His bright orange hair stands up to the sky, and his smile is a mile wide.
Bello Nock, named “America's Best Clown” by Time magazine, has just as much joy on the inside as he shows to his delighted audiences.

“My type of humor comes from little kids,” Nock says. “Just watching kids, you can see an innocent lightheartedness. When people watch me perform, they remember what it's like to be a kid again.”

Nock can be seen at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey show starting Wednesday at America West Arena. As a seventh-generation performer from a Swiss circus dynasty, he grew up learning stunts.

Today he is regarded as one of the world's premier daredevils, doing things such as using a trapeze attached to a helicopter. He set the world record for largest audience for a circus act with a Chicago performance in front of 1.5 million people, and has performed with Ringling Bros. since 2000.

This year, Nock will show off the Vortex of Vertigo, a giant hamster wheel. Bello calls the wheel, which can simulate weightlessness when moving fast enough, “a treadmill for adventurers.”

He says he has no fears because he makes sure to thoroughly prepare for whatever dangerous work he is doing.

“When you're 100 feet in the air, hanging by one hand, you don't think about what's for dinner, you think about what you're doing,” Bello says. Bello's contract with the circus ends in a year and a half, and he says he hopes to develop a TV program or Broadway show where his performances would reach larger audiences. For now, Bello says he continues to be inspired by his wife, whom he has known since third grade, and his three kids.

“They keep me sharp,” he says. “My wife and family keep me well-grounded so I don't get a big head.”