Apolo Ohno

Apolo Ohno Headshot

Actor • Olympian • Game Show Host

Birth Date: May 22, 1982

Age: 41 years old

Birth Place: Seattle, Washington

Apolo Ohno is a gold medal-winning Olympian, reality TV contestant, game show host, and ubiquitous spokesperson, who became the face of short track speed skating with his 2002 gold medal win at the Winter Olympics in Salt Late City. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Ohno's parents divorced when he was an infant. He was raised primarily by his Japanese-born father, who was also the owner of a successful hair salon in Seattle. Since his father was working all the time, he decided to enroll his son in swimming and speed skating classes, thus giving 6-year-old Apolo something to do after school. Ohno quickly excelled at both sports, but eventually dropped swimming to focus solely on speed skating. In 1996, when he was 13, Ohno began training as a short track speed skater. The following year he made history by becoming the youngest U.S. National Champion in the sport, thus putting him on a fast track to Olympic stardom. Ohno made his Winter Olympics debut in 2002 at Salt Lake City. He quickly became 2002's breakout star, earning a silver medal, while becoming the face of the sport. In lieu of his gold medal win, Ohno landed numerous lucrative sponsorship deals with various high profile brands. Ohno would go on to compete in two more Winter Olympics, 2006 in Turin and 2010 in Vancouver, before retiring from short track speed skating in 2013. At the time of his retirement Ohno had racked up two gold medals, two silver and four bronze, making him one of the most decorated athletes in Winter Olympics history. In addition to his success as an Olympic athlete, Ohno has also had a prominent second career act as a reality TV star. He won the popular reality competition show "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ) in 2007, and also hosted the game show "Minute to Win It" (GSN, 2013-14) in 2013. Furthermore, since his retirement from short track speed skating, Ohno worked tirelessly as a motivational speaker and philanthropist, promoting important causes like fighting the spread of AIDS in Africa, among others. In addition to his sponsorships, reality TV work, and numerous charitable activities, Ohno also occasionally acted on TV shows. He appeared in the 2013 TV movie "Tasmanian Devils" (2013) and also landed a guest spot on the NBC sitcom "Superstore" (NBC, 2015- ).

Credits

On Thin Ice

Self
Movie
2021

The Weight of Gold

Actor
Show
2020

The Great American Groom-A-Long

Guest
Show
2020

Tamron Hall

Guest
Talk
2019

On Thin Ice

Actor
Show
2019

Daily Blast Live

Guest
Show
2017

Gold Medal Families

Executive Producer
Show
2016

Gold Medal Families

Narrator
Show
2016

The $100,000 PyramidStream

Guest
Game Show
2016

Spartan: Ultimate Team ChallengeStream

Host
Reality
2016

SuperstoreStream

Guest Star
Apolo Anton Ohno
Series
2015
93%

Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris

Correspondent
Series
2015

Hollywood Today Live

Guest
Show
2014

Beat Bobby FlayStream

Guest Star
Reality
2014

Winter Gold: NBC's First Look at the Sochi Olympics

Host
Show
2014

XXII Winter Olympics: Extras

Actor
Show
2013

Hollywood Game Night

Guest
Game Show
2013

Minute to Win It

Host
Show
2013

Minute to Win It: Sneak Peek

Host
Show
2013

Tasmanian Devils

Actor
Stone
Movie
2013

Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars

Contestant
Show
2012

Men at WorkStream

Guest Star
Series
2012

I Get That a Lot

Actor
Show
2012

LIVE with Kelly

Host
Talk
2011

CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute

Guest Star
Show
2010

The Talk

Guest
Talk
2010

Hawaii Five-0Stream

Guest Star
Series
2010

Access Hollywood Live

Guest
Show
2010

Lopez Tonight

Guest
Show
2009

The Doctors

Guest
Talk
2008

The Wendy Williams Show

Guest
Talk
2008

Bud Greenspan's Torino 2006: Stories of Olympic Glory

Self
Show
2007

The Better Show

Guest
Show
2007

Rachael Ray ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2006

The Colbert Report

Guest
Talk
2005

Dancing With the StarsStream

Contestant
Reality
2005

Dancing With the StarsStream

Guest
Reality
2005

The Biggest Loser

Guest
Show
2004

Tavis Smiley

Guest
Talk
2004

Live With Regis and Kelly

Guest
Show
2001

The View

Guest
Talk
1997

Access Hollywood

Guest
News
1996

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

Guest
Talk
1992

Good Morning America

Guest
News
1975

Today

Guest
News
1952

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