A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Monday honoring Bill Nye, who went from being an engineer at Boeing to winning an Emmy for hosting "Bill Nye the Science Guy," with a boost from winning a regional Steve Martin lookalike contest.
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Actor and game show host Joel McHale, Boston Celtics guard-forward Jaylen Brown and comedian Ross Shafer were among those joining Nye at the ceremony at 6357 Hollywood Blvd., between Cahuenga Boulevard and Ivar Avenue.
Schafer hosted "Almost Live!," the Seattle sketch-comedy show on which Nye made his television debut. McHale was a cast member of "Almost Live!" and guested on "Bill Nye the Science Guy" in 1998.
The star is the 2,821st since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.
"Recognition by one's peers always means a great deal, but being here in Hollywood means a great deal to people far beyond our peers in television and movies," Nye said. "We export our culture around the world. ... For me, being a permanent part of all this, of Hollywood, is quite an honor. As has been said many times, when you're in love, you want to tell the world. And I love science. I love comedy. I love television."
Born Nov. 27, 1955, in Washington, D.C., Nye earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Cornell in 1977 and took an engineering job at Boeing, where he specialized in hydraulics systems on 747s.
After winning a regional Steve Martin lookalike contest in 1978, Nye began performing at Seattle-area comedy clubs. He quit his job at Boeing in 1986 to devote himself fulltime to his comedy career.
Another boost to Nye's career came at his 10-year reunion at Cornell, where he received the opportunity to meet with Carl Sagan, best known for hosting the 1980-81 documentary series "Cosmos: A Personal Journey."
Nye had taken an astronomy course from Sagan and in 1987 sought hints to increase his chances of having a successful series. Sagan's advice was to focus on pure science.
"Bill Nye the Science Guy" aired in syndication from 1993 to 1999, receiving 36 Emmy nominations and winning 19 Emmys. Nye won the Emmy for outstanding performer in a children's series in 1998, winning in a field that also included Fred Rogers, LeVar Burton and Caroll Spinney, who portrayed Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and other characters on "Sesame Street."
Nye later hosted the 2005 public television series, "The Eyes of Nye," aimed at an older audience, the 2017-18 Netflix series, "Bill Nye Saves the World," described by the streaming service as "a talk show exploring scientific issues that touch our lives," and 2022 Peacock series, "The End is Nye," exploring natural and unnatural disasters.
Nye's other television appearances include two episodes of "The Big Bang Theory." He portrayed author and 1934 California Democratic gubernatorial nominee Upton Sinclair in the 2020 film "Mank."
Nye has been CEO of The Planetary Society since 2010. The organization was co-founded by Sagan in 1980. Its mission is "empowering the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration."
Nye received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, on Jan. 4, from then-President Joe Biden for earning "the trust of millions of children and families," through his experiments on "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and inspiring "generations of Americans to follow facts and reason and leave the world better than we found it."
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