Whatever Happened To Kevin Sorbo?

Kevin Sorbo is best known for his starring roles in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Andromeda, and while his career might not have exactly taken him on an A-list mainstream path, he's still packing a ton of stuff into his day job in entertainment—and into his personal life off camera. Anyone who's certain they've glimpsed him here and there (or heard some bizarre claims) is probably right... so just what has he been up to since the end of Andromeda?

In 2012, Kevin Sorbo published a book containing some shocking revelations. While Hercules: The Legendary Journeys aired from 1994 to 1999, people started to notice more of a shift away from the title character and onto the shoulders of other stars as the series went on. No one knew why there was a sudden flood of guest stars, and it wasn't until Sorbo published his book that fans learned the truth: in 1997, he suffered three strokes as the result of an aneurysm.

True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal — How Nearly Dying Saved My Life is the story of just what happened to him, and the aftermath. He was in the middle of a promotional tour for Kull the Conqueror when he started to feel some odd sensations in his left hand and arm, but doctors brushed it off. The pain worsened during a workout, and he went to his chiropractor. After driving home, he started suffering all the symptoms of a stroke: difficulty walking, slurred speech, blurry vision, and a buzzing sound in his head. It was then that doctors discovered—and removed—the aneurysm that was blocking blood flow to his arm.

After returning to the set of Hercules, Sorbo suffered aftereffects like fatigue, depression, and anxiety attacks. "I felt like I had been transformed overnight from a youthful, carefree jock into someone who needed to grasp the backs of chairs and counters for an arduous five-yard trip to the bathroom," he told Neurology Now. Years after the end of Hercules, Sorbo still suffers from nerve damage, residual pain, the occasional migraine, and a ten percent loss of vision, and says the experience made him realize what was truly important to him: his wife and his faith. It also made him want to share his story in the hopes of helping others through similar experiences.

In 2010, Kevin Sorbo reprised his role as the son of Zeus, but even fans of the original show might not have caught it. When he signed on to do one of the voices for Sony's God of War 3 , he was, of course, lending his voice to Hercules.

This Hercules was a very different incarnation of the demi-god, as Sorbo himself noted in an interview. "This is a whole different look, I didn't quite have that look. [...] I didn't weigh 4,000 pounds. This guy's, what, 12 feet tall?" Doing voiceover work is incredibly different from the type of acting work he's more accustomed to, and Sorbo has also said that it wasn't the easiest on his voice. "It was a darker, more sinister person, a more evil person to deal with and play, but you know, from my standpoint it was a lot of fun." His role as this very different Hercules came two years after he lent his voice to another video game, The Conduit, and two years before both he and his wife did voiceover work for Cloudberry Kingdom.

Seven years later, Sorbo returned to the recording studio to provide the Voice of God for the Breathe Bible Audio New Testament. The ambitious project boasted a cast of more than 600 voice actors, and according to Sorbo, he felt it was something special from the first day. "The text really speaks to people's' hearts like nothing I've ever heard," he told Bible Gateway.

In 2014, eager fans of fantasy got to see Kevin Sorbo don his medieval gear again with the release of Mythica: A Quest for Heroes. Hidden Remote chatted with him a bit about the project, which was his second collaboration with the film company Arrowstorm. (The first, a sci-fi flick called Survivor, also starred Mythica's lead actress, Melanie Stone.) Sorbo said when he was approached to read the script, he was absolutely and unconditionally on board, even though he was playing the wizard rather than the warrior this time around. "I am a big kid. Love the genre," he said.

More movies followed, with The Darkspore and The Necromancer in 2015, and The Iron Crown and The Godslayer in 2016. Sorbo had varying degrees of involvement with the films; when he spoke with Geek Dad in 2015, he acknowledged that while his role as the heroine's mentor was limited in the initial film, he also said he was going to play a bigger part as the story—which was funded via Kickstarter—went on. When he was asked about why fantasy had become his go-to genre, he admitted, "Love that world. No rules in the fantasy world. Writers can do what they want and make it come to life. Just fun to be a part of the fantasy." He also admitted he wasn't going to be playing his favorite fantasy archetype this go-around, either...the warrior. But all the same, he promised, "Still have a lot of fight in me!"

Kevin Sorbo is a devout Christian, and recent years have seen him turning his attention to faith-based films as well as the medieval fantasy projects that made him famous. In 2014's God's Not Dead, Sorbo stars alongside Willie and Korie Robertson from Duck Dynasty to play an atheist professor who challenges his students' views on the existence of God. In 2014, he was also in Revelation Road: The Black Rider, a tale about what's left after the Rapture, and Let the Lion Roar, in which he played Reformation leader John Calvin. In 2015 that was followed by The Sparrows: Nesting and Confessions of a Prodigal Son, both films in which Sorbo played a pastor; in 2016, he played Joseph in Joseph and Mary, a retelling of one of the Bible's most well-known stories. With more films of a religious nature in the pipeline, he talked a bit with Gospel Herald about why he'd taken his career in that direction, and why he thought bringing faith-based films to the big screen was important.

"I think that most people would agree that faith-based movies back in the '70s, '80s, and even the '90s were very cheesy, poorly written, and poorly acted," admitted Sorbo. "A lot of people were turned off by them, because they were also too preachy. We live in a world where people don't want to be told what to believe in and what not to believe in. You have to walk a fine line [...] and there is now talent on both sides of the camera. More people are coming out and not being afraid to say they're a Christian."

Sorbo shows no sign of slowing down or switching gears, even teaming up with Sean Hannity of Fox News for Let There be Light, a movie about an atheist who's reformed after a near-death experience.

When Kevin Sorbo spoke with the Gospel Herald about how he believes that faith-based films are stories that need to be made, he also said that he believes his devout faith has limited the number of roles that now come to him.

"I did Hercules for seven years, it was the most watched show for a good number of years. But then, for me to get called in to read for anything—it just dropped drastically when I came out of that conservative Christian closet, so to speak. I used to read for a lot of pilots and TV shows, and it's very rare now."

Most of the projects Sorbo is involved with now are independent films, and it's been a hugely lucrative market for him. He also spoke to CNSNews about those faith-based films that did go mainstream, like Russell Crowe's Noah. According to Sorbo, Noah—and other similar movies—get the reception they do because it's largely seen as acceptable. "I think being a conservative in Hollywood and being a Christian in Hollywood, you get attacked."

There's no arguing with the fact that the 2016 presidential election was extremely polarizing, and Kevin Sorbo caught a taste of it when TMZ asked him who he thought Jesus would vote for. He told the gossip network he thought Jesus would cast his ballot for Trump; later, a few months into Trump's presidency, TMZ caught up with Sorbo again and asked him if he'd like to rethink his answer. He said he would not.

It wasn't the first time his political views have gotten him some questionable attention. In February 2014, Vice talked to him about his right-wing political views, and after claiming he'd tried to get cameos in both Hercules movies that were being released that year and was rejected both times, he went into how Hollywood has their go-to people and he's just not one of them. When asked if his social media presence and his views had anything to do with it, he commented, "They scream for freedom of speech, but only if you agree with what they say. They yell for tolerance, yet they're not tolerant of me if I have a different point of view. It's so hypocritical it gets pathetic. I look at some of these very big-name stars, and they can afford to be socialists because they're worth a hundred million dollars."

Not long after, in August 2014, he published a Facebook rant about the civil unrest in Ferguson, writing some harsh things for which he later apologized. His comments led to a massive outcry on Twitter, leading some press outlets—including The Mary Sue—to condemn him on a personal and professional level.

Kevin Sorbo became famous for his portrayal of a legendary character, and in February 2017 news broke that he'd soon be associated with another famous franchise: Superman. When he was first announced as a recurring character on Supergirl, he was simply described as one of the show's many, many bad guys. The mystery surrounding just who he—and Teri Hatcher, who was announced at the same time—was going to play built for more than a month. That's practically forever in internet time, and it wasn't until mid-March that the studio confirmed he'd be stepping into the boots of Mon-El's father, Lar Gand.

That left just as many questions as it did answers, but when Sorbo spoke with ET, he let a few behind-the-scenes tidbits slip. "I'm heading up to Vancouver," he told them, "and I'll be doing a three-show arc, and Teri Hatcher's playing my wife." He also added that if things had gone differently back in 1993, it would have been a true '90s reunion. Sorbo had been up for playing Superman in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, but the role ultimately went to Dean Cain... who also, of course, has been in Supergirl.

Since 1997, Kevin Sorbo has been involved with almost every aspect of a charity called A World Fit For Kids!. As a celebrity spokesperson for the charity, he's spoken out about things like the nationwide drop-out rate for schools and childhood obesity, pushing to get A World Fit For Kids! to go outside of California and into other parts of the country.

At its heart, the charity is an after-school program that touches on everything from physical fitness to training teens to become mentors to younger children, to preparing kids for what they're going to be confronted with once they reach the working world. Sorbo has headed up fundraisers—including the Kevin Sorbo Celebrity Golf Tournament—as well as participating in public service announcements about things like providing workplace mentors to students interested in pursuing their dreams.

In 2005, he took on another role as the spokesperson for the Afterschool Alliance, an organization dedicated to providing safe and educational programs for students. "Just off Hercules alone, I received thousands of letters over the seven years I shot that series from schools and kids and foster homes," Sorbo later recalled. "Obviously, the writers did a wonderful job of creating a character that was heroic, was very thoughtful. Fighting was always the last option for him. Humor was always the sort of way Hercules operated. I think he was a wonderful role model just based off what people tell me on a day-to-day basis."

Check out Kevin Sorbo's website, and you'll find glowing reviews for his prowess as a featured event speaker. While there's information there about booking him to speak at events, dinners, and fundraisers, he's also still catering to the sci-fi and fantasy fans that made him famous in the first place.

According to his 2016 interview with Pros and Cons, he's invited to anywhere between 30 and 40 conventions each and every year. That's a lot of appearances, and while he can't make them all, he does say he likes to visit at least five or six. Clearly a huge fan of sharing stories from on the set and behind the scenes of Hercules—and a few of his other works—Sorbo still admits that he bases his convention schedule at least loosely around where he'd like to golf. But, according to what he told Travis Langley at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con in 2014, he's always there for the fans, too.

"A lot of time, people have been waiting for years to meet you," he said. "Give them two minutes. Go say hi. Ask them where they're from. Ask them what they're doing. I see some of these celebrities, some just sign, 'next.' Come on, guys, give them two minutes of your life. What's the big deal? You're here. You might as well have some fun with it. I don't go to these things begrudgingly. I don't go to them because it's a pain in the butt. To me, It's a lot of fun."