Steve Altes

Steve Altes (born November 13, 1962) is an American writer and former aerospace engineer. He writes humorous essays about his misadventures.

Early life Altes was born on November 13, 1962, in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Manlius in 1980. In high school, Altes once ran a track meet in clown make-up.

Engineering Altes holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): S.B., Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1984; S.M., Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1986; and S.M., Technology and Policy, 1986.

In 1982, Altes was part of the MIT team that set a world land-speed record for a human-powered vehicle using a five-person, forty-foot-long "bicycle". was reviewed by James Fallows in The New York Review of Books in 1986.

After college, Altes worked as a space policy analyst for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. He is a co-recipient of the 1990 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Current Achievement in Aerospace.

Due to his varied endeavors in the fields of engineering and entertainment, Altes is sometimes listed as one of MIT's more "notable alumni".

Entertainment In the mid-1990s, Altes left engineering for a career in entertainment and writing.

Essays Altes has written a series of first-person participatory adventure essays about experiences such as: becoming an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church working as a hand model standing in for Brad Pitt on the movie The Devil's Own being chosen to model for the Just for Men hair color box having his first book published working as a "bank robber" at the FBI training academy answering phones in the Arkansas Governor's Mansion for President-elect Bill Clinton and being hired and fired by the CIA in one day.

These essays have appeared in magazines and newspapers like Salon, The Washington Post, Capital Style, The Writer, Funny Times and P.O.V.

In 2005, Altes was a contributor to Michael J. Rosen's anthology, May Contain Nuts: A Very Loose Canon of American Humor. His piece satirized his career as a male model.

In 2006, the humor editor Judy Brown selected twenty of Altes's jokes to appear in her anthology Joke Express: Instant Delivery of 1,424 Funny Bits from the Best Comedians.

In 2014, Altes ran a Kickstarter campaign which raised $43,098 to finance the illustration of a graphic novel he had written about hacks at MIT, titled Geeks & Greeks. The graphic novel was illustrated by Andy Fish and was published in 2016 to generally positive reviews.

Film appearances Altes has appeared in a number of films and television shows after being accidentally "discovered" and cast as a German terrorist in Die Hard With a Vengeance in 1995. Year Film Role 1995 Die Hard With a Vengeance German terrorist 1997 Shadow Conspiracy Secret Service agent 1999 Girl, Interrupted Medic 2000 Hollow Man Dad

Print modeling Altes has worked as a commercial print model and hand model.

Other Altes has also been: a screenwriter a commentator for NPR's All Things Considered a member of Us Weekly's Fashion Police

Awards 1991 - National Medal of Technology (co-recipient) 1990 - National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Current Achievement in Aerospace (co-recipient)

Personal Altes lives in the Los Angeles area and is married to Diana Jellinek, an acting coach.