Bill Nye Biography

Bill Nye was born William Sanford Nye on November 27, 1955, in Washington D.C., USA, to Jacqueline Nye and Edwin Darby Nye. Both his parents were ‘World War II’ veterans; his mother was a code-breaker, while his father spent four years in a prisoner-of-war camp.

He attended ‘Lafayette Elementary High School’ and ‘Alice Deal Junior High.’ He also won a partial scholarship to ‘Sidwell Friends School.’ He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from ‘Cornell University.’

He started his career as a mechanical engineer at ‘Boeing Corporation’ in Seattle. During his time at ‘Boeing Corporation,’ he created a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube which is still used in the ‘Boeing 747.’

Nye started his entertainment career by keeping his day job as an engineer and working as a stand-up comedian at comedy clubs during the night. He eventually became a writer and performer on ‘Almost Live.’

From 1991 to 1993, Nye appeared as an assistant to Dr. Emmett Brown in the show ‘Back to the Future: The Animated Series.’ In the show, he demonstrated science experiments explained by Dr. Brown.

Thanks to the popularity of ‘Back to the Future: The Animated Series,’ Nye landed an educational television program titled ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy.’ The show, which ran from 1993 to 1998, had 100 episodes.

In 1998, Nye appeared in Disney’s movie ‘The Principal Takes a Holiday.’ In the film, he played the role of a science teacher. He continued to exhibit his enthusiasm for science.

In the 2000s, Nye served as a technical expert in an American robot combat television series titled ‘BattleBots.’ He also hosted the show ‘100 Greatest Discoveries’ for ‘Discovery HD Theatre.’ He hosted ‘Greatest Inventions with Bill Nye’ for ‘Discovery.’

During that time, Nye co-developed ‘MarsDial,’ which is a sundial created for the ‘Mars Exploration Rover’ missions. The dial was developed to help keep track of time when an astronaut is on Mars.

In 2005, he created a show called ‘The Eyes of Nye’ which was a science show that targeted adults. The show addressed environmental issues like global warming, modified food, etc.

He was made the vice president of ‘The Planetary Society’ in 2005. He was then chosen to be its second executive director. The organization was particularly interested in Mars.

In 2008, Nye made appearances on shows like ‘America’s Most Smartest Model,’ ‘Larry King Live,’ ‘The Climate Code,’ ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire,’ etc. In ‘The Climate Code,’ he spoke about saving energy.

Around the same time, he hosted a show called ‘Stuff Happens’ and acted in ‘Stargate Atlantis.’ He made a YouTube video to support Al Gore’s ‘Repower America Campaign’ and also appeared on ‘The Dr. Oz Show.’

In 2010, he was chosen as the new representative of a new permanent exhibition at the ‘Chabot Space & Science Center,’ in California. The exhibition aimed at raising awareness about environmental issues.

In 2012, Nye appeared on CNN to express his views on the devastating natural repercussions of nuclear incidents in Japan. Around the same time, he competed in the dance competition show ‘Dancing with the Stars.’

Bill Nye guest-starred in ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ He appeared in an episode titled ‘The Proton Displacement’ in 2013.

Nye was a celebrity guest and interviewer at the ‘White House Student Film Festival’ in February 2014.

In 2016, he appeared in a documentary called ‘Food Evolution.’ Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the documentary was directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy.

Nye guest-starred in the 127th episode of Jonathan Van Ness's podcast ‘Getting Curious’ in September 2019.

In 2020, he voiced himself in the animated comedy horror film ‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ written and directed by Maxwell Atoms. That same year, he also portrayed ‘Upton Sinclair’ in the David Fincher-directed biographical drama film ‘Mank.’ The film was well-received by critics and earned an 83% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In 2006, Nye spoke about his relationship with musician Blair Tindall on ‘The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.’ He married her in a few months’ time, but they separated after seven weeks.

In June 2022, he married Liza Mundy.

Bill Nye has a minor planet named after him, known as "The Science Guy" asteroid.