Wil Willis is an American former Army ranger and Air Force para rescuer, actor and TV host, whose fame came from his American television competition series ‘Forged in Fire’, which airs on the History Channel.

Early life and family

Wil Willis was born on February 14, 1975 in Portugal and grew up in a military family with his other four siblings. His father, Jakob Willis, was a veteran of the United States Air Force, and because of his father’s profession, it was normal to move to a different military base every two to three years during his childhood. When he was two years old, the family moved back to the US and lived in Texas, moved again to Florida when he was five years old, and finally settled in California after three years. His father finally retired from military service in 1991.

Little else is known about his family.

He graduated from a local high school in North Carolina and followed in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a military career instead of enrolling in college. He was educated at the Advanced Individual Training and Ranger Indoctrination Program and at the Basic Airborne School.

Career

Military career

In October 1993 he joined the 3^ed Ranger Battalion of 75^e United States Army Ranger Regiment, and was on active duty for about six years until 1998. He then joined the US Air Force Pararescue and trained as a Pararescue agent, assisting in providing medical treatment during combat and on recovery missions.

He was also involved in several humanitarian missions and provided support for NASA astronaut recovery missions. He received a Sikorsky Rescue Award in 2001 and was promoted to instructor for weapons, tactics and air operations. He served in the United States Air Force for about ten years, and before fully retiring, he spent another full year in 308 as an Air Force Reservist.^e Rescue Squad.

TV career

First step

To prepare for an acting career, he enrolled in the New York Film Academy to study acting and writing. After graduating from college, he landed small roles in films including ‘Beerfest’ in 2006 and ‘In the Valley of Elah’ with Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron in 2007.

When TV networks created reality TV shows with military concepts, producers decided to hire military veterans to make the show more authentic, instead of hiring actors to do it, giving reality television credibility. Due to Wil’s extensive experience in the military and his overall physical appearance, he was chosen to appear on the TV show “Special Ops Mission”, which premiered in August 2009. He would perform special operations missions in a simulated wargame scenario against opponents. forces. It was similar to the Mission Impossible series, where Wil would be given a solo mission to complete by a pair of US Marine Corps Master Sergeants. He would be the one to decide all possible means to successfully complete the mission according to military rules.

The show ran for one season, with positive reviews for its authenticity, and originally aired on the American Heroes Channel.

Further success

Wil was offered work by the Military Channel in 2011, with the TV show ‘Triggers: Weapons That Changed the World’. This time, along with Master Armorer Mike Tristano, he would introduce and explore legendary weapons and explosives used from different eras. Again, Wil brought a certain realism to the show, given that he was a former instructor in the weapons and training program in the United States Air Force. It premiered in November 2011 and ran for two seasons, then was picked up and rebranded by American Heroes Channel in 2014.

It was also shown on UK channel Quest.

In 2015, he got his biggest break with the TV competition show ‘Forged in Fire’, which airs on the History Channel. He is the host of the show where world-class knifesmiths would compete to forge bladed materials to recreate iconic weapons, to be judged by weapons and war history experts. The show is on its seventh season with 158 episodes and became so popular that some seasons aired more than 30 episodes, which is a long way from the first season with only 10 episodes. Due to its success, a spin-off series was commissioned by the History Channel in 2018 titled “Forged in Fire: Knife or Death”.

In June 2020, another spin-off series was made and Wil was also asked to host the show ‘Forged in Fire: Beat the Judges’, in which previous ‘Forged in Fire’ champions were recalled to choose the permanent judges to dawn. .

Private life

Wil married Krystle Amina, his longtime girlfriend, in October 2017 at the popular 1909 wedding venue in Topanga, California, after proposing to her at the Empire State Building in February of the same year. They honeymooned at a Hawaiian beach resort. His wife is a professional illustrator and designer. They have a son they named Flash Orion Willisborn on March 7, 2020.

Wil has two sons from a previous relationship, Jacob and Caleb, who both attended the wedding; there is no information about the children’s mother. Both Wil and Krystle are pretty private and rarely talk about their personal lives. If we are to believe Wil’s Instagram posts, his children seemed to have a good relationship with their stepmother.

Lawyer/charity

Wil is an active supporter of ReGroup Ranches Foundation and even promoted a video about them. This foundation helps some 20,000 veterans return to civilian life after serving the country. He also made a documentary, ‘The Transition Project’, in which he spent 15 days touring the country on a motorbike to raise awareness about the challenges army veterans face when they leave the army.

Interesting facts

• Wil is affectionately referred to as the Human Swiss Knife by his fans due to his skills and extensive experience in handling various weapons including guns, knives and explosives.
• He has a personal arsenal at home, such as an SR-25 semi-automatic rifle, a Beretta M9 pistol, and bladed weapons that he has forged, including a folding kukri tactical knife.
• He is active on his social media accounts including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Most of his posts were from his personal travels with his family and to promote his work.
• Wil is the proud owner of two dogs, Luxy and Bambam.

Appearance

He is 1.80 m tall, weighs 80 kg and has an athletic build. He is white with black hair and black eyes.

Net value

authoritative sources estimated his net worth as of June 2020 to be over $1 million.