Eric Goode

In 2020, Netflix premiered Tiger King, a seven-episode docuseries directed and produced by Eric Goode about people who own and breed lions, tigers, and other big cats. The show quickly became one of the most watched shows on the Netflix platform.

Goode was recognized by the wildlife community for his efforts, with a tortoise named after him in 2016. The Goode's Thornscrub Tortoise (Gopherus evgoodei) is a desert species from Northern Mexico described by a team of American and Mexican biologists.

In 2013 Abrams published a 360-page coffee table book on the seminal nightclub AREA, authored by Eric and Jennifer Goode. Drawing from a rich archive of material, Eric and Jennifer tell the behind-the-scenes story of the club and its people, creating an illustrated memoir of an exciting time and place in the history of New York nightlife. To accompany the launch of the book Eric collaborated with Jeffrey Deitch to curate an exhibition at The Hole gallery. The show consisted of original installations as well as pieces from many of the artists that participated or were influenced by the club.

Goode has been a lifelong conservationist and animal lover, establishing a non-profit global conservation organization, the Turtle Conservancy, in 2005. The Turtle Conservancy’s mission is to protect threatened and endangered turtles and tortoises by protecting habitat and selective captive breeding, and it has protected over 65,000 acres of wild land in Mexico, South Africa, and Southeast Asia.

After a career in the hospitality business, Goode shifted his focus to wildlife philanthropy after being approached by John Behler of the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2003. Goode first created a rescue and breeding center for endangered turtles and tortoises under Behler's guidance. In 2005, Goode formed his own public charity the Turtle Conservancy. The mission of the Turtle Conservancy is to protect threatened turtles and tortoises and their habitats worldwide. Goode's conservation philosophy centers around turtles as umbrella species, whereby thousands of species are saved by protecting land for turtles and tortoises.

In the early to mid-1990s, he directed several music videos for bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Robbie Robertson. He and Serge Becker earned a music video production award for their work on "Pinion".

In 1983, Goode formed the nightclub Area. Area was known for its constantly changing themes and collaboration with artists of the time (Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and others). Area was Goode's first business venture where he merged art into the context of a nightclub.

Eric began his career as an artist, educated at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and Parsons School of Design. Much of his early work was displayed in group shows with other upcoming artists of the day, the earliest in 1981 which was curated by Keith Haring. He continued to make and show his art throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s.

The Turtle Conservancy has purchased a significant portion (over 60,000 acres) of the last remaining habitat of the Bolson Tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus). The largest of the North American terrestrial reptiles, this tortoise has been known to science only since 1959.

Eric V. Goode (born December 19, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, conservationist, and filmmaker. He is known as the creator of the art nightclub Area, the Bowery Hotel and the Waverly Inn. He is also known as the founder of the Turtle Conservancy.

Born in Rhode Island in 1957 and raised in New York until the age of 8, Eric V. Goode relocated with his family to California. He is the second of five children born to Marilyn Goode, a naturalist and conservationist, and Fredrick Goode, a painter and teacher. He has lived in New York City since 1977.