Geri Murphy

:: Geri Murphy - Arts - 2001

Geri Murphy is a prolific photojournalist with an impressive record of more than 1,000 published articles, photos and books. Beginning in 1977, Skin Diver Magazine published 170 of Geri’s cover shots and hundreds of her articles and photos. Geri has also done cover shots for: Aquarium, Texas Flyer, Sub-Aqua, Photographic and Sport Diver magazine. Geri has written more than 855 travel features, product reports and adventure articles.

As part of her quest for diving excellence, Murphy has spent the last 25 years touring and diving the magnificent islands of Micronesia. She is one of the few divers to have visited all ten island destinations in the Continental air route network. She has authored more than 75 articles and dive guides on the islands and dive sites of Micronesia. Today, she is regarded as one of the top authorities on diving this region of the Pacific.

Murphy launched her diving career in 1968, diving the shipwrecks off the New Jersey coast. In 1969 she became a certified scuba instructor with credentials from three national agencies: PADI, NAUI and YMCA. In the early 1970s she began making frequent dive trips to the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire where she became employed as the first female scuba instructor.

She eventually took over management of the photo lab and became the resort's underwater photographic technician.

In 1973, Murphy joined the production company for Cornell Wilde's theater release movie, Shark’s Treasure. She continued her Hollywood career in 1976, devoting six months to the filming of Columbia Pictures movie epic, The Deep. Working underwater at three separate locations in the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Australia, Murphy served as Underwater Script Supervisor for the movie production, as well as Safety Diver for both Nick Nolte and Jackie Bissett.

After THE DEEP, Murphy moved to Los Angeles where she worked as an underwater stuntwoman in scenes for television network shows such as SWITCH and MAN FROM ATLANTIS - eventually earning her SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card.

In 2001, Murphy was inducted into the Woman's Hall of Fame at ceremonies held at Beneath The Sea in Secaucus, New Jersey. At the 2002 DEMA Gala Industry Dinner, Murphy received the NOGI Award for Arts.