His days as a reality TV star ended years ago.
But Matt Ellis' role as rocker Tommy Lee's roommate helped launch his career in college admissions.
Ellis was a senior political science student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln when Lee moved in with him in 2004. Soon, the Scottsbluff native and part-time bartender was a co-star in "Tommy Lee Goes to College," which followed the Motley Crue drummer while he and Ellis sampled UNL's social and academic scenes.
As Lee and the clean-cut kid from western Nebraska studied chemistry and opened a faux frat house, Ellis achieved a quasi-celebrity status. People started buying him drinks downtown, and he was a judge in the Miss Teen USA pageant. At the height of his fame, he started doing some promotional work for UNL.
Calls for celebrity judging appearances have long since stopped, but that foray into recruiting eventually led to a full-time position in the field.
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Ellis, who graduated between when the show was filmed and when it was broadcast, eventually became an assistant admissions director at UNL.
He said he found his calling recruiting high school students, a discovery he likely never would have made without the show.
"It certainly opened up an opportunity for a career in higher ed and to do what I'm passionate about," he said.
Now 29, the newly married Ellis is an assistant admissions dean at William Jewell College, a liberal arts school in suburban Kansas City. Few prospective students recognize him -- today's college applicants would have been in elementary or middle school when the show aired. But Ellis still finds a way to incorporate his experience into his admissions pitch when someone does remember him.
"It's parents of students now if they're big Motley Crue fans," he said. "They'll say 'What's that like?' and it's pretty easy to bring it back around and say college is just about opportunities -- finding opportunities and letting opportunities find you."
The show also had practical benefits. Ellis said speaking in front of crowds is no longer a problem because the show was broadcast to millions each week, and is still shown abroad in places such as France.
"Once you've been on national TV and international syndication," he said, "you kind of get over the nervousness of being in front of people."
Ellis appeared on the show almost by chance. After producers failed to find a suitable roommate in open casting calls, they met Ellis when he was checking IDs outside Iguana's Pub. Ellis introduced himself and started talking about his college experience. Before long, he agreed to host the 42-year-old ex-husband of Pamela Anderson.
That conversation likely would never have happened without Dave Fitzgibbon, the UNL spokesman who threw his support behind the show and followed the crew around campus.
Fitzgibbon said the risks for the university were significant. The producers could have distorted what actually happened, he said, or portrayed Nebraskans negatively.
But despite an unflattering story on "Celebrity Justice" and a few skeptical newspaper columnists, Fitzgibbon said, those worries were unwarranted.
UNL professors and students came across as fun and smart, he said. Millions of people watched Lee try out for the marching band, cram for finals and host a rock concert.
And most importantly for the school, Fitzgibbon said, UNL spent six half-hour episodes in the national spotlight. Add to that dozens of articles written by national media outlets and syndication in places such as Malaysia and England, and Fitzgibbon said the total economic benefit to the university likely was worth millions.
He said the show introduced UNL to out-of-state students who might otherwise have overlooked the school. UNL's enrollment spiked the year after the show aired, but Fitzgibbon said it's impossible to know what effect Lee had on that. Still, he said, it couldn't have hurt.
Ellis saw anecdotal evidence of the show's benefit when he worked in UNL's admissions office. Parents and students would remember him and talk about the show, which he said allowed him to make a personal connection with kids he recruited.
Looking back, Ellis admits he and Lee seemed like an odd match. Lee was almost twice his sidekick's age, covered in tattoos and a professional musician. Ellis was a polo shirt-wearing 20-something tending bar and going to class.
Natalie Riedmann, Lee's chemistry tutor on the show, said Ellis' easy-going spirit made him the perfect choice to live with Lee. The two students also became friends as they both were catapulted from collegiate anonymity to national fame.
"Matt and I were kind of going through this whole experience together," she said, "so it bonded us really quickly."
And while parts of the show were scripted, Ellis said his friendship with Lee was not. The two keep in touch, and Ellis gets backstage passes whenever the drummer passes through the Midwest.
"You end up learning that no matter what situation you're in, you should be yourself and always give somebody a chance before you know anything about them," Ellis said. "He's definitely considered a personal friend."
Reach Mitch Smith at 402-473-2655 or msmith@journalstar.com.