He was born in Ukraine and his family settled in Canada in 1950. He received his professional education as an actor and director at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts and his Motion Picture Production education at Columbia University.

After Harvest of Despair, he created a number of other documentaries on Ukrainian subjects: The Helm of Destiny manifests a sensitive study of Ukrainian immigration to the USA, while Reflections of the Past dealt with the first immigration to Canada.

Since 1993, Mr. Nowytski has been working as an International Television Broadcaster for Voice of America in Washington, D.C., where he lives and produces the Ukrainian-language weekly magazine-format program popular in Ukraine, Window on America.