Hunter Ellis (born July 5, 1968 in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

military veteran and television personality. A former naval aviator, he was first noted for his participation on ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: Actual survivors * *Last survivors of historical events Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Found ...

'' before going on to host several television shows for the History Channel, including ''

Tactical to Practical ''Tactical to Practical with Hunter Ellis'' is a program that ran from 2003 to 2005 on The History Channel. Each episode documents ways in which technologies utilized by the civilian public were originally developed to serve military purposes. T ...

''; ''

Man, Moment, Machine ''Man, Moment, Machine'' is a television series which aired on The History Channel and was hosted by Hunter Ellis. It documented an important event in history and went into detail about, as the title suggests, the man and his background, the mach ...

''; and ''

Digging for the Truth ''Digging for the Truth'' is a History Channel television series that ran from 2005 to 2007. The first three seasons of the show focused on host Josh Bernstein, who journeyed on various explorations of historical icons and mysteries. Bernstein is ...

'', before hosting

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

'' In Harm's Way''. He is the current spokesperson for Atomic Beam flashlight.

Background

Part of a family with a strong tradition in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, Ellis is the grandson of

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

and Vice Admiral

Donald D. Engen Donald Davenport Engen (May 28, 1924 – July 13, 1999) was a United States Navy vice admiral, former Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and former Director of the National Air and Space Museum. Education Engen gradu ...

. He graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, before entering the Navy as a commissioned officer and being designated as a Naval Aviator following completion of flight training. Ellis graduated first in his flight training class and, during his ten-year military service, he amassed 433 carrier landings and more than two thousand hours of flight time in the

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...

. After resigning his commission, Ellis worked for a time as a pilot for

FedEx Corporation FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

Personal life

Ellis is a member of the

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

. He currently resides in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, with his wife and two children.

Career

Ellis was a participant in the reality TV program '' Survivor: Marquesas'', which was filmed in 2001 and aired in 2002. A member of the Maraamu tribe, Ellis was the third contestant voted off the show. Subsequently, Ellis became the host of several nationally televised programs. The first of these was ''

'' (also known as ''Tactical to Practical With Hunter Ellis''), which aired on The History Channel as a program that took a historical look at the development of common consumer electronic products which originated as military research projects. It lasted for three seasons, with 38 episodes airing in 2003-04. In 2004, he began co-hosting ''9 on the Town'', a half-hour program airing five days a week on

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...

(channel 9), an

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In 2005, he began hosting another show on The History Channel, called ''

''. Episodes of this show focus on the historical consequences of the momentary interaction between a particular individual and a specific technology. In 2007, Ellis became the host of ''

'', and in 2008 became host of '' In Harm's Way''. Ellis was a news anchor for KEYE-TV news in

from 2011 until he left in 2014 to focus full-time on documentaries.

Filmography

*''

'' (3 episodes, 2002) *''

'' (2003) (TV) *''9 on the Town'' (2004) (TV) *''Test Drive'' (1 episode, 2005) (TV) *''

'' (13 episodes, 2005–2007) *''Extreme Yachts'' (2006) (TV) *''

'' (8 episodes, 2007) *'' In Harm's Way'' (2008) (TV) *''A Grail of Two Idiots'' (2012) (short) *''Misirlou'' (2013)

Awards and recognition

In 2003, Ellis received an

Emmy nomination The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for hosting ''Countdown to Survivor: The Amazon'' for

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

, and in 2006 he received a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for hosting ''Hola! Survivor: Guatemala'', also for KCBS. In an article published on December 1, 2003, ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' magazine named him one of the 20 sexiest men on

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

References

External links

*
Hunter Ellis biography
at for '' Survivor: Marquesas'' at CBS.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Hunter 1968 births Living people United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators University of Southern California people Aviators from Virginia Male actors from Alexandria, Virginia American political scientists Male actors from Austin, Texas Survivor (American TV series) contestants