Rex Linn’s Wild Hidden Talent Earned Him a Champion Title: “I’m Really Proud…”

The Happy’s Place star can practically talk to animals, thanks to his award-winning skill.

Rex Linn is a jack of all trades. Beyond starring as Emmett in NBC’s Happy’s Place alongside Reba McEntire, who’s he been dating since 2020 and sweetly calls his “Tater Tot,” the actor has a special talent that comes in handy with ducks.

Before Linn’s long and successful Hollywood career began, he was perfecting his duck call. And he did it so well, he won a state championship title nearly four decades ago. An avid hunter, Linn was born in Texas and spent many years of his childhood in Oklahoma, where he picked up this impressive skill.

Rex Linn is a won a duck calling competition in the ’80s

That’s right. In 1986, Linn won the Oklahoma State Duck Calling Championship and it’s a title he’s included on his resume, according to a 1988 article in The Oklahoman. Linn also previously served as chairman of the Oklahoma City chapter of Ducks Unlimited, a waterfowl conservation nonprofit.

“This is something I’m really proud of,” the actor told Good Morning Football in 2024 about his award-winning skill before pulling a duck whistle from his pocket and showing what a “feeding call” sounds like.

Rex Linn appears on the TODAY Show on Monday, April 17, 2023.

Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBC

When Linn won the title, he was in his early 30s and was just starting to pursue a career in acting. In an interview with his alma mater, Oklahoma State University, Linn shared that he moved to California when he was 34.

“In 1989, I had sold my house and broken up with my girlfriend, and my dad said, ‘If you’re going to pursue your dream of acting, now would be the time do it,’” he recalled. “I had been a banker. I was in the oil business. Then, I had a hunting guide service. For that decade, I had been talking about acting. … So, I packed all my stuff in a U-Haul and headed west on I-40.”

Linn quickly found a gig, landing the role of Floyd Epps in the 1989’s slasher film Night Game. Since then, he’s gone on to star in many popular TV series including Better Call Saul, CSI: Miami, Young Sheldon, and Happy’s Place. 

Reba McEntire and Rex Linn love “the cowboy way of life”

Rex Linn and Reba McEntire attend the Super Bowl LVIII Pregame at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation

As seen in many sweet photos of Linn and McEntire, the couple likes to spend their free time taking care of a farm animal menagerie that includes horses, chickens, and donkeys. And it’s a lifestyle they both love.

“Rex and I get along in every aspect,” McEntire told Fox News in May 2025. “He’s a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure. We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry … It’s a perfect union, we get along great.”

In a 2019 interview with The Oklahoman, Linn shared that he “grew [up] with cowboys” and described visiting the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum “like walking into Disneyland.”

When they’re not living that cowboy life, Linn and McEntire both star on Happy’s Place, which returns for the sitcom’s second season in Fall 2025 on NBC. Their Happy’s Place co-star, Pablo Castelblanco, told NBC Insider that Linn and McEntire are the “sweetest couple ever” and are “very supportive of each other” on set, though they do have different approaches to preparing for a day at work.

The Voice Season 28 Coach revealed during a May 2025 appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers that Linn is “is a stickler on rehearsals” and wants to practice their lines first thing in the morning.

“Every morning we have ‘coffee camp,’ and so, I’ll go get the coffee and he’s got a script. And I’m like, ‘Can’t we have coffee first?’” McEntire teased. “He’s a good guy. Yeah, I like him a lot.”