Rich Roll

Rich Roll is a vegan ultra-endurance athlete, podcaster and full-time wellness and plant-based nutrition advocate. A graduate of Stanford University and Cornell Law School, he worked as an entertainment attorney before turning to this work. He is also a popular public speaker, a husband and a father of four.

At Stanford he competed as a butterfly swimmer in the late 1980s, but struggles with drugs and alcohol cut his career short and led him astray for about a decade. He went into rehab at age 31. Though sober, he found himself 50 pounds overweight. On the eve of his 40th birthday, a single flight of stairs left him buckled over in pain. The next day he overhauled his diet, became a dedicated vegan, put on his running shoes and got back in the pool.

Two years later he finished the Ultraman World Championships, a 3-day, 320-mile double-ironman-distance triathlon on the Big Island of Hawaii. He was reportedly the first vegan to complete it, and he finished in the top 10 males. He returned in 2009 and won the first day. In May 2010, with fellow athlete Jason Lester, he completed the EPIC5 Challenge: five ironman-distance triathlons on five Hawaiian islands in under a week. Men's Fitness named him one of the "25 Fittest Men in the World."

His memoir, Finding Ultra, became a #1 bestseller in 2012. He launched the Rich Roll Podcast in 2013, and it has regularly sat near the top of the iTunes charts. In 2014 he and his wife, Julie Piatt, published the cookbook and lifestyle guide The Plantpower Way. His latest book series is Voicing Change. Through talks, books and conversations on the podcast, he explores ultra-endurance, nutrition, mindfulness, psychology, relationships, parenting, leadership and spirituality.

He lives in Malibu Canyon outside Los Angeles with his wife and four children. When he isn't writing, podcasting or with his family, he can be found on the remote trails of the Santa Monica Mountains.