Alan Ritchson

span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:17px;">Alan Ritchson is the middle son of a retired US Air Force master sergeant and a high school teacher. His family spent the early years of his childhood in Rantoul, Illinois, but from the age of ten he lived in Florida and attended school at Niceville High.

He began his career as a model, working for Abercrombie and Fitch and modeling underwear for an online store. In 2008, Ritchson was signed to an agency and he continued his modeling career until 2009.

His first TV appearance of note was in 2004 as an auditionee in "American Idol", where he performed a striptease and made it to the top 87 contestants. He moved on to a successful acting career including starring as Aquaman in Smallville  and Thad Castle in Blue Mountain State . Ritchson was also the model for the title character in Beowulf . As well as acting, he continues with his music career, releasing an album in 2005 called 'The Is Next Time'.