He left Cape Breton Island at age 16, completing his schooling at the Pearson United World College of the Pacific, to which he won a CA$30,000 scholarship.

He then studied economics and biology at Queen's University in Ontario, working as a college counsellor to supplement his income.

[8] He is the co-creator of the Earth Hour initiative, one of the largest environmental movements in history, reaching more than 1.4 billion people in more than 5,500 cities.

[citation needed] Sampson also acted a small part as Provost in the Oscar-nominated feature film Lion.

The documentary explored the crisis of body image dissatisfaction in society and the manipulative trillion-dollar industry that profits from it.

[16] Sampson has lived in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs since arriving in Australia and renovated a house in Vaucluse in 2020.

[citation needed] An art piece by Michelle St Anne called I Love Todd Sampson – Voices of the Vulnerable was performed at Walsh Bay in February and March 2013.