Shaun Monson

Shaun Monson is an American filmmaker who directed, wrote and produced arguably the most influential animal rights film of all time: Earthlings. He also directed, wrote and produced the follow-up to Earthlings, Unity, about humankind’s relationship to the planet and its other inhabitants. Monson was also a producer of the Australian animal rights film Dominion. In 2025, he directed How Not to Die, a documentary based on Dr Michael Greger’s best-selling book of the same name and in 2026, he revealed that he is working on a new documentary called Committed, featuring interviews with vegans Moby and Alan Cumming.  

Why Shaun Monson is vegan

Shaun Monson is vegan for the animals. 

Monson went vegan in the 1990s after watching Heart of Darkness, a documentary that showed pigs being slaughtered on film.¹Dent, E. 2018. Dominion: Q&A with Producer Shaun Monson! Available: https://janeunchained.com/2018/11/01/dominion-qa-with-producer-shaun-monson/ [Accessed 9 November 2021]. Since going vegan, Monsoon has utilised his talent as a filmmaker to give a voice to the voiceless and so all he can to promote veganism. 

“I made the film Earthlings because at the time, I was not aware of any film that tackled all of the issues involving human abuse of animals for economic purposes. With the movie Earthlings, I hoped to accomplish awareness of this exact issue. I am happy with the impact. It outdid what I had expected the film to do.”²allcreatures.org. 2015. UNITY – Interview with Shaun Monson. Available: https://www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-unity-interview.html [Accessed 9 November 2021].