Turk Pipkin (born July 2, 1953) is an author, actor, comedian and director. He is the co-founder of The Nobelity Project, a non-profit organization which seeks to find solutions to global problems, and which advocates for basic rights for children. He was a lifelong friend of Harry Anderson up until Anderson's death in 2018.

The Nobelity Project

In 2006, Pipkin founded the non-profit organization The Nobelity Project with his wife, Christy Pipkin. After interviewing nine Nobel Laureates, he directed '' Nobelity'', a film about global problems such as energy, hunger, land mines, and climate change. He then spent 3 years traveling to 5 continents and 20 countries filming a sequel, '' One Peace at a Time'', which focuses on solutions in the areas of water, nutrition, education, health care, opportunity, environment and peace. In 2011 The Nobelity Project released their third film, entitled '' Building Hope'' about construction of Mahiga Hope High School in rural

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. The Nobel Laureates he worked with include

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

Wangari Maathai Wangari is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to: * Wangari Maathai (1940–2011), Kenyan environmental and political activist * Catherine Wangari Wainaina (born 1985), Kenyan beauty pageant contestant * Margaret Wangari Muriuki (born 1986), K ...

Ahmed Zewail Ahmed Hassan Zewail (February 26, 1946 – August 2, 2016) was an Egyptian-American chemist, known as the "father of femtochemistry". He was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry and became the first Egyptian a ...

Steven Chu Steven ChuU.S. Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...

Harold Varmus Harold Eliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center. He was ...

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi economist, entrepreneur, and civil society leader who has been serving as the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, Chief Adviser of the Interim government of Muhammad Yunus, interim Yunus ministry, g ...

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

Jody Williams Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950) is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights (especially those of women), and her efforts to promote new understandings of securit ...

, Sir

Joseph Rotblat Sir Joseph Rotblat (4 November 1908 – 31 August 2005) was a Polish and British physicist. During World War II he worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory on grounds of conscience after it became ...

and

Richard Smalley Richard Errett Smalley (June 6, 1943 – October 28, 2005) was an American chemist who was the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy at Rice University. In 1996, along with Robert Curl, also a professor of ...

. The work with Roblat and Smalley were the final major interviews of their lives. Pipkin is also the project leader for The Nobelity Project’s work to build Mahiga Hope High School in the

Aberdare Mountains The Aberdare Range (formerly the Sattima Range, Kikuyu: ''Nyandarua'') is a long mountain range of upland, north of Kenya's capital Nairobi with an average elevation of . It straddles the counties of Nyandarua, Nyeri, Murang'a, Kiambu and La ...

. Pipkin is a member of the

Clinton Global Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

, and in 2010 received the White Lotus Humanitarian Award from the Government of China at the Macau International Digital Film Festival.

The Nobelity Project in Kenya

Mahiga Hope High School

In 2009 The Nobelity Project began construction on Mahiga Hope High School in rural

. It is the first high school in the area of Mahiga near

Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County and was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province (Kenya), Central Province. The town is situated a ...

. Mahiga Hope High School along with its Mahiga Rainwater Court held its grand opening on October 1, 2010.

Mahiga Rainwater Court

In 2009, The Nobelity Project in partnership with Architecture for Humanity received "The Game Changers Award," an architectural grant from

Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. (stylized as ''NIKE'') is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, ...

to build a multiple purpose game, performance, and rain water collection facility. The facility serves Mahiga Hope High as well as a community center for Mahiga. It also provides the school's source of drinking water. The Mahiga Rainwater Court opened on October 1, 2010.

Mahiga Hope Library

In 2010, along with the classroom building for Mahiga Hope High, construction began on the Mahiga Hope Library. This library will provide books to the community of Mahiga, donated by individuals as part of the book drive, 1000 Books for Hope. The library will have textbooks and reference books in English and Swahili.

Work as an author

Turk Pipkin has worked as a screen and television writer, as a freelance journalist and contributing editor for numerous national magazines, and has authored nine books of fiction and nonfiction. His most recent book is the ''New York Times'' bestsellerNYTimes.com
New York Times, 4th June 2006 ''The Tao of Willie'', co-authored with

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

. His novels include ''Fast Greens'' and '' When Angels Sing'', which was adapted as a feature film under the title '' Angels Sing''. He has written for multiple television productions. Writing credits include: *''When Angels Sing'' (Algonquin Books) Author. (Released as the movie '' Angels Sing'' produced by Fred Miller) *''Fast Greens'' (Hardback Edition, Dial Press). (In development with Warner Bros/1492 Productions) *''The Old Man and the Tee'' (St. Martin’s Press) Author *''Born of the River'' (Softshoe Publishing) Author * Harry Anderson's ''Games You Can't Lose'' (Pocket Books) Co-author *''Barton Springs Eternal, The Soul of a City'' (Softshoe Publishing) Co-editor *''Be a Clown!'' (Workman Books) *''Texas Monthly'' magazine, contributing editor

Writing work in television

*''

Night Court ''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 4, 1984, and ended on May 31, 1992, after nine seasons consisting of List of Night Court episodes, 193 episodes. The show is set in the night shift of a Manhattan ...

'' (1989) "Attack of the Mac Snacks" (1989) (TV) (co-writer) * Harry Anderson: ''The Tricks of His Trade'' (1996) (TV) (writer) *''

Farm Aid Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers. History On July 13, 1985, before performing "When The Ship Comes In" with Keith Richards and Ron Wood at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, B ...

: The Tenth Anniversary Concert'' (1995) (TV) (writer) *''Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade'' (2001) (TV) (writer) *''The World's Greatest Magic 5'' (1998) (TV) (writer) *''The Glenn Miller Band Reunion'' (1989) (TV) (writer) *''Going to California'' (Showtime) (TV) (writer)

Filmography

Turk Pipkin is most known as an actor for his work in the HBO series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'' and '' The Leftovers'' and in the feature films '' The Alamo'', '' Friday Night Lights'', '' Waiting for Guffman'' and

Richard Linklater Richard Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. In 2015, Linklater was included on the annual ''Time'' 100 li ...

's ''

A Scanner Darkly ''A Scanner Darkly'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, published in 1977. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994, and includes an extensive ...

''.

References

External links

*
TurkPipkin.com
*http://nobelity.org/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Pipkin, Turk Living people American male actors 1952 births