Smiley grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and was an entertainer from the beginning. Born Ryan Katz, Smiley was more like “Cryin’ Ryan”(according to his mother), for the first year of his life, but once the tears stopped, the smile never ended.

In 4th grade, Smiley’s friend Dave (now DJ Solo w/ The Soul Assassins) introduced Smiley to hip-hop, the musical genre and art-form that was as far “from a phase” as possible, despite what his parents thought it would be.  Hip-hop took over Smiley’s heart and soul as he tried to learn about a culture different than what he was living.

While in Junior High, Smiley knew a career in hip-hop wasn’t likely, and that he knew what he wanted to do with his life, and that was become a game show host. He made this decision after he met Double Dare’s (Unwrapped’s) Marc Summers at an airport in Denver, CO, where a young Smiley asked the host to sign a barf bag.

Smiley went to and graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he received his BS degree in Broadcast Journalism. When Smiley entered the journalism program and the professors were asking everyone what they wanted to be, the responses were typical. Anchor, reporter, camera man, producer, whatever. Smiley, in typical non typical fashion informed the professors that he was in school studying broadcasting so that he could live out his dream of becoming a game show host. The Dean spoke about Smiley and his passion at graduation… That made Smiley’s parents proud.

The year after graduating, Smiley shifted his focus into starting his own professional wrestling federation outside of Denver. The company had tremendous success, and Smiley was featured on tons of TV news programs, radio shows, newspapers, and even a community roundtable discussion on the PBS politics show. His live events even won an award for Best Thing To Do In Denver on a weekend. When the company got as big as it was going to get, Smiley knew it was time for him to spread his wings and fly, so he moved to La La land, to take his career up another level.

Smiley started making his living with XPW, a very extreme wrestling company, where he became one of the companies biggest bad guys. Standing only 5’5″, the man with a smile from ear to ear, was a bad guy, and an excellent one at that. Unfortunately for Smiley, XPW folded when its parent company got into a little trouble with a group known as “The Feds.” XPW was over, so Smiley moved to Nashville.

In Nashville, Smiley worked for TNA Wrestling (currently on Spike TV) where he performed on pay per view each and every week. More in tuned with the city life, Nashville living didn’t last long, as Smiley put his boots and cowboy hat away, and headed back to Hollywood.

This trip to Hollywood was interesting because it included a spot on the TBS reality show “He’s a Lady” which led to a guest appearance on “The Oprah Show.” Smiley also competed and became a finalist in a contest to become KTLA’s next new weatherman. Unfortunately, they went with the girls, something Smiley’s skills couldn’t overcome. Big SMILES ahead though, as Smiley was hired to co-host and announce for a ground breaking, cutting edge new pro wrestling show on MTV called “Wrestling Society X.

Smiley currently runs his own pro wrestling school in the valley where he teaches newcomers the skill needed to live out their dreams. He also promotes live shows for the students, and runs (and writes) a storyline driven website for the school and its wrestlers.

Smiley is an exuberant expression of energy with a concussion bomb of charisma. He is the epitome of style with a smile, and the perfect addition to any project, show or program!