Review: Anthem Film Festival

Sorbo earned international stardom playing the beloved Hercules in “Hercules, the Legendary Journeys” (1993-1999) the most watched TV show in the world, airing in 176 countries.

Following that success, Sorbo had the lead role as “Captain Dylan Hunt” in “Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda.” Andromeda debuted as the number one, hour-long show in first run syndication and remained at number one for its entire run from 2000-2005.

In 2017 Sorbo directed and starred in the suprise hit ``Let There Be Light`` which took the independent film world by storm and helped elevate the faith genre to a new level.

Other notable movies include Kull, the Conqueror, Meet the Spartans, and Soul Surfer (opposite Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt.) Sorbo also starred in the hugely successful God’s Not Dead. The $2 million dollar budgeted movie became the most successful independent faith based movie ever with over $75 million US Box Office.

His lead role in the independent film What If earned Sorbo the Movie Guide Award for “Most Inspirational Performance of the Year,” and the movie was also nominated for Best Family Movie of the Year.

Some of his many television credits include “Just Shoot Me,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Dharma and Greg,” “According to Jim,” “Gary Unmarried,” “Psych,” “Hawaii 5-0,” and a recurring role in the final season of “The OC.”

Kevin released his memoir in 2012, True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life. The book chronicles his brush with death when he suffered three strokes during his fifth season on Hercules, and his harrowing but heroic three-year battle back to health.

Kevin is spokesperson for A World Fit for Kids, a successful mentoring model that trains inner-city teens to mentor younger children in their communities. World Fit is the number one after-school program in the state of California.

Sorbo resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Sam and their three children.

During more than three decades of movie making and theatre, John Ratzenberger has enjoyed success as a screenwriter, director, producer and multi Emmy-nominated actor. He is also an accomplished entrepreneur and philanthropist.

John’s career began in earnest in the early 1970s, when he formed the improvisational theatre duo “Sal’s Meat Market,” which performed to standing-room-only crowds throughout Europe for 634 straight performances. To help pay the bills, John also worked as a house framer, archery instructor and deck hand on a fishing boat. Learning a few trades allowed him to pursue his dream of acting.

In 1982, John accepted a writing assignment for CBS in Los Angeles. On the day he was scheduled to return to London, he auditioned for a role on the upcoming Cheers. At the time of his audition, the character of the postman did not exist. As he walked out of the audition, he turned and asked the creators in the room “Do you have a bar know-it-all?” They didn’t know what that was, so John gave them five minutes of improv, demonstrating exactly what it meant with the perfect Boston accent. They loved what they saw and Cliff Clavin was born.

In the history of television, only a handful of series have achieved the worldwide success of Cheers, on which John portrayed Cliff for the show’s entire 11-year run. To this day, thanks to daily syndication, Cliff continues as one of America’s most beloved characters.

John is better known to a younger generation for his Pixar roles. He is the only actor to voice a character in every Pixar film including: the witty Hamm the piggy bank in Toy Story 1 (1995), 2 (1999) and 3 (2010); P.T. Flea, the circus ringmaster in Bug's Life (1998); the lovable snow monster Yeti in Monsters, Inc.(2002); the ever-changing school of Moonfish in Finding Nemo (2003); the philosophical character The Underminer in The Incredibles (2004); a Mac-truck in Cars (2006), Mustafa, the head waiter in Ratatouille (2007); as John, a human in WALL-E (2008), the construction worker in Up! (2009); Mac-truck again Cars 2 (2011); Gordon the guard in Brave (2012); Yeti again in Monsters University (2013), Harland in Planes (2013), Fritz in Inside Out (2015); Earl in The Good Dinosaur (2015); Bill the Crab in Finding Dory (2016); again as Mack the Truck in Cars 3 (2017); Juan Ortodoncia in Coco (2017); again as The Underminer in the upcoming The Incredibles 2 (2018) and Hamm in next year’s launch of Toy Story 4. Pixar artists always find a way to include John's recognizable eyebrows and mustache. Pixar’s Chief Creator Officer John Lasseter calls John his “good luck charm.``

In all, John has acted in 38 major motion pictures including blockbusters such as Superman, Star Wars: Episode V –The Empire Strikes Back and Ghandi to independent films like his hit The Woodcarver. He has written, directed or produced hundreds of television projects over the span of his career making him the 6th largest grossing actor of all time based on box-office receipts.

Since climbing off the barstool at Cheers over a decade ago, John has immersed himself in what makes America great, a country in which a truck driver’s son wound up being a TV icon. He wrote the book: We’ve Got it Made in America, A Common Man’s Salute to an Uncommon Country, a collection of essays from his five years on the road visiting factory towns throughout the country on the Travel Channel show “John Ratzenberger’s Made in America.”
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John is Hollywood’s most outspoken advocate for American manufacturing, skilled labor and the companies that are the foundation of our great country, working tirelessly to shine a light on the importance of manufacturing and trades. He addressed the Congressional Manufacturing Caucus with his oft-quoted speech “The Industrial Tsunami Heading Our Way”; the House Small Business Committee on the “New Faces of Manufacturing” and the Senate Commerce Committee about “Saving American Manufacturing” – all three speeches detailed the crushing regulations on American enterprise and the fact that we are running out of skilled tradesman to fill the hundreds of thousands of available skilled trades jobs in America. To combat this issue, he works with legislators on both sides of the aisle to bring back trades training in schools, build apprentice programs for returning veterans and support the reshoring of American companies.

John created “Nuts Bolts and Thingamajigs”, a foundation that creates and funds manufacturing summer camps and scholarships nationwide - inspiring the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs. The program took off and John eventually handed it over to the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association to run it.

In October 2017, John was appointed to the President's Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion whose mission is to identify strategies and proposals to promote apprenticeships, especially in sectors where apprenticeship programs are insufficient.

He speaks to groups across the country about eliminating the stigma around the trades while providing much-needed training opportunities for students, returning veterans and out of work Americans. “Our country’s infrastructure is falling apart and there aren’t enough skilled tradesmen to fill the jobs. Parents are encouraging their kids to go deep into debt to pay for a college education while more than half of our graduates are working jobs that don’t require a college degree.” And for the innovators who are studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), they will need the final piece of the puzzle – manual arts including welding, machining, carpentry, etc. – to bring their ideas to life. Technology is nothing without the skilled workers who turn that invention into an actual product (even if the product is the computer used to create the technology).

“My mother used to give me old radios and toasters,” said John. “She told us to take them apart and put them back together. Growing up, everyone we knew could make something and knew how to fix things.” It’s the common-sense problem solving he learned as a kid that he credits for his role as developer and founder of ECOPACK, a biodegradable shipping material that replaces Styrofoam and is now used worldwide, most often seen as the shredded accordion paper used in gift bags.

Born on April 6th, 1947 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, John attended St. Ann's School in Bridgeport, Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut and presently sits on the University Board of Pepperdine University. John is an avid sailor, shooter, fisherman, and billiard player. He plays the drums and belongs to a bagpipe band as part of the Emerald Society. He has one son and one daughter and lives in Connecticut with his wife Julie.

After high school in Pittsburgh, PA, Sam (Jenkins) Sorbo studied biomedical engineering at Duke University before pursuing a career in modeling. Modeling offered the opportunity to travel and learn languages; she is fluent in five.

Sam moved to Los Angeles for acting and landed roles in several films, including Bonfire of the Vanities and Twenty Bucks, and TV shows, including “Chicago Hope” and “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.”

As guest star on “Hercules” she met Kevin Sorbo, who swept her off her feet. They married in 1998.

In 2017 Sam produced, co-wrote and starred in the suprise hit ``Let There Be Light`` which took the independent film world by storm and helped elevate the faith genre to a new level.

Until recently, Sam Sorbo was radio host of nationally syndicated The Sam Sorbo Show, weekdays. She currently hosts the show for two hours each week, on Talk America Radio.

In 2015, Sam won “Best Supporting Actress” from the Utah Film Awards for her role in Just Let Go.

Sam is a home school advocate and author of They’re YOUR Kids: An Inspirational Journey from Self-Doubter to Home School Advocate and Teach from Love: A School Year Devotional for Families. The Sorbos home educate their three children.

Sam co-wrote, produced, and co-starred (with Kevin) in Let There Be Light.

Louis Gossett Jr. is one of the most respected and beloved actors on stage, screen and television and is also an accomplished writer, producer and director.

Off-screen he is a social activist, educator and author dedicated to enriching the lives of others. Gossett was the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his unforgettable performance as drill Sergeant Emil Foley in ``An Officer and a Gentleman.``

Among his other awards are an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal of Fiddler in the groundbreaking ABC series ``Roots,`` a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for ``The Josephine Baker Story`` and a Golden Globe for ``An Officer and a Gentleman.``

He has been nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, one Academy Award, five Images Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards and in 1992 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Gossett has also received numerous other honors throughout his illustrious career.

His film debut was in the 1961 classic movie ``A Raisin in the Sun`` with Sidney Poitier. Other film credits include ``The Deep,`` ``Blue Chips,`` ``Daddy's Little Girls,`` Tyler Perry's ``Why Did I Get Married Too?,`` ``Firewalker,`` ``Jaws-3D,`` ``Enemy Mine`` and ``Iron Eagle`` 1-4, among many others. Television credits include ``Extant,`` ``Madam Secretary,`` ``Boardwalk Empire,`` ``Family Guy`` and ``ER,`` among dozens of others.

Gossett is the author of the bestselling autobiography ``An Actor and a Gentleman,`` in which he chronicles the challenges and triumphs of his 50+ year career. Gossett is recognized as much for his humanitarian efforts as he is for his accomplishments as an actor.

In 2006, Gossett founded The Eracism Foundation which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating racism. The foundation provides young adults with tools to live a racially diverse and culturally inclusive life. Programs focus on fostering cultural diversity, historical enrichment, education and anti-violence initiatives.

Gossett was born in Brooklyn and made his stage debut when he was 17 in ``Take a Giant Step,`` which was selected as one of the 10 best Broadway shows of 1953 by The New York Times. He has two adult sons and resides in Malibu, California.