Reno

Bob Wilkins was a television personality born as Robert Gene Wilkins in the town of Hammond, Indiana. Wilkins was best known as the creator and host... of a popular television show named Creature Features that ran on KTVU in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1971 to 1984, and which premiered with Del Tenney's infamous The Horror of Party Beach. The programming on Creature Features featured science fiction and horror film; everything from the classics, such as The Bride of Frankenstein to turgid turkeys like The Vulture. More often than not, the films were good, and sometimes the show hit benchmarks: George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead had its world television premiere on the show, just a couple of years after its original theatrical release. Wilkins' style of wit was very dry, and fit very well with some of the "schlockers" he was forced to air, which was a big part of his appeal to his fans . As host of the show, his droll humor and onmnipresent cigar became his trademarks. Wilkins started his on-camera television career in 1963 at KCRA Channel 3 in Sacramento.
more

Bryce Johnson is an American actor. Johnson was raised in Reno, Nevada before moving to Denver, Colorado at 5 with his newly divorced mother along... with his two brothers where he graduated from high school in 1995. Afterwards, the family relocated to Sioux City, Iowa where Bryce attended acting classes at the local community college before deciding to embark on his acting career. He headed for Hollywood at 19 after his mother encouraged him not to join the navy. While working odd-jobs to pay the bills he searched around looking for auditions and enrolled at Pasadena's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was receiving minor work until his big break came in 1999 when he was cast as Josh Ford in The WB's Popular. Also in that year he was part of the cast of MTV series Undressed. After the show ended in 2001, he continued on the platform of more teen-oriented projects with minor guest roles on Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls and other teenage shows. By the time he approached his mid 20s, he said he wanted to branch into more adult and challenging roles trying to stay clear of the teen genre.
more

Chris Jones, was an American musician and composer. He was born in Reno, Nevada, but lived in Germany ever since he had joined the U.S. Army for... three years. Jones was born in Reno, Nevada. At the age of five, he began playing the guitar. A few years later, he decided to become a professional musician and when he was 11 years old, he got admitted to a program at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland. There he discovered the idol of his younger years, Johann Sebastian Bach, to whom he dedicated his Sonata in D. For this sonata, Jones was awarded the conservatory's Young Composer of the Year award. Shortly thereafter, he discovered the blues and started listening to Robert Johnson, James Taylor and Little Feat. In 1976, Jones joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Adenine's, Germany. During this time, the foundation for his musical career in Europe was laid. Over the following decades, he played guitar on albums of artists such as Sara K., Allan Taylor and Reinhard Mey. He also toured and recorded solo and with the blues harmonica musician Steve Baker.
more

Gina Joy Carano is an American actress, television personality, fitness model and mixed martial arts fighter. Carano appeared as Crush, a Gladiator... on American Gladiators. She has been referred to as the "Face of Women's MMA." Carano was formerly the third best 145 lb female fighter in the world, according to the Unified Women's MMA Rankings. Carano was born in Dallas County, Texas, the middle daughter of Dana Joy and Glenn Thomas Carano. She has two sisters. Carano has said that she has a "small percentage" of Italian ancestry. Her father played for the Dallas Cowboys as a backup quarterback from 1977–1983 and for the USFL Pittsburgh Maulers as a starter in 1984, their only year of operations. She graduated from Trinity Christian High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she led the girls basketball team to a state title. She also played volleyball and softball. She attended the University of Nevada, Reno for a year and then University of Nevada, Las Vegas for three, where she majored in psychology. Carano started her career in the sport of Muay Thai. Gina's ex-boyfriend Kevin Ross, a pro Muay Thai fighter, got her involved in Muay Thai.
more

Dawn Elberta Wells is an American actress known for playing Mary Ann Summers on the sitcom Gilligan's Island during its run from 1964 until 1967.... Wells was born in Reno, Nevada, where she attended Reno High School. She later attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she majored in chemistry. She transferred to the University of Washington in Seattle, where she graduated in 1960 with a degree in theater arts. She was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. In 1959, Wells was crowned Miss Nevada and represented her state in the 1960 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After moving to Hollywood, she began appearing in guest roles in such television series as 77 Sunset Strip, The Cheyenne Show on ABC, Maverick on ABC, and Bonanza on NBC, before taking on the role of Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. She reprised her character in the various Gilligan's Island reunion specials, including three reunion movies Rescue from Gilligan's Island, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.
more

Mädchen Amick is an American actress best known for playing Shelly Johnson on the cult television series Twin Peaks and its 1992 prequel film... Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Amick was born in Reno, Nevada, the daughter of Judy, a medical office manager, and Bill Amick, a musician. Amick's parents are German; the name Mädchen , which means "girl" or "maiden" in German, was chosen by her parents because they wanted an unusual name. As a young girl, Amick was encouraged by her parents to follow her creative instincts. She learned to play the piano, bass, violin and guitar and took lessons in tap, ballet, jazz and modern dance. In 1987, at the age of 16, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. After moving to L.A., Amick appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as in The Borrower . Amick got her first break when director David Lynch chose her to play waitress Shelly Johnson on the TV series Twin Peaks.
more

Julia Mancuso is a World Cup alpine ski racer with the U.S. Ski Team. Born in in Reno, Nevada, she was the gold medalist in the giant slalom at the... 2006 Winter Olympics and the silver medalist in both downhill and combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She has also won four medals at the World Championships and seven races in regular World Cup competition. Her three Olympic medals are the most ever for a female American alpine skier. Mancuso made her World Cup debut at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on November 20, 1999, at the age of 15. She scored her first World Cup points during the 2001 season. While she often struggled in World Cup races over the next few seasons, she enjoyed exceptional success at the Junior World Championships, winning a record eight medals, including five golds in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Her World Cup results improved dramatically during the 2005 season, as she climbed to ninth place overall from 55th place in 2004. At the 2005 World Championships, she won bronze medals in both the super G and the giant slalom competitions.
more

Norman Keith Collins was a prominent American tattoo artist, known very well for his tattooing of sailors, he was also known as "Sailor Jerry".... Collins was born on January 14, 1911 in Northern California. As a child he hopped freight trains across the country and learned tattooing from a man named "Big Mike" from Palmer, Alaska. Practicing on drifters, he later sailed the Pacific Ocean before settling in Hawaii. A big brute with a dirty mouth, he often wore plain white T-shirts that exposed his ink-sleeved arms. Mike Malone, who took over Sailor Jerry's shop after he died, described Jerry as "a class-A pirate". At age 19 Collins enlisted in the United States Navy. During his subsequent travels at sea he was exposed to the art and imagery of Southeast Asia. He remained a sailor for his entire life thereafter. Even during his career as a tattoo artist he worked as a licensed skipper of a large three-masted schooner, on which he conducted tours of the Hawaiian islands. Sailing and tattooing were only two of his professional endeavours.
more

Chase Ellison is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in Mysterious Skin and Tooth Fairy. Ellison was born in Reno, Nevada, and lives... with his parents and two siblings in San Diego. He began his acting career at the age of six, working in commercials and modeling for several print campaigns. He segued into television, landing a guest star role on Family Law, then on Boomtown, Malcolm in the Middle, 7th Heaven, Providence, The Division. He played a supporting role in George Bamber's The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, which then led to a major supporting role in Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin, a guest role in an episode of Six Feet Under, and a semi regular role as Noah Newman, the son of Nicholas Newman and Sharon Newman on soap opera The Young and the Restless in 2005. His role in Mysterious Skin was as the 8-year-old version of the character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the film's leads. In this film, he plays one of two boys who are groomed into a sexual relationship by a Little League baseball coach.
more

Kristoffer Caleb "Kris" Polaha is an American film and television actor best known for his roles as Jason Matthews in Fox TV series North Shore,... Nathaniel "Baze" Bazile on the CW series Life Unexpected and Henry Butler on the The CW series Ringer. Polaha starred on ABC's mid-season replacement series, Miss Guided, and appeared in the Fox Network television series Tru Calling. Until it was cancelled, he played Nate Bazile, a bar owner who discovers he has a teenage daughter, on the series Life Unexpected, during its two season run. BuddyTV ranked him #8 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Men of 2010" list and #34 in 2011. He played the role of Henry Butler on the CW series Ringer until the series cancellation in 2012. Polaha has been married to actress Julianne Morris since June 7, 2003. They have three sons, Kristoffer Caleb Polaha, Jr.
more