The Weekend Project is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real after-get off work days of some of culture’s most exciting people.
Actor and producer Kevin Sorbo thrilled audiences around the world this weekend as he donned leather pants and a muscle shirt to slay monsters in the hit TV series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.” This weekend, actor and producer Kevin Sorbo discussed with The Daily Wire why he believes every film is grounded in faith, his winning philosophy for choosing a path, and why even college football stars shouldn’t give up on high school drama classes.
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Kevin Sorbo joins our chat with great energy. He’s been doing press for one of his latest projects, the faith-based feature film “Elijah Peel,” in which he plays a semi-cynical, seasoned talent manager for a drug-addled rock star on the road to redemption. Kevin, 68, who has spent most of his life in business, brings a certain industry greasiness to the role. This isn’t his first rodeo.
“I always tell people I became famous overnight in 13 years,” Kevin said with a laugh. “I know what Hollywood is like. Rejection is the norm. “
He’s certainly no stranger to controversy either. Kevin is often portrayed as a Hollywood outcast who pisses people off by openly expressing his beliefs and values. He was “canceled” before anything could cool down and was dumped by his agent and manager at the peak of his career. Although the tide may eventually change, for Kevin, he will always be himself. He was raised a Christian and unintentionally undermined a system that needed to be overturned. Dragging it over the X doesn’t change the fact that some tables need to be flipped.
But Kevin managed to carve out an exciting path parallel to the mainstream, one that brought him wealth beyond the box office. Established his own production company sobo studiohe can finally tell the kind of positive story that the whole family can watch. As well as collaborations with other boutique production companies such as the upcoming “Dinner with the Enemy” — a biblical account of the Last Supper as narrated by Kevin — only enhances his ever-expanding body of work.
As we speak, he’s still tending to his recently replaced knee. Somehow, that doesn’t stop him from attending golf tournaments, fitness classes, or jet-setting trips. He’s about to go on another trip to Israel with his wife — an immersive experience they’ve opened to the public. “We met atheists and agnostics on our journey because they did not deny that there was a man named Jesus,” he said. “If you love history, come to Israel. It’s awesome and you’ll have a lot of fun. ”
If you see a guy driving around Florida in a golf cart blasting Led Zeppelin, he’s probably Kevin – a Hollywood outlaw looking for good trouble.
new roots
Kevin is a Minnesota native but has spent most of his career in Los Angeles, working as a model and starring in hit TV series like “Hercules” and “Andromeda” as well as a slew of movies. But after more than three decades in Hollywood, he wanted something more.
“We fled in January 2019,” Kevin said. “We live in the free state of Florida and we love it here. I don’t miss the taxes and the traffic. I don’t miss most of the people.” But some remnants of his Southern California chapter still tug at his heartstrings. “I miss some of my dear friends who are still suffering there. I miss the house I lived in.” He was talking about his Mediterranean villa, complete with pool, spa and gym, as well as miles of fruit trees and million-dollar landscaping.
“I miss the weather here,” he added. Once he found out I’d left Los Angeles, too, he asked me if I’d moved to Florida, too. I’m in Nashville—and when I say “another place,” I mean a popular destination for California expats, including Kevin’s close friends like actors Kirk Cameron and Gary Sinise.
Now happily settled in West Palm Beach with his actress wife, Sam Sorbo, Kevin is busier than ever, hands-on in every step of filmmaking. “The people I’ve met and the work I’ve done with other independent producers and production companies has been great. I make four to five movies a year,” he said.
early riser
Kevin is not the type to hit the snooze button all the time. “I’m a morning person. I always have been, my whole life,” he assured me. “I think it’s because I walked the newspaper route as a kid, waking up at 4:30 a.m. six days a week in the winter in Minnesota for seven years.”
He no longer throws the Sunday news onto people’s porches, but his morning routine is non-negotiable. “The first hour of ESPN is usually spent catching up on sports,” he said. “I don’t have the patience to watch baseball or basketball anymore, but I love watching a good game.”
Most mornings, he’s out the door before he remembers to eat. “Breakfast, you know – it’s weird. Half the time I have breakfast and the other times I don’t have breakfast,” he said. If he eats anything, it must be nutritious. “I try to take protein, mix in a little carb, and then I go golf.” (He always gets the green.) “I don’t go to any golf course unless they let me tee off,” he admits. If you follow his Instagram, you know he doesn’t waste any time wandering the fairways trying to make friends. It took him “about an hour and a half, an hour and 45 minutes to play 18 holes. I’m a 6 handicap. For golfers, they know it’s not great, but it’s good.”
Once Kevin got home, everything went smoothly. “I’ve been trying to raise money,” he said. “I’m always looking for funders to help our small independent films. Most of my films are in the two to three million dollar range. People think that’s a lot of money.” Kevin points out that it’s more like a “catering budget” for a typical blockbuster.
Kevin and Sam’s three children are now in their twenties, but the hard-working couple isn’t stopping after successfully homeschooling their children. Sam frequently travels across the country teaching the techniques she uses to educate her own children. “It’s always about work,” Kevin admits. But he told me, “I love working.”
kick up some dust
Some people in their sixties may be content to live leisurely like the typical Florida retiree. But not Kevin. “I work out every day,” he explains. I saw the receipt on Instagram. The same is true if he is on the road. “I mean, I can’t lift as much as I did in the ‘Hercules’ days,” he said with a laugh. “I do 30 to 40 minutes of cardio every day. I don’t like sitting.”
He maintains his sanity through an active lifestyle. “Golf is very relaxing for me, even though I play fast.” Of course, he now has to queue up the perfect podcast or soundtrack. “Whether it’s Led Zeppelin day, Billy Joel day, or Frank Sinatra day, it all depends. But for me, it’s my two-hour break in the day. I love mornings. That’s my zen moment.” Kevin confidently considers himself one of the OGs pushing both Up and Down. “I like to stretch,” he said. “I mean, I was doing yoga moves before yoga was called yoga, you know?”
Couples who laugh together will stay together forever
Kevin and his wife, Sam, have been married since 1998, the Hollywood equivalent of about 17 years old. How did they do it? With great communication and great comedy.
“When we go to bed, we talk about the day, what’s going to happen tomorrow, whether we’re going to be on a podcast together, whatever it is,” he said. “But we always put on situation comedies because we want to laugh before going to bed.” They spoke highly of the writers of Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell’s new drama “Madison.” “We’ve finished watching ’30 Rock’ and Tim Allen’s ‘Last Man Standing,'” Kevin said. “Now we’re watching season two of The New Adventures of Old Christine, which is a really fun show.”
As for a nightcap, you’ll probably find Sam enjoying a glass of wine if the day calls for it. But Kevin describes himself as more of a cocktail drinker once a week. “I love a good margarita or a good Crown Royal,” he said. I jokingly told him that Margo was very “Florida.” But he started making tequila a long time ago. “Before that I was ‘Margarita,'” he said with a laugh. “Maybe more key lime pie now. I’m still a water person.”
New areas of entertainment
He may not be living a happy life in the movie capital of the world (if Los Angeles can still claim that title), but show business is in Kevin’s blood. “I still love making movies,” he explains. He has been passionate about the faith-based genre for over a decade. But he believes each film has its own ideological bent. “I call every movie faith-based. If you’re an atheist, ‘I don’t believe in anything’ is a pretty strong belief. Every movie has a message.”
Kevin is one of the few Hollywood veterans who has truly broken the mold and now works to produce high-quality content for conservative audiences. But he led the movement and never lost sight of the point of entertainment. “I love making movies that Hollywood has made before, so I’m always looking for the next one,” he said. “I have a lot of good scripts. It’s just a matter of finding people who recognize that we have a spiritual war in America, just like we have a culture war, and we have to fight back.”
“There’s a lot of crazy stuff in the world right now. There’s a lot of hate and anger,” he admitted. He hopes to change the culture and, like a real-life superhero, wreaks havoc on the machine. Maybe he was more like David challenging Goliath. Or maybe he’s Kevin Sorbo—a three-time stroke survivor and an indestructible target for anxious leftists who proves that the best revenge isn’t revenge at all. This is resilience.
When I asked for some life advice, he said, “Don’t let anyone set your limits.” “Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t do. Follow your dreams, even though it’s corny. I’ve known since I was 11 that I was going to be an actor. I told my parents. I got, ‘That’s good.'” he laughs. “I’m sure they thought it was a phase, but I knew what I wanted to do.”
He just suffered from being a dramatic kid trapped in a star athlete’s body. He remembers his football and basketball teammates teasing him about his love of the stage. But from his perspective in a drama class, he recalls with a wink, “I was like, ‘All the prettiest girls are in that class, guys.'” As an enthusiastic heterosexual, it worked out well for me. “Years later, when he met his future wife Sam on the set of Hercules, he was still working on it.
“Love what you do and be good at what you do,” Kevin said. “It makes life so much easier.”