Jimmy was a NOLS instructor 1998-1999. He is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, National Geographic photographer, and professional mountain sports athlete. He has led or participated in cutting edge expeditions around the world for over 20 years. He has climbed and skied Mount Everest from the summit and made the coveted first ascent of the Shark's Fin on Mount Meru. His photographs have graced the covers of National Geographic Magazine and the New York Times Magazine.

Jimmy produces and directs with his wife, Chai Vasarhelyi. Their film Meru won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015 and was on the 2016 Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature. Their next film “Free Solo,” an intimate, unflinching portrait of rock climber Alex Honnold won 7 Emmys, a BAFTA, and the Academy® Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2019. Chin and Chai's 2021 documentary, the Emmy-winning film The Rescue, chronicles the Tham Luang cave rescue and was also shortlisted for an Academy Award that year. In 2022, they released their documentary Return to Space about Elon Musk and SpaceX. Their first scripted feature Nyad, about Diana Nyad's historic swim from Cuba to Florida, premiered in 2023 and garnered Academy® Award, Golden Globe, and SAG nominations, for both stars Jodie Foster and Annette Bening. Jimmy’s most recent documentary, Endurance, tells the story of Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic expedition in the 1910's and the 2022 rediscovery of his ship, which had sunk to the bottom of the Weddell Sea, by the Endurance22 mission.

Jimmy splits his time between New York City and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with Chai, their daughter, Marina, and son, James.