Host of multiple TV programs. He has been hosting Planet X TV's long running weekly show since 2010. As of 2020, he is the host, producer, and writer of "Walkabout with Outback Zack" - a new reality based, local adventure travel, TV and digital media program that has the spirit of an Australian Adventure Star in America featuring the “Best of the West” ... following in the footsteps of legendary TV personality, Huell Howser. Every Town, Community and City has amazing stories, people, animals and entities that others want to know about! The Australian born idea and TV series is being filmed in California ~ A media initiative that gives small towns & communities the ultimate promotion package for growth in tourism, commerce, and reputation.

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Heart is a Public Educator, Wildlife Trapper, Wildlife Detyective and Rescuer for Sunshine Haven Wildlife Rehabilitation center in Riverside, CA, Wildhaven Ranch Widlife Sanctuary in Cedar Glen, & operates a wildlife removal, relocation, rescue & public education company called Outback Zack's Animal Removal, operating in San Bernardino County & Orange County. Animal projects are filmed and used in TV and media projects.

Nicknamed "Outback Zack", Heart is best known for hosting wild animal and conservation television shows. During the worst recorded forest fires in Australian history, Heart starred in "Outback Zack's Australian Animal Fire Victims Appeal" which was written, produced, and funded by Heart. The 1hr television special raised up to $500,000 for non-profit animal rescue organization Wildlife Victoria with broadcasts in Australia and the United States.

Early Life

Zack lost both parents as a young child. Father in a car crash and mother to cancer. He raised himself from the age of 14. Family members said, "He had an incredible way with animals as a young child. After losing his father when he was 8 we would find him spending all his time with pets & other animals. He felt safe with them."

Later in life Zack was a student of NMIT in his native Australia, studying Drama, Zoology & Conservation Biology. with sub units Ethology, Ornithology and Wildlife Management, a similar path to his father, a Biologist with Australia's Fisheries & Wildlife, Victorian Division. Zack's primary interests are mammals, birds, Conservation Biology and Cognitive Ethology (the study of animal minds). In Zack's words, "All my work is aimed at making the world a better place for animals and that starts by educating people and creating awareness in strategic ways."

Heart began his entertainment career in his teen's. Classically trained as an actor under the Sanford Meisner acting technique & with John Orcsik at The Australian Fim & Television Academy.  Heart was trained by Karalee Tilvern as a TV Host, and New Generation Stunts as a stuntman. Heart was seen on Australia's leading soap opera's, feature films, & popular Australian dramas before relocating to the USA to further his career and species conservation mission.

Move to America

Upon arriving in the USA, Heart delved his heart and soul into the study of animals, clocking in thousands of hours of field work and species study... "There is so much information you could never learn it all in a life time. But I'm going to have a good crack at it!" Says Zack.

Zack is a seasoned Television Host, Producer, and writer with 20 years’ experience hosting a variety of different types of shows around the world. He has a strong background in creative script & show writing, blogging, investigative news gathering, and reviews journalism which have gone hand-in-hand with the shows he has worked on.

When it comes to animals Heart has done it all... From working with the California Fish & Wildlife Department and animal defense organizations to change laws affecting animals negatively to working with a long list of wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centers, entertaining crowds of children and adults as an Animal Handler doing live shows and educational presentations with Raptors, Raccoons, Bears, and numerous other wild species. He has been a zoo keeper (that's right, cleaning up lion poop! ewww!!) mixing it up at wildlife sanctuaries with the world's most exotic wildlife – from Kangaroos to Koala's, Tigers to Bears – and the animal A-list goes on!

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Zack also works with and speaks about numerous species conservation organizations such as Polar Bears International, Wildlife Victoria, NRDC, California Wolf Center, The Otter Specialist Group, Center for Biological Diversity, PETA, Defenders of Wildlife, just to name a few.

Heart does a LOT of diverse things in life as you may have heard; he is a California State Licensed Wildlife Trapper helping people co-exist with native wild animals with his company "Outback Zack's Animal Removal" operating in both San Bernardino & Orange County. Live trapping & excluding all kinds of species with elaborate trap ideas and relocating them back to their natural habitat or into rehabilitation at Sunshine Haven Wildlife Rehabilitation who Zack proudly works with. Zack to date has rescued an incredible number of animals in need of help. When asked who would he rescue first, a human or animal in trouble? "Depends on who the human was!" Says Zack with a wink. So what does Zack do when he isn't attached to a wild animal? He is also a Health & Fitness Specialist and is in the gym body sculpting 5 days a week! He was the Club & Gym Manager of health & Fitness clubs in Lebanon, Turkey, and Bulgaria along side his entertainment career. Where did he find the time?? And lets not forget his passion for racing Porsche... Yes, he is also a race car driver. "Driving at 200mph and getting around a track as fast as possible feels very natural to me. Controlling speed is exhilarating. I would be racing professionally if I wasn't on a mission for animals & making the world better than how I found it. Or a fighter pilot and astronaut... then I'd get to communicate with little gray people." ... Another passion of Zack's is DJing. He loves trance music and says he can put you in your best mood instantly but his music comes with a warning... "It'll make ya dance."

What's Zack like as person?

Known as Outback Zack, a wildlife conservationist first and foremost like the father of wildlife management Aldo Leopold, and with preservationist and romantic transcendentalist views like the great John Muir before him. He might have some Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee him, but Zack is different. He has a unique gift which essentially makes him an animal whisperer...  I guess you would say he's an exalted creature. He brings his awesomely rugged good looks from down-under, appealing to fans and followers of all ages. He’s as exciting to watch as he is wildly unpredictable, incredibly funny, bit of a nutty professor at times, and acts on impulse with the strike of a snake! As muscle bound and manly as he is, he captures his audiences with his incredible compassion for animals, fascinating knowledge, and huge heart, projecting that unique perspective which connects him with each animal as his best buddy and lifelong friend. He offers a mixture of crazy and nutty antics mixed in with a grand heart-tugging gesture of pure love of nature.

In Zack’s words: “Hey Boys and Girls! Ladies & Gents! Nana's & Pa-pa's!! My work is about waking up the 'caring gene' in people that I know they have, because people won’t help save, stop harming or interfering with a non-human animal unless they care about it or at least understand what basic morals & ethics are. We have to learn to be kind to all life forms. A spider, rat, dog, cat, cow, bird....there is no difference. Just the psychological advertising stuck in peoples heads. All life is to be respected and appreciated. My goal is to help change the human paradigm of how most people think about animals… which will in turn help people be better people, and that’s by being a voice for the voiceless and providing the education and awareness required. This will in-turn help people to make better decisions day to day. People must learn to co-exist with wildlife as everything is connected and remember... 'that their concerns and interests are as important to them, as ours are to us…”

By Lora Jameson

For or all inquiries & to book Zack contact: info AT outbackzack DOT com