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Photo from: Official Site
Birth Place: Alpena, Michigan
BIOGRAPHY
I'm the oldest of six kids. I have four sisters and another brother. We grew up as Air Force brats traveling around the US and the world. We traveled around so much we ended up in Tehran, Iran. That's where I spent my junior and senior years of High School, at the Tehran American School. In Junior High and my first two years of High School, I used to get picked on a lot. I remember times having to find new ways to the bus just to avoid the guys who were waiting to beat me up. So when we moved to Iran it was a chance to "start over".
The only way I knew to "start over" was to become a good athlete. And that's what it did.With a lot of work I become a good athlete, playing football, basketball and baseball. In my senior year, the football coach said that I had the potential to play college football. After that, playing college ball became my first big goal. Unfortunately there were two problems. First, I was playing football in Iran. The chances of a college scout coming to watch you play are about zero. Secondly, I was skinny. Not just slim, no, we're talkin' bone skinny 6'4" and 160lbs. That's skinny! Even though the Air Force provided a good life for our family, it didn't provide the luxury of sending the kids off to college. Especially being the oldest. So after High School I got a job working for Westinghouse building Defense Radars for the Iranian Air Force. It was a good job and paid pretty well but it wasn't enough to pay for college. So after nine months of working there, I joined the Army. I figured it was the best why to save some money and build my body for football.
In life so far, I guess I lived it pretty safe and normal. Yeah, we moved around and I saw some pretty cool things but I really never pushed myself to do something beyond what I thought were my limitations. So when I joined the Army I said, "What the hell", and joined one of the most elite and well-respected units in the world, the 82nd Airborne Division. I spent three years as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne. I have 64 combat-equipped jumps to my name and been to some pretty crazy places. I came close to seeing action three times but thank God I didn't.
After I got out, I went to Eastern Michigan University and "walked-on" to the football team. I didn't have a scholarship or anything, which was pretty crazy. All I came with was a lot heart, determination and my 235lb body that I built in the Military. After my sophomore year, they gave me a scholarship and I became a starter, playing offensive guard. As I got bigger they move me out to offensive tackle. At 6'4"and 285lbs, running the 40 in 4.8, I started to have the pro scouts look at me. My goal to just play college football wasn't good enough. Now I had a new goal, to play professional football. But unfortunately a knee injury in my senior year put an end to all of that. On draft day, the Dallas Cowboys did knock on my door and offered me to be a free agent. So, I took it and went to camp with Cowboys. I was doing pretty well until I re-injured my knee. Dallas released me and I went back to college to get my degree.
After a year and half, I graduated with a Computer Science degree, specializing in Computer Aided Design. I don't know why but for some reason I wanted to move to California. Friends of mine would always tell me that I should be in the movies. They'd say, "You could be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger." I'd always say, "Yeah, right." But I guess in the back of mind I always wanted to give it try. So I ended up in San Diego. It wasn't exactly LA but it was
close enough. I got a job debugging software for Xerox and after about a month, I hated it. I knew that this was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Since football, my weight training had grown from training for strength to full on bodybuilding. While I was still finishing up my degree, I had actually completed in two bodybuilding contests. So when I went to San Diego I got into it even more. My training partner at the time had dabbled into acting and would go on auditions to LA from time to time. One day he was driving up to LA to read for a part in "A Nightmare on Elm Street - Part 5". I asked if I could go along and he agreed. It was my first time in LA and I was like a little kid in a candy store. I couldn't believe I was in Hollywood. Well, after my friend auditioned the Casting Director came out asked if I like to audition. I kind of reluctantly said, "Okay." and I went into the room. They asked me if I could laugh like Freddy Kruger. I said, "Yeah." and I gave it my best shot. Well, I ended up getting the job and after that, I guess the rest of history. The "acting bug" bit me and I haven't stop since.
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