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Kevin Sorbo

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Kevin Sorbo
Sorbo speaking at Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest in December 2015
Born
Kevin David Sorbo

(1958-09-24) September 24, 1958 (age 65)
Mound, Minnesota, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1986–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1998)​
Children3
Websitewww.kevinsorbo.net

Kevin David Sorbo[1] (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor best known for the roles of Professor Radisson in God's Not Dead, Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda, and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.

Early life

Sorbo was born in Mound, Minnesota, where he attended Mound Westonka High School. He is the son of Ardis, a nurse, and Lynn Sorbo, a junior high school mathematics and biology teacher.[1] His father is of Norwegian descent, while his mother has English, German and Scottish ancestry.[2][3][4] He was raised in a Lutheran family. Sorbo attended Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he double majored in marketing and advertising. To help make tuition, he began to work as a model for print and television advertising in the 1980s.

Career

Sorbo started his acting career in 1986 making guest appearances in several television series such as 1st & Ten, Murder She Wrote and The Commish. He was considered for and lost out to Dean Cain as Superman in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and was a possible contender for the role of Agent Mulder in The X Files which went to David Duchovny.[5][6]

In 1994, he shot to fame when he played the role of Hercules in the television film Hercules and the Amazon Women. This was the first in a series of television films that served as pilots for the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which ran from 1995 to 1999. He also directed a few episodes of the series. At the same time, Sorbo also guest-starred as Hercules in episodes of the 1995–2001 spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess and provided the voice of Hercules in the 1998 direct-to-video animated film Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus.[7]

In between the years playing Hercules, he played his first leading film role in Kull the Conqueror (1997).[8]

After Hercules came to an end, Sorbo played the starring role of Captain Dylan Hunt in the science-fiction drama series Andromeda from 2000 to 2005. In 2006, he played a recurring role on the final season of The O.C. and guest-starred in the sitcom Two and a Half Men. In 2007, he starred in the direct-to-video film Walking Tall: The Payback, which was a sequel to the 2004 film Walking Tall. He reprised his role in the second sequel, Walking Tall: Lone Justice which released later that year. He also starred in the Lifetime Channel film Last Chance Café, the Hallmark Channel film Avenging Angel, co-starring his real life wife Sam Jenkins and guest starred as a bounty hunter in the season-two episode "Bounty Hunters!" of the series Psych. He appeared in the 2008 spoof film Meet the Spartans, which was a box office success[9] despite being universally negatively reviewed by critics.[10] He starred in the Albert Pyun directed science fiction vampire film Tales of an Ancient Empire.[11]

Sorbo in 2013

In an outtake clip from the Hercules TV series posted in 2010, Sorbo, portraying an evil Doppelgänger of his regular character, says "Wait a minute. This isn't my world. Disappointed!"[12] Due to the non-sequitur sound of the line, the scene was widely misinterpreted as Sorbo reading aloud the stage direction "disappointed". In 2013, Sorbo explained in an interview that "disappointed" did not appear in the script, but rather was him breaking character as an in-joke between him and the crew. He was referencing a scene from the film A Fish Called Wanda in which Otto (played by Kevin Kline) cracks a safe only to find it empty, and screams, "Disappointed!" at it in frustration.[13]

He served as Executive Producer and star of the movie Abel's Field in 2012.[14] In 2012, Sorbo appeared in an episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories to recount an experience he had while in Minnesota shortly after he graduated from college. He and his girlfriend claimed to have seen the ghost of the "Bride of White Rock Lake" – a woman who supposedly died on her wedding day, murdered by a former lover.[15]

Sorbo voiced one of the main protagonists, Prometheus, in the Wii video game The Conduit.[16] Sorbo returned to the role of Hercules in a more sinister portrayal, in the video game God of War III, which was released for the PlayStation 3 in March 2010.[17]

In July 2013, Sorbo, along with his wife, Sam, provided voice over for characters in the video game Cloudberry Kingdom[18] In 2014 Kevin Sorbo co-starred in God's Not Dead, a Christian film in which he portrays an atheist who requires his students to disown their religions on the first day of his class.[19]

Personal life

On January 5, 1998, Sorbo married actress Sam Jenkins, whom he met the previous year when she had a guest role on Hercules. They have three children: Braedon Cooper (born 2001), Shane Haaken (born 2004), and Octavia Flynn (born 2005).[20] Sorbo is the spokesman and chair of A World Fit for Kids! (AWFFK!), a non-profit organization that trains teenagers to become mentors to younger children.[21]

In 2001, Sorbo was featured on the Celebrity Edition of TV Hit Game Show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, winning $32,000 after giving Regis Philbin the wrong answer at the $125,000 question for his charity A World Fit For Kids.

In late 1997 while on a publicity tour for Kull the Conqueror and between the fourth and fifth seasons of Hercules, the newly engaged Sorbo experienced an aneurysm in his shoulder which caused three strokes.[22][23] As a result, he was weakened for the next several years, a condition kept secret from the public while he recovered. During the last two seasons of Hercules (the fifth and sixth, which aired in 1998 and 1999), Sorbo had a reduced filming schedule to accommodate his condition, and more guest stars were featured in the show in order to reduce Sorbo's duties.[24] The strokes, thought to be triggered when chiropractic manipulation of his shoulder released multiple blood clots from the aneurysm, left Sorbo with a permanent 10 percent vision loss, weakness, impaired balance, and migraines.[25] In his 2011 autobiography True Strength, Sorbo revealed the details of his injury and how his wife Sam helped him recover.[26]

Sorbo is a Christian, and believes that his religious views have caused Hollywood to limit his career.[27] He considers himself politically independent,[28] but has expressed interest in the libertarian philosophy of agorism.[29]

In August 2014, Sorbo gave a call-in interview to the Christian-themed Peter Heck Radio Show, during which the 2014 film Noah and its writer-producer-director Darren Aronofsky were briefly discussed. Sorbo made the following comment about Hollywood not being serious about Biblical movies, as evidenced by Aronofsky, a professed atheist,[30] being hired to make the Old Testament story of Noah: "I sort of understand why they don't want to deal with the New Testament in Hollywood because, you know, it's, it's pretty much run by the world of the Jewish population, and, at the same time, at least get someone who has, at least believes, that the potential is there, that it could be a real story."[31]

Filmography

Actor

Year Title Role Notes
1992 Condition: Critical Dr. Thaddeus Kocinski
1994 Slaughter of the Innocents John Willison
1994 Hercules and the Amazon Women Hercules
1994 Hercules and the Lost Kingdom Hercules
1994 Hercules and the Circle of Fire Hercules
1994 Hercules in the Underworld Hercules
1994 Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur Hercules
1995–1999 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Hercules 111 episodes
1997 Kull the Conqueror Kull
1998 Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus Hercules Voice only
1998 The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom Rothbart Voice only
1998 Mighty Joe Young Gorilla Voice only
2000–2005 Andromeda Captain Dylan Hunt 110 episodes
2007 Walking Tall: The Payback Nick Prescott
2007 Walking Tall: Lone Justice Nick Prescott
2007 Something Beneath Father Douglas Middleton
2007 Avenging Angel Preacher
2007 Last Chance Café Chance Coulter
2008 Meet the Spartans Captain
2008 Prairie Fever Preston Biggs
2008 An American Carol George Mulrooney
2008 Never Cry Werewolf Redd Tucker
2009 What If... Ben Walker
2009 Fire From Below Jake Denning
2009 Bitch Slap Mr. Phoenix
2009 Paradox Sean Nault
2009 Lightning Strikes Ted Bradly
2009 Wolf Canyon Rick / Sheriff Wolf
2010 Tales of an Ancient Empire Aedan
2010 The Santa Suit Drake Hunter / Santa Claus
2010 Pool Boy: Drowning Out the Fury Sal Bando
2011 Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos Pierluigi
2011 Soul Surfer Holt Blanchard
2011 Julia X The Stranger
2012 Christmas Angel Dr. Nathan Davis
2012 Abel's Field Abel Executive Producer
2012 Sorority Party Massacre Captain Dan Fanning
2013 Paranormal Movie Security Guy
2013 Shadow on the Mesa Ray Eastman
2013 Storm Rider Sam Fielding
2013 Alone for Christmas Quentin
2014 Alongside Night Dr. Martin Vreeland
2014 Survivor Captain Hunter
2014 God's Not Dead Professor Radison
2015 Mythica: A Quest for Heroes Gojun Pye
2015 Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Colonel Tony Saracen
2015 Confessions of a Prodigal Son Father

Guest star

Year Title Role Notes
1988 1st & Ten Barry "...The Clock Runs Out"
1991 Santa Barbara Delivery man
1992 Cheers Uncredited "License to Hill"
1993 Murder, She Wrote Michael Burke "A Virtual Murder"
1993 The Commish Mark "Dying Affection"
1995 Cybill Rick "The Last Temptation of Cybill"
1995 Xena: Warrior Princess Hercules "Prometheus"
1996 The Rosie O'Donnell Show Himself
1998 Sin City Spectacular Himself
1998 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Himself
1998 Mad TV Himself
1999 Just Shoot Me! Scott "An Axe to Grind"
2000 Xena: Warrior Princess Hercules "God Fearing Child"
2000 Celebrity Profile Himself "Kevin Sorbo"
2000 The Howard Stern Radio Show Himself
2001 Dharma & Greg Charlie "Educating Dharma: Part 1 & 2"
2001 The Howard Stern Radio Show Himself
2001 Dharma & Greg Charlie "The End of the Innocence: Parts 1 & 2"
2001 The Big Breakfast Himself
2003 According to Jim Darryl Buckner "The Pass"
2004 Hope & Faith Kenny "Mismatch"
2004 Live with Regis and Kelly Himself
2005 Love, Inc. Father John "Amen"
2006 Two and a Half Men Andy "Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Burro"
2007 The O.C. Frank Atwood "The Earth Girls Are Easy", "The My Two Dads", "The Groundhog Day", "The Case Of The Franks", "The Shake-Up", "The Night Moves", "The End's Not Near, It's Here"
2007 Psych Byrd Tatums "Bounty Hunters!"
2008 The Middleman 1969 middleman / Guy Goddard "The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown"
2009 Gary Unmarried Larry "Seven"
2010 Super Hero Squad Show Ka-Zar Voice only
2010 Hawaii Five-0 Carlton Bass "Ko'olauloa"
2011 The Guild Himself "Social Traumas"
2012 Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 Himself "The Wedding"

Producer

Year Title Notes
2001–2005 Andromeda Executive producer
2009 Wolf Canyon
2014 Alongside Night

Director

Year Title
1995 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2009 The Conduit Prometheus Voice only
2010 God of War III Hercules Voice only
2012 Skylanders: Giants Crusher Voice only
2013 Skylanders: Swap Force Crusher Voice only
2013 Cloudberry Kingdom Bob Voice only
2014 Skylanders: Trap Team Crusher Voice only
2015 Smite Hercules (Retro Skin) Voice only
2015 Skylanders: SuperChargers Crusher Voice only

References

  1. ^ a b "Kevin Sorbo Biography (1958–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  2. ^ "KSJAA - Kevin Sorbo bio 1958-77". narod.ru.
  3. ^ "Genealogies of Sorbo's maternal great-grandfather". Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  4. ^ "Genealogies of Sorbo's maternal great-grandmother". Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  5. ^ "Fantastic Fest: Kevin Sorbo on the Twisted Julia X 3D, Christian Films, and Hollywood Snobbery". movieline.com. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Catching Up with Kevin Sorbo". Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Kevin sorbo". Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Kull the Conqueror (1997)". New York Times. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Weekend Box Office Chart for January 25th, 2008". The Numbers. January 25, 2008. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  10. ^ "Meet the Spartans". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  11. ^ Woman, The (March 26, 2010). "Pre-Order Tales of an Ancient Empire; Work-in-Progress Screengrab & Behind-the-Scenes Clip | Horror Movie, DVD, & Book Reviews, News, Interviews at Dread Central". Dreadcentral.com. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  12. ^ "Hercules - DISAPPOINTED". youtube.com. June 17, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  13. ^ "Kevin Sorbo "disappointed" Meaning". youtube.com. February 16, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  14. ^ "Abel's Field with Kevin Sorbo and Samuel Davis an Inspiring Movie – Christian Activities". christianactivities.com. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  15. ^ "Celebrity Ghost Stories - Kevin Sorbo - Ghostly Bride". Bio.com. Youtube. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  16. ^ "The Conduit Gets Hollywood Voice Talent". cinema blend. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  17. ^ "God of War III Kevin Sorbo voice of Hercules". youtube.com. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  18. ^ Conditt, Jessica (October 3, 2012). "Kevin Sorbo, Sam Sorbo, Martin Olson star in Cloudberry Kingdom". Joystiq. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  19. ^ "'God's Not Dead' Actor Says Hollywood Is 'Waking Up' to Christian Films". christianpost.com. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  20. ^ "Sam Sorbo talks hubby Kevin Sorbo & True Strength: He truly is my hero". sorbowriter.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Kevin Sorbo Uses Faith to Make 'World Fit for Kids'". cbn.com. August 27, 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  22. ^ "Hercules Actor Kevin Sorbo's Miracle Healing – CBN TV – Video". Cbn.com. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  23. ^ Gostin, Nicki (October 19, 2011). "Kevin Sorbo's 'True Strength': 'Hercules' Star Says Strokes Were Blessings In Disguise". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  24. ^ Hammel, Sara. "Hercules Star Kevin Sorbo Reveals He's Had Several Strokes". People.com. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  25. ^ Symons, Jane (February 28, 2012). "Kevin Sorbo: Three strokes left me fighting for my life". Daily Express. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  26. ^ "True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal--and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life". Da Capo Press. October 11, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  27. ^ "Kevin Sorbo: Why is Hollywood so afraid of God?". Fox News. 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
  28. ^ Hallowell, Billy (February 6, 2013). "Hercules' Actor Kevin Sorbo Bashes Hollywood's Liberal Hypocrisy and Rips Obama: 'One of the Worst Records' in American History". TheBlaze.com. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  29. ^ Circle, Silver (December 10, 2012). "Kevin Sorbo talks about ending the printing press and Learning about Agorism". silverunderground.com. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  30. ^ Chumley, Cheryl K. (March 24, 2014). "Atheist 'Noah' director brags film is least biblical Bible movie ever". washingtontimes.com. The Washington Times. Retrieved June 1, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ "Sorbo is Solid". peterheck.com. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
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