Jesse Ruda

He was born Jesse Joseph Ruda on January 18 in Baker City Oregon. His father, Benny Ruda, was a bareback rider on the professional rodeo tour turned rancher and horse trainer. His mother, Belinda, was a longtime runway model, turned salon owner and artist. At the age of 3, Jesse suffered a broken neck (3rd cervical vertebrae) from a car accident and was paralyzed from the waist down and the right side of his body. After months of rehabilitation, he miraculously regained feeling and movement in his lower body. After the accident, his parents divorced and Jesse was raised by his mother, along with his older sister, Camie, in Atascadero, Ca. His mother remarried Steve Pybrum and then moved to Santa Barbara, Ca. As a child, Jesse idolized actors such as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stalone, Jean Claude Van Damn, Steven Seagal and Michael Keaton. At the age of 11, Jesse experienced his first theatre experience in How The West Was Won. As he got older, due to his inability to play