Chad Michael Collins

Chad Michael Collins grew up on a farm in rural Canajoharie, New York, where he excelled at sports and nurtured a love of comic books. He studied journalism at Ithaca College, then moved to California to work for a public relations firm. Though he had never intended to work in Hollywood, a talent scout offered to groom him for a potential career as an actor. In 2005, Collins landed his first role, as archeology student Carter in the Paul Bales mockbuster "Legion of the Dead," a project produced by The Asylum, the Poverty Row of the 2000s. Shot on location in California, the low-budget action-adventure film drew heavily from "The Mummy" franchise and late R&B singer Aaliyah's last film, "Queen of the Damned." In 2011, Collins co-starred in "Sniper: Reloaded" with German character actor Richard Sammel and Billy Zane, who had appeared in the first "Sniper" as an apprentice to Tom Berenger's master sharpshooter in 1993. During the shoot, Collins was nearly trampled by a baby elephant. Ready to laugh at himself, he took on a comedic role as Theodore, the much-abused assistant to hapless motivational speaker Rock Barnes in the outlandish mockumentary "Rock Barnes: The Emperor in You." The film starred Erik Stolhanske, one of the five core members of sketch comedy troupe-turned production company Broken Lizard, the team responsible for the 2001 indie hit "Super Troopers."