Robert Irwin (conservationist)

Robert Clarence Irwin was born on 1 December 2003 in Buderim, Queensland. His father, Steve Irwin (1962–2006), was an Australian conservationist best known for his wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter (1996–2004). Steve owned and operated Australia Zoo with his wife Terri Irwin (; born 1964), an American naturalist from Eugene, Oregon. Irwin was named after his paternal and maternal grandfathers, Bob Irwin and Clarence Raines. He has an older sister, Bindi, who is also a conservationist and television personality. The siblings are dual citizens of Australia and the United States, and are of English, Irish, and Swedish descent. Irwin was blessed by Tibetan Buddhist nuns during a ceremony held by his parents at Australia Zoo one month after he was born. Moments later, his father carried him in his arm while hand feeding a chicken carcass to a saltwater crocodile, named Murray. Irwin was close to the reptile, which sparked international media outrage and brought comparisons to the singer Michael Jackson dangling his son outside of a hotel window one year prior. The incident prompted the Queensland Government to change its crocodile handling laws, banning children and untrained adults from entering crocodile enclosures. Special dispensation, however, was granted to a child who met a very strict set of guidelines and training requirements. He was homeschooled at Australia Zoo for his entire education, allowing flexibility for his wildlife and media commitments. Irwin developed an interest in photography partly through his father; he found it to be an "individual" way of continuing his work. He started taking photographs when he was six years old using a point-and-shoot camera and later received his first DSLR, the Canon EOS 700D. He graduated high school with two TAFE certificates when he was fifteen years old. == Career ==

2004–2013: Early beginnings Irwin made his television debut during his parents' appearance on the interview program Enough Rope with Andrew Denton on 22 March 2004. He made two appearances on his sister's television series Bindi the Jungle Girl (2007–2008), and had an uncredited cameo role in the family film ''Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove''. At the age of eight, following extensive training, Irwin was allowed to feed alligators and freshwater crocodiles for the first time under expert supervision. In March 2013, Irwin earned his first Logie Award nomination for Most Popular New Male Talent for his role on the Network 10 program ''Steve Irwin's Wildlife Warriors''. He also released a series of children's books titled Dinosaur Hunter, which he provided illustrations and co-authored with Lachlan Creag and Jack Wells. Irwin was involved in a six-year campaign, led by his mother, to prevent bauxite strip mining at the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on the Cape York Peninsula. The Queensland Government passed legislation to protect the reserve from mining in November. 2014–2017: Rise to prominence On his tenth birthday, Irwin fed his first large saltwater crocodile, named Monty, at the Australia Zoo's Crocoseum. He was supervised and assisted by Wes Mannion, the zoo's director and his late father's best friend. The program was nominated for Best Kids: Factual at the 5th International Emmy Kids Awards. Irwin made a guest appearance on the second season of the British documentary series Ten Deadliest Snakes with Nigel Marven. He was named the junior runner-up of Australian Geographics 2016 Nature Photography of the Year competition for his image of a large male saltwater crocodile resting on a riverbank in Northern Queensland. Beginning in February 2017, Irwin made regular appearances on the NBC late-night program The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He made eleven appearances on the show in a span of two years and found success with American television viewers by presenting various animals to host Jimmy Fallon and comedian Kevin Hart. Irwin was invested as a member and ambassador of Scouts Australia on 6 April 2017, formalising a partnership between the organisation and Australia Zoo that aimed to encourage Australian youth to get involved with wilderness and conservation. Irwin was a junior finalist for Australian Geographics 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year competition. His image of a young spotted python slithering in the bushland of the Cape York Peninsula was exhibited at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide and the Australian Museum in Sydney. He was named a junior finalist for Australian Geographics 2018 Nature Photographer of the Year competition with his image of a sunset at the Great Dividing Range. In October, Irwin started running Australia Zoo's daily crocodile feeding demonstrations; a job previously held by his father. He also starred in and co-produced the Animal Planet television program ''Crikey! It's the Irwins alongside his mother and sister. The series, like The Crocodile Hunter'' franchise, followed the family and their work at Australia Zoo across four seasons. His image of a huntsman spider in mid-air while clutching a dead frog was highly commended in the youth category at the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards. Two of Irwin's photographs, featuring an Eurasian dotterel and an emu, were commended in the youth category at the 2019 BirdLife Australia Photography Awards. He was named a junior finalist for Australian Geographics 2019 Nature Photographer of the Year competition with his image of a bearded dragon camouflaging on a log in Blackbutt, Queensland. Two of his photographs were highly honoured at the 2019 ''Nature's Best'' Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards; one image featured one of the last known northern white rhinoceroses in the world at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The Queensland Tourism Industry Council declared Irwin their Young Achiever of the Year, in recognition of his contributions to "the development of a vibrant and professional tourism industry." 2020–2024: ''I'm a Celebrity!'' In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Annastacia Palaszczuk, the premier of Queensland, recruited Irwin for a domestic tourism campaign encouraging Australians to spend their holiday at the state. He was named the junior runner-up for Australian Geographics 2020 Nature Photographer of the Year competition with his close-up image of an Australian scrub python. Irwin won the People's Choice Award at the 2020 Wildlife Photography of the Year Awards for capturing a large bushfire burning near the border of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve during Australia's Black Summer. The image was exhibited at the Natural History Museum in London. Irwin made a guest appearance on the animated television series Bluey in February 2021 as a dingo retail clerk named Alfie. While filming for the fourth and final season of ''Crikey! It's the Irwins, Irwin had to make an emergency escape from a crocodile enclosure after a , saltwater crocodile, named Casper, ignored the food Irwin was offering him and instead made a beeline for Irwin himself. He managed to scale the enclosure walls just in time and avoided injury. He published his first photo book, Robert Irwin's Australia'', in October; all proceeds were directed towards wildlife conservation. In October 2023, Irwin replaced veterinarian Chris Brown as the co-host of the Network 10 television program ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, hosting alongside comedian Julia Morris. He agreed to host under the condition that the series stopped using wildlife products. Two months later, he was honoured by GQ Australia as their Social Force of the Year. For his inaugural season of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Irwin was nominated for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television and the Bert Newton Award for Most Popular Presenter at the Logie Awards of 2024. He was also recognised by Mediaweek'' as a rising star in Australia's advertising, media and marketing industries. In September, he and South African actress Nomzamo Mbatha were named the first two global ambassadors for the Earthshot Prize, launched by William, Prince of Wales and David Attenborough. 2025–present: Dancing with the Stars At the 14th AACTA Awards in February 2025, Irwin won Favourite Australian Media Personality. By the following month, he assumed a managerial role at Australia Zoo and was named to the board of directors of its non-profit organisation Wildlife Warriors. Irwin starred in the second chapter of Tourism Australia's ''Come and Say G'day'' campaign, which launched in key international markets in August. It amassed over 374 million views worldwide and was effective in drawing positive interest from potential tourists. On Dancing with the Stars, Irwin was partnered with professional dancer Witney Carson; he later competed in a jive relay with actress Xochitl Gomez. Their foxtrot routine to "Footprints in the Sand" by Leona Lewis made them the first individual couple of the season to earn a perfect score. Despite Irwin suffering a rib cage injury prior to the finale, the couple won the competition on 25 November 2025. Irwin is the first Australian male contestant to win the series and, at age 21, is the youngest male winner so far. Additionally, as his sister won the twenty-first season with professional dancer Derek Hough, they became the first celebrity sibling duo to be crowned champions. ;Notes Irwin made his feature film debut as a koala airport receptionist in the buddy cop animated film Zootopia 2. He won Favourite Australian Media Personality for a second time at the 15th AACTA Awards in February 2026. During Laneway Festival in Perth, he made a surprise appearance during singer-songwriter Role Model's performance of his single "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out". Irwin hosted the spin-off television program Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, which will premiere in July 2026. == Public image ==

in 2022|upright Irwin spent his entire life in the public eye due to his parents' celebrity status, which he admitted felt "weird". From a young age, media outlets noticed that Irwin bore an uncanny resemblance in physical appearance, personality, and mannerisms to his late father. The press began commenting on Irwin's sex appeal and labelled him as a sex symbol when he transitioned into adulthood. Although he disagreed with the label, he embraced it as a way of further promoting environmentalism. Dean Blake of Man of Many wrote that Irwin's charisma, effervescence, and comfortability in front of a camera allowed him to be "one of the most genuine and authentic voices in wildlife conservation." Ashley Spencer for The New York Times complimented the way Irwin embraced his emotional vulnerability, noting that he "makes no attempt to appear cool or aloof. He often throws his head back in full-throated laughter, and he gleefully celebrates everyone around him." The Australians Jenna Clarke echoed her sentiments and opined that he should be used as a yardstick for modern masculinity. Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald agreed, writing that his experience offered "an extremely positive story in an otherwise overwhelmingly negative news cycle." Irwin is regarded as an influential figure in Australian popular culture. Mediaweek declared him the third-most influential Australian across social media platforms in 2023. Scientists with the Queensland Museum named a species of garden banded snails they discovered after him. At age 20, Irwin became the youngest Australian to be immortalised with a wax figure by Madame Tussauds Sydney. He is the third man in modern times to appear solo on the cover of ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', joining actor Hugh Jackman and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Irwin partnered with the National Football League to promote their International Series. He was named a global ambassador for Columbia Sportswear, and starred in advertising campaigns for brands such as HelloFresh, Twisties and Uber Eats. His underwear campaign for Bonds generated over US$80 million in earned media value. == Personal life ==

Although he is "disarmingly friendly and welcoming" to the press, Irwin prefers to keep his personal life out of the public eye. He is a LGBTQ ally and encouraged men to advocate for women's health. Irwin resides on the private grounds of Australia Zoo with his family. He considers himself to be a spiritual person, and found the most solace in nature. Irwin spoke about his mental health struggles such as anxiety, complicated grief, and imposter syndrome. He believed it was important for those who were as "chronically positive" as him to prioritise their psychological well-being. He also enjoys artistic pursuits like cooking, creating landscape paintings and visual art, playing the guitar and singing. == Filmography ==

Film Television == Accolades ==