Aron Ralston was born Aron Lee Ralston on October 27, 1975 in Marion, OH. The family moved to Denver when he was 11. He graduated from Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, Colorado. He has degrees in Mechanical Engineering and French with a minor in piano in Carnegie Mellon University. He has served as a resident assistant at the university. He is married to Jessica Trusty and they have a child, Leo. His parents are Donna and Larry Ralston.As of 2011, he has an estimated net worth of $4 million.

Ralston is an American adventurer, engineer, writer and motivational speaker. He is the man featured in the movie 127 Hours. James Franco played the role. The story was about his adventure in April and May of 2003 where he met an accident while hiking through the Blue John Canyon in eastern Wayne County, Utah. With no water and little hope of survival, he had to use a pocket knife to amputate his right hand to free himself from a boulder that weighed 800 to 1,000 pounds that fell and trapped him for five days. He admitted that everything that happened was his own fault. He failed to inform anyone about his location which is the number one rule in hiking.

The movie received standing ovations at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. It was also well-received by the film critics. It has six Oscars nominations including the Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Editing.

He wrote an autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place that was later published by Simon & Schuster. He had several media appearances and his story was featured in a two-hour edition of Dateline NBC called Desperate Days in Blue John Canyon. He was also featured in several magazines. He was GQ’s Man of the Year and Vanity Fair Person of the Year in 2003.