As a young boy, award-winning artist Darieus Legg came to love the ocean. He grew up on a sailboat, eventually sailing to his new home on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. At the age of nine, Darieus saw his first surfer magazine and the images of surfers reminded him of the dolphins that had followed along his family’s boat. He felt inspired to become a surfer.

As time passed, Darieus realized he wasn’t cut out for competitive surfing and began to focus on making art. Eventually, he realized that whatever he was going to be doing needed to be less of “a means to an end” and more of “doing it for its own sake.” With this realization, what began to drive his work were both the pure love of creating and the opportunity to learn more about both making art and himself.

Always a sensitive child, Darieus could feel things that seemed really unusual. He tried to toughen up and hide these feelings as he got older but when he was fifteen and his parents divorced, the experience felt ‘life-shattering.’ Later into adulthood, Darieus realized these painful feelings he’d stuffed away were causing him great suffering. Both his work and relationships were suffering, too. It was at this time that Darieus heard about the Hoffman Process from two different sources. What he heard resonated with his experience enough that he enrolled. Darieus had already done many different modalities of deeply spiritual work but they’d mostly been rooted in a solitary practice. For Darieus, being in a community during his Process was deeply healing.

We hope you enjoy this animated, soulful conversation with Darieus and Liz.

Darieus Legg is an award-winning artist in five different disciplines of filmmaking. He creates live-action documentaries that use his hand-drawn 2D animations. His animated characters Uncle Wally and Aunty Mai play a vital role in educating the audience. As the featured artist in the 2023 Hawaiʻi International Film Festival, Darieus created the poster, key art, and trailer that plays before every film. His recent short film, Stoker Machine, serves as a proof of concept for asking people what makes them Stoked, and sharing the response through film and animation.

Darieus creates aspirational content that explores human ingenuity, creativity, and resilience. He’s directed and executively produced Telly and AAF Gold award-winning content. His work has covered feature film, live-action documentary, commercial, professional learning, and animation. Darieus is the featured artist at this year’s Hawaiʻi International Film Festival. This festival runs from Oct 12-22 on O‘ahu – through Nov 5 on neighboring islands, 

Half Persian and half Irish, Darieus Legg grew up on a sailboat and on the big island of Hawaiʻi. Under the tutelage of Shane Dorian, Darieus excelled in surfing and competed professionally until he transitioned from surfing full-time to filmmaking in his early twenties. Next, he spent a decade in Hollywood learning from the best storytellers in the world. Still an avid surfer, he loves learning about and being in the ocean. He also loves reading and the magic of the movies.

Find out more about Darieus through his website and follow him on Instagram.

Stoker Machine, Darieus’ film.

Professional Surfing:

Big Island Hawai’i – Island of Hawaiʻi

The Billabong House on the North Shore – tour with Shane Dorian

Dolphins:

United States Merchant Marine

Vietnam War

Persians of Iran

Minimalism (the ’80s)

John Grisham, Author

Illustration/Animation

New Age

Seth Speaks, by Jane Roberts

Firewalking on coals

TM – Transcendental Meditation

Ashtanga Yoga

Vipassana Meditation

Dzogchen

Tim Ferris podcast with Blake Mycoskie of TOMS shoes

Neil Strauss