Long before he became a trucker, Kelly Reno starred in the 1979 movie The Black Stallion. He gave up an acting career at age 18 and found a new career on the road in the mid-’90s.
Kelly Reno turned his back on movie stardom. Today, he makes his living behind the wheel – and says the life of a driver suits him just fine.
He went from costarring in The Black Stallion as a child to ranching cattle in Colorado to driving a big rig and now to driving a truck delivering construction equipment for Wagner Rent in Pueblo, Colo.
From time to time, Reno, 37, says he is still recognized from his acting days.
Starting at age 11, Reno broke into acting in a flick that got Mickey Rooney nominated for an Oscar. In The Black Stallion, Reno played Alec Ramsey, a freckled-face little boy who finds a special friendship with a horse. The two are stranded on a deserted island and later, after they are rescued, become an excellent racing team.
Reno fit the role perfectly because he had the needed horse-riding experience for the part.
“I was born and bred a cowboy,” Reno says. “I was raised up on a cow ranch.”
Reno furthered his acting career with the sequel The Black Stallion Returns, a movie centered around World War II, a role in one of Steven Spielberg’s The Amazing Series and a few other television appearances until he turned 18.
