Russell Austin Chunn was born on August 11, 1989, in Huntsville, Alabama, to Russell and Donna Chunn, becoming the youngest of three sons. Despite feeling an early calling to become an actor, he lacked the encouragement and opportunities to pursue this career path.
Instead, Austin dedicated his life to martial arts from a young age, starting at four years old and still practicing today. He began with Tang Soo Do, later transitioning to Shorin-ryu Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and various styles of Chinese Kung Fu. In 2009, at the request of his teacher, he started competing, winning state, national, and world championships in Northern Kung Fu. Austin holds some of the oldest martial art lineages still surviving today and has been fortunate to train with renowned martial artists worldwide.
Throughout his martial arts journey, Austin still felt an innate longing for the entertainment industry. However, with wisdom prevailing, he first earned his degree in finance from the University of Alabama before pursuing his dreams. During this time, he traveled the world, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, skied the Swiss Alps, and studied abroad in Italy.
Upon graduating from college, Austin moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he became a corporate illusionist, performing stage and close-up magic for major companies across the country. Although he enjoyed entertaining audiences with magic, he still felt an unquenchable thirst for more. Austin knew that his true calling was to be an actor.
As the renowned magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin once said, "A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician." Austin committed himself to the task and began taking acting classes at the Alliance Theatre. With the encouragement of his teachers, he dedicated himself to the career he had always desired. After embarking on this path, he never looked back, feeling honored to have been a part of numerous great film, television, web, and theatre productions, and looking forward to all future roles and opportunities.
Austin believes that fate pushed him onto this path, and that all his past endeavors were building him as an actor. He finds it humbling to be able to follow his grandiose dream wholeheartedly, and he continues to be grateful for the opportunity to do so.