Ty Pennington
Ty Pennington is a home design guru and television personality who has also worked as an actor and a model. He is known for his good humor and playfulness.
Tygert Burton Pennington was born on October the 19th, 1965, in Marietta , . He spent most of his childhood in Atlanta . An excitable child (later to be diagnosed with ADHD) he had a wide variety of interests but struggled to concentrate at school. He was always enthusiastic about physical activity, with a passion for skateboarding, soccer and surfing. His cousin, Chad Pennington, became a quarterback for the New York Jets. As a teenager, Pennington attended Kennesaw College to study art and history, working as a carpenter to pay his way and gradually realising that he could combine his interests in woodwork and art to impressive effect. After graduation he took further courses at the college to learn some of the technical skills involved in painting and sculpture, and began to develop some of his first truly original pieces of work.
Pennington's burgeoning career as a designer was interrupted in the early 'eighties when he was spotted by a talent scout working for a modelling agency. This led to extensive international travel and work for major companies such as J.Crew, Swatch and Sprite as well as appearances in television commercials for Levi's, Macy's and Diet Coke. As he found himself increasingly in demand his earning power rocketed, and he also made the contacts necessary to get involved in the film industry, winning a contract as set designer for Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas. With stars Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue and Julian Sands, the film brought Pennington's design work to a worldwide audience. Thereafter he concentrated primarily on design work until, in 2000, The Learning Channel created Trading Spaces. This popular TV show, which pitted teams of amateurs against each other under the guidance of Pennington and rival carpenter Amy Wynn Pastor, quickly won him fans, especially due his fondness for working without a shirt. By the end of its four year run, he was an established star.
Whilst working on Trading Spaces, Pennington also found time to pursue his ambitions as an actor, playing legendary aviator Wilbur Wright alongside Skyler Day and Keith Carradine in The Adventures of Ociee Nash. He also worked the talk show circuit, appearing in The Sharon Osbourne Show and in several episodes of Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In 2006 he launched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a show in which he and his team rebuilt houses damaged by poverty and natural disasters whilst their occupants were away on holiday. The show proved a massive hit. Pennington proved his devotion to it when he continued to work despite health problems and a brief period of hospitalisation for acute appendicitis.
When not busy with his television career, Pennington works as an ambassador for the Sears American Dream Campaign as well as helping the company with design and marketing. He has written a book, Ty's Tricks, which became a New York Times best-seller. He also finds time to act as a spokesperson for ADHD Experts on Call, aiming to help affected children access the help which he was denied in his own childhood.
Pennington lives in Los Angeles with his partner Dirk Hamlin. |
