Steve Altes

Who is Steve Altes?

Steve Altes is an American writer and former rocket engineer. He is known to get hired into unusual occupations and writing accounts of his misfortunes. He has written about working as a hand model, a stand-in for Brad Pitt, a trainer at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy, answering phones for President-elect Bill Clinton, and applying to the Central Intelligence Agency.

His essays have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Phoenix, National Lampoon, Technology Review, The Ottawa Citizen, Penthouse, Funny Times, The Syracuse Herald-Journal, Fairfield County Weekly, and Salon.com. He has been a commentator for NPR's All Things Considered and is a member of Us Weekly's fashion police.

Altes also works as a speaker and a print model. In the late 1990s his face appeared on the box of Just for Men Sandy Blond haircolor. In 2004, he competed on the first season of the TV series Extreme Dodgeball, playing for the league champions, the Certified Public Assassins.

Altes was born in Syracuse, New York. Earlier in his career, Altes worked as an aerospace engineer.