Biography

In February 2006, 16 year old Alex Ortiz was watching the Winter Olympics on television with his father on his couch in Kress, TX.

The 500-meter finals of the men's short-track speed skating came on, and the lone American in the event, Apolo anton Ohno, ended up taking the Olympic gold.

When Ortiz saw Ohno walk to the medal stand and receive his medal as the American National Anthem played in the background..., he was inspired.

In fact, Ortiz, an Award-winning cross country and Sprint runner in high school, had never even skated before in his life. But, something inside of Ortiz longed to pursue the Olympic Dream in speed skating.

In a mere two weeks, Ortiz was able to raise over $1,000 from local sponsors and in the summer of 2006, Ortiz was able to attend his first speed skating camp at the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City, UT.

In February of 2007, Ortiz returned to Salt Lake City for a second training camp. He returned home in August where I discussed the next step he wanted to take with my skating with my family."

Ortiz and his parents decided that the best course of action was for Alex to graduate high school early and move to Milwaukee. And with the Help of Texas Tech University Outreach program, Ortiz successfully completed High school a semester early.

In March of 2008, Ortiz moved to Milwaukee where he began to train full-time as a long-track speed skater at the Pettit National Ice Center.

Ortiz has had some great accomplishments through out the years, including getting to compete as an official United States speed skater, but he also had to weather a tragedy that struck as Ortiz was headed to his first-ever international competition.

Ortiz' Cousin was killed in a car accident 1 day prior to competing at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada.

Ortiz nearly called it quits on his skating career, because the devistation his family was going through, but was encouraged by friends and family to continue. Ortiz returned to Milwaukee.

In seven months of competitive skating, Ortiz came 3.3 seconds away from qualifying for the 2010 Olympic Trials.

When Oritz wasn't skating he attended culinary school at Milwaukee Tech, and worked for the MLB team Milwaukee Brewers & NBA team Milwaukee Bucks.

In 2009, Ortiz got his first taste of the Entertainment Industry when he was offered to become a model in Chicago, IL, where there he became the Face of Herff Jones jewelry. He then worked on a few film projects, and slowly transitioned into Acting.

After missing the 2010 Olympic Trials, Ortiz was invited to attend an open audition to portray a student on the FOX smash-hit TV Show "GLEE".

Ortiz got the job, and relocated to Los Angeles, CA February 2010. He has appeared in Several episodes with non-speaking roles on GLEE, a few background spots on other T.V Programs, and snaged a small cameo in the upcoming Sci-Fi Thriller "IN TIME" Starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfreid in late 2010.

Ortiz currently is represented by The Linicomn Agancy for Acting & Modeling and is an Ambassador for Oakley. He continues to strive for excellence while Living to Inspire.