In September of 1998, Ryan Pelton was dared by his mother to enter a local Elvis contest in Columbus, OH.  At the time, Ryan was building websites for a living.  Ryan didn’t grow up in an “Elvis” household.  He knew little about the King of rock-n-roll, except for the fact that adults in public often said he looked like a “young Elvis” growing up.  Despite only having one week to prepare, Ryan entered the contest and against all odds, he won.  “I remember having to write the lyrics on my hand because I wasn’t familiar with any of the songs.  And keep in mind, I had never sang before in my life before that first contest.”

 

Pelton’s days as a website designer were soon over, as he wanted to pursue the entertainment world, saying, “I don’t want to be ninety years old one day and look back saying, ‘what if?’”

 

Over the next decade, Pelton honed his craft becoming an international, award-winning Elvis Tribute Artist.  In 2001 Pelton was declared the “World Champion” when he won the Worldwide Images of the King Contest in Memphis, TN.  He has performed all over the world, from casinos to fairs, theaters to festivals, production shows to professional sports arenas.  Entertaining audiences in the tens-of-thousands, there can be no doubt that Ryan Pelton is the rarest kind of performer – living up to his billing time and time again.

 

Throughout his career, Pelton has been involved in a number or unique opportunities that have led him to call himself the “Forest Gump” of the ETA world.  Ryan performed with the world’s largest impersonator production show, Legends in Concert, for nearly a decade, including a six year stint in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Early in his career, Ryan appeared in an all-Elvis version of The Weakest Link, where he walked away the winner of the second largest total ever won on the show in the United States.  He has appeared in an international commercial for Volvo, was the featured ETA in a special collector’s “Elvis Edition” of TV Guide, and was the body double for Elvis as he performed a duet of “If I Can Dream” on American Idol with Celine Dion.  During this time he also made his first movie appearance as he played the role of Elvis in the Dakota Fanning move, Hounddog. Shortly thereafter, Ryan Pelton was offered the lead role in a Hollywood film called The Identical.  Ryan Pelton took on the screen name of “Blake Rayne” for the film, which also starred Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, and Seth Green.  The film, which won the audience choice award for best film at the Nashville Film Festival, opened in theaters on September 5, 2014, and is currently a top ten rental on Netflix.