UToledo Alumnus Randy Thomas ’19 Stars in Netflix’s All the Sharks
By Anastasia Ortiz
“I went from watching Discovery to being on Discovery,” Thomas said. “That’s when everything came full circle.”
Randy Thomas ’19, a Detroit native and former Rocket football player, stars in Netflix’s hit competition series All the Sharks, which follows four teams of shark experts and enthusiasts as they travel the globe to locate the ocean’s most elusive species.
Thomas’s path to international television began at The University of Toledo, where he balanced athletics and academics before finding his true calling underwater.
He discovered his passion for field research during a lab on the Ottawa River with Dr. Todd Crail, associate professor of environmental sciences.
“We were sampling fish, and I didn’t even think fish could live in that river,” Thomas recalled. “But they were some of the most beautiful, colorful fish I’d ever seen. That’s when I knew I needed to be in the field, hands-on.”
“Being a Rocket means courage,” he said. “It’s about taking off. Sometimes you soar, sometimes you stumble but the point is, you lift off.”
Randy Thomas ’19
Encouraged by mentors, he shifted his focus as an undergraduate researcher, Thomas studied the effects of oil spills on turtle populations and helped design a “pain scale” for injured turtles, a practical innovation for assessing shell damage.
A Global Career Takes Shape
After earning his degree in environmental sciences, Thomas participated in UToledo’s Camp Adventure program (now Rocket Kids), teaching water safety and environmental education to children in Japan and the Middle East.
Later, as a marine science instructor in the Florida Keys, Thomas deepened his connection to ocean ecology, a move that led to an audition for Discovery’s “Shark Week” and, eventually, to Netflix.
Making a Splash on Netflix
In 2024, a producer familiar with Thomas’s conservation work contacted him about a new competition series that would combine exploration, science and education. The result was All the Sharks, described by Netflix as:
“Four teams of shark experts and enthusiasts travel the globe trying to find the most elusive shark species in this fin-tastic reality competition.”
Filmed across the Maldives, Australia, South Africa, and the Galápagos, the series challenges teams to photograph and document rare sharks, with each discovery earning points. The winning team receives $50,000 for a marine conservation charity.
Thomas competes as one half of the “Land Sharks,” pairing his field expertise with a mission to reshape how audiences view sharks.
“It made scientific research fun,” he said. “We showed people that sharks aren’t these menacing creatures; most are under three feet long and completely harmless. We wanted people to see how intelligent and diverse they really are.”
Anchored by His Rocket Roots
Despite a career that’s taken him from the Maumee River to the world’s oceans, Thomas remains connected to the mentors who helped launch his journey, including Dr. John Bossenbroek, Dr. Crail, Dr. Refsnider, and Dr. Sammy Spann, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.
“Toledo prepared me for life,” Thomas said. “It taught me resilience, how to adapt and how to keep moving forward.”
Now working as a biologist with the U.S. Air Force in California, Thomas protects endangered species such as the desert tortoise, affectionately calling it “the Bob the Builder of the desert” and continues to advocate for wildlife conservation.
He also leads The Adventures of 5K, his personal brand focused on “Faith, Family, Focus, Fitness and Freedom through Knowledge”, creating wildlife films and outreach projects that encourage others to explore beyond their comfort zones.
“Being a Rocket means courage,” he said. “It’s about taking off. Sometimes you soar, sometimes you stumble but the point is, you lift off.”
