Randall Murphree
AFA Journal editor
March 2014 – Kevin Sorbo achieved great success in the 1990s with his lead role in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, a six-season hit that became one of the world’s most highly rated syndicated programs.
In recent years, he has starred in numerous faith-based films, the latest titled God’s Not Dead. The story is cut from today’s headlines, based loosely on dozens of legal cases in which university students and campus ministries have suffered discrimination and been condemned because of their Christian faith. Sorbo plays Professor Radisson, a philosophy prof who says God is dead.
Josh is a freshman who has the courage to take on Radisson in a debate about the existence of God. Parallel story lines feature other characters – a cancer victim, a Muslim co-ed, an Asian student, another professor – struggling with whether to accept or reject Christ.
There are no language issues, but the film is rated PG, so there are reasons for cautions – mild immodesty in co-ed dress, social drinking (no abuse or drunkenness), mild violence when a Muslim father slaps his daughter (no blows shown on-screen), and a hit-and-run victim who dies in the street. (See AFA Journal, 2/14.)
Sorbo talked to AFA Journal about his Christian faith and his acting career.
“I grew up Lutheran and came to faith in Christ when I was 12 at a Billy Graham Crusade in Minneapolis,” he said. Even though he grew up with three brothers in a neighborhood where being a jock was the norm, he had an interest in acting as a kid.
“We made fun of actors, and all the while I was longing to join the acting group,” he recalled. “Some of my earliest memories are of watching old black and white movies with my mom – Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant.”
Those black-and-white stars remain his heroes when it comes to his profession. Personal heroes? “Mom and Dad led the way,” he responded without hesitation.
Cultural or historical heroes? “Abe Lincoln and Ronald Reagan,” he said. “It’s sad that men like them who fight to do right, to be good, to be righteous, just get beaten down by the press. That seems very strange to me.”
“We’re excited to let our AFA friends know about the movie God’s Not Dead,” said AFA president Tim Wildmon. “It’s one we know our families will appreciate and enjoy.”
Sorbo and his wife live with their three children in California. He gravitated toward Christian films because having young children made him aware of the lack of family entertainment and “doing decent movies is a way to fight back a
little bit.” 
Hercules finds strength in weakness
Kevin Sorbo’s book True Strength carries a subtitle that serves the reader well because it highlights two milestone seasons in his life: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal – and how Nearly Dying Saved My Life.
After five seasons of his hit television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Sorbo suffered four strokes. He said the strokes felt as if he had moved from the body of a physically fit 38-year-old to that of a 90-year-old in a matter of seconds. After changing his fast-paced, super hero lifestyle, he began to see the strokes as a gift.
“They were a gift because they didn’t kill me, and the strokes certainly opened the door for me to be more grateful,” he said. Four months after the strokes, he married actress Sam Jenkins, having met her during her guest role on Hercules.
True Strength reveals how one man finally found a proper balance of faith, family and film. It is available at bookstores, online booksellers or truestrengthbook.com.
