Ted Danson Shares How He’s Used His ‘Celebrity’ to Help Promote His Ocean Conservation Work (Exclusive)

Though many know Ted Danson, 76, for his roles on Cheers and The Good Place, off camera, the actor has been working for more than two decades to help save the world’s oceans. 

His pull to conservation work dates back to his childhood, he tells PEOPLE exclusively, as he “grew up around scientists,” including his father who was an anthropologist, archeologist and museum director. 

“Even though I do not have the scientist brain, I was brought up with the thought that this time that we're here is not just about you,” he says. “It's about what's come before you and what's going to come after you and your job is to be a good steward of what you've been given.”

Danson put these feelings into action while on Cheers, he remembers, after meeting an environmental lawyer, Robert Sulnick. The two fought to stop oil drilling in Santa Monica Bay and in 1987, Danson helped to start the American Oceans Campaign that would later become Oceana — a leading international ocean advocacy organization where the actor now serves as a board member. 

He calls his decision to use his platform as an actor to help the cause as “kind of a defensive move.”

“I was lucky enough to early on realize all the energy that comes at you when you are — for lack of a better word — a celebrity, can spin you out if you just absorb it,” he says, explaining that meeting Sulnick helped him to focus that energy. 

“I realized that my job as a celebrity, you do attract the microphone in the press and all of that and just attention in general,” he says.  “And I learned that if I metaphorically stood in front of the tent and said, ‘Thank you so much for watching Cheers, but please come in I want to introduce you to this marine biologist, there's something very important to tell you.’”

He continues, “I realized you can use that energy as long as you're not claiming to be the expert, but you point people in the direction of experts and organizations that are doing amazing work. And I've been blessed to absorb as much as this brain of mine can along the way from all these amazing scientists and campaigners.”

On Saturday Aug. 17, Danson will host Oceana’s 17th annual SeaChange Summer party which has raised nearly $20 million over the years to support the organization's work. Other special guests, including the night's performer Lisa Loeb, are expected at the Laguna Beach event.

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After more than 20 years of working with Oceana, Danson says he has no plans of slowing down. 

Of the organization’s work and his part in it, he says, “It's just such a pleasure, and it's so effective that I don't think I'll ever leave."