Rex Linn: What to Know About Reba McEntire's New Boyfriend

Hannah Barnes

10/06/2020 11:49 am EDT

Reba McEntire revealed on the latest episode of her podcast, Living & Learning With Reba McEntire, that she is dating actor Rex Linn, sharing that they have been getting to know each other during the pandemic.

"Yeah, yeah, I am [dating]," McEntire said. "A very, very sweetheart of a guy, Rex Linn. And we've been talking during the pandemic."

Linn is a 63-year-old actor who has appeared in a number of movies and television series throughout the years including Rush Hour, Wyatt Earp and Cliffhanger. One of his most well-known roles is Frank Tripp on CSI: Miami. Read on to learn more about Linn.

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Linn was born in Spearman, Texas, and his family moved to McEntire's home state of Oklahoma when he was a teenager. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1980 and worked for an oil company while audition for film and television commercial roles. He began landing small roles and acted in his first movie, Dark Before Dawn.

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His first substantial role was playing serial killer Floyd Epps in the 1989 film Night Game, and Linn went on to appear in multiple projects including stints on JAG, 3rd Rock From the Sun and The Fugitive before landing the part of Sgt. Frank Tripp on CSI: Miami in 2002, which he held until the series ended in 2012.

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Currently, Linn plays Kevin Wachtell on Better Call Saul and Principal Petersen on Young Sheldon, the latter of which featured McEntire as a guest star earlier this year. Linn and McEntire were also in the same building in 2019, when Linn emceed the Western Heritage Awards, where McEntire's father, world champion steer roper Clark McEntire, was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners.

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"We had dinner with Rex, was it in January?" McEntire told co-host Melissa Peterman. "And then February on it was the COVID pandemic and we were talking, texting, FaceTime. And that's a really good way to get to know people... It's good to have a person to talk to, laugh with, get into subjects about what's going on. Discussions about our past, our family, funny stories, him being an actor, me being an actress. And he's very into my music. I'm very into his career. It's just great getting to talk to somebody who I find very interesting, very funny, very smart, and is interested in me, too."

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Back in January, Linn shared an Instagram photo from the aforementioned dinner, writing, "Had a fantastic dinner with this Oklahoma girl. Tater Tots and Ketchup included."

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