Nik Wallenda

Self-described as "The King of the Wire," Nik Wallenda is known for his high-wire performances without a safety net. He holds multiple Guinness World Records for various acrobatic feats, but is best known as the first person to walk a tightrope stretched directly over Niagara Falls on June 15, 2012; the feat was broadcast internationally and watched by over 13 million viewers. The walk came after two years of strategic planning, geological surveys, engineering feats, and a legal battle involving both sides of the Canada-United States border to gain approval. For the walk, he was required to wear a safety harness for the first time in his life.

A seventh-generation member of The Flying Wallendas family, Nik Wallenda participated in various circus acts as a child. At age 13, he made his professional tightrope walking debut. He decided on high-wire walking as a career path in 1998, after joining family members in a seven-person pyramid on the wire.

He is renowned for being the first person to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope, achieved in 2012 in a live television special. He was also the first person to cross a Grand Canyon gorge on a tightrope, which he accomplished by crossing the Little Colorado River on live television in 2013. His daring high-wire walks continue to draw global attention; most recently, he conducted a high-wire walk over the active Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua, which was aired on ABC’s "Volcano Live with Nik Wallenda."

Most recently, Wallenda and his sister, Lijana, crossed a tightrope 25 stories high over Times Square in New York City. The event was broadcast live and garnered national attention.

In 2001, Wallenda was part of the world's first eight-person high-wire pyramid. From 2002 to 2005, he performed with his family at various venues, forming his own troupe in 2005. During 2007 and 2008, he performed with Bello Nock in a double version of the Wheel of Steel that he helped invent. In 2009, he set new personal bests for highest and longest tightrope walks, completing a total of 15 walks above 100 feet (30 m) in the air that year.

In 2008, Wallenda set Guinness World Records for the longest and highest bicycle ride on a high-wire 250-foot-long (76 m) ride at 135 feet (41 m) above the ground in New Jersey. He nearly doubled the height record in 2010 to 260 feet (79 m). On the same day in 2010, he upped his personal best by tightrope walking over 2,000 feet (610 m) in a single performance. In 2011, Wallenda set a world record by performing on the Wheel of Death atop the 23-story Tropicana Casino and Resort. Later that year, Wallenda and his mother tightrope walked between the two towers of Condado Plaza Hotel in Puerto Rico. The feat was a re-creation of the one that had killed Karl Wallenda, Nik's great-grandfather and primary source of inspiration. On June 10, 2011, Wallenda hung from a helicopter 250 feet (76 m) off the ground using only his teeth to hold on.

A reality show following Wallenda's feats aired on the Science Channel in 2012.

In 2013, he released a memoir entitled "Balance: A Story of Faith, Family & Life on the Line." On June 23, 2013, he became the first person to high-wire walk across a Grand Canyon area gorge (crossing the Little Colorado River outside Grand Canyon National Park). Wallenda is married with three children, and considers his Christian faith to be a central aspect of his life.

Wallenda is a seventh-generation member of The Flying Wallendas family of aerialists. His ancestors have been circus performers since the 1700s and have been doing balancing acts without nets since Karl Wallenda made the family famous for the feat in the 1920s. Nik Wallenda is a direct descendant of Karl, whom he calls his role model and his "biggest hero in life." Karl "didn’t do the ordinary. He has always inspired me," Nik explained.

Growing up in the Wallenda family was an honor and "like standing on the shoulders of giants. They've created a legacy that has gone on for seven generations, and I've been able to continue it along." Several members of the family have lost their lives while training or performing. In 1962, the troupe's famous seven-person pyramid collapsed, killing two family members and paralyzing Wallenda's uncle Mario.

In 1978, Karl Wallenda died after falling from a tight rope at age 73 in Puerto Rico.

Nik Wallenda has produced a variety of large-scale productions for amusement parks and similar venues in several countries. The acts often