From Boxer to Actor: Sean Kerrigan’s Inspiring Journey | Sean Carrigan DSH #1337

Speaker 1 Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way.

Speaker 1 Wanna take a sec to think about it. Or like a month.
Wanna keep tabs on that instant offer. With OfferWatch.
Wanna have CarMax pick it up from your driveway.

Speaker 2 So, wanna drive?

Speaker 1 CarMax.

Speaker 2 Pickup not available everywhere. Restrictions and fee may apply.

Speaker 1 The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online, and more personal info in more places that could expose you more to identity theft.

Speaker 1 But Life Lock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our US-based restoration specialists will fix it guaranteed or your money back.

Speaker 1 Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans, or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with Life Lock.
Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com/slash podcast.

Speaker 1 Terms apply. These movies and I think she knew at that point that I wanted to be an actor.
But you know, when I was in high school, I had these athletic goals that I wanted to try to hit.

Speaker 1 I wanted to go to Division I program, wrestle in division, you know, Division I tried to be an all-American.

Speaker 1 And then I also wanted to have an amateur career, more of an amateur career, and then turn pro and fight professionally.

Speaker 2 All right, guys, fellow Sean here today. Got an actor and a new release, right? Grace Point.

Speaker 1 That's right. Grace Point.

Speaker 2 Yeah, just came out. It's out already.

Speaker 1 It's out on Amazon and Apple TV.

Speaker 2 I love it, man.

Speaker 2 Was that your most recent film?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, actually, I just shot something called Demonetized.
It's coming out in April. But yeah, Grace Point, you know, we've been working.

Speaker 1 Rory Karp, the guy who directed it, he's been working on this film, getting this film together for a long time. And we got a great cast and we shot it a few years ago, and it's finally coming out.

Speaker 1 And, you know, and we're happy it's getting the attention it deserves.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it must be tough these days to make, make a top-selling movie, right?

Speaker 1 You know, I think so. I mean, you know, it's a tough time, you know, a lot of going on with, you know, streaming and, you know,

Speaker 1 movies. It's just, you know, and plus there's like so many distractions in the world.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 So it's, it's hard to get people to sit down for a whole film, but our, you know, our movie's good and, you know, hopefully people watch it.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.
I feel like there's a power shift towards the streaming platforms now. It seems like they're having a lot of power.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they are. I mean, you know,

Speaker 1 that's that's the way the world goes, you know. I mean, it's given for convenience.

Speaker 2 Because I've had a lot of documentary filmmakers on the podcast, and they have numerous stories of how they can't even get on Netflix because they said certain things in documentary.

Speaker 1 Oh, right. Yeah.
I mean, look, you know, at the end of the day,

Speaker 1 you know, people just trying to get their stuff made and get it seen. And,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 I think there's it, I think the, the, the platform has gone bigger for that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But now it's just getting flooded, and so you know, people, you know, and I don't know what

Speaker 1 you know, sponsorships people have with other, you know, uh,

Speaker 1 you know, with

Speaker 1 stuff, you know, stuff on their site and why they won't air movies and stuff like that. Like, I'm just an actor, man, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's cool, though.

Speaker 2 You're saying alternative routes. Andrew Schultz, who's a comedian, ended up launching a special on his own site and it crushed it.
Yeah, so there's other routes. He's super funny.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I love that guy.

Speaker 3 I am so excited for the spa day.

Speaker 1 Candles Candles lit.

Speaker 3 Music on.

Speaker 1 Hot tub warm and ready.

Speaker 3 And then my chronic hives come back. Again, in the middle of my spa day.

Speaker 1 What a wet blanket.

Speaker 3 Looks like another spell of itchy red skin. If you have chronic spontaneous urticaria or CSU, there is a different treatment option.
Hives during my next spa day? Not if I can help it.

Speaker 3 Learn more at treatmyhives.com.

Speaker 2 Seen him in

Speaker 2 performance, live performance?

Speaker 1 I haven't seen Andrew Schultz, but I bounce around the comedy store quite a bit, and I see a lot of guys.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Theo Vaughn's crushing her now. Shout out to Theo.
There's some good comedians these days, man. It's a new era.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 Dean DeRey, he does a lot of work with Bill Burr. I'm a big fan of Dean Del Rey.

Speaker 1 And Bill Burr is obviously

Speaker 1 the king.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's hard to beat that, man. I want to talk about your boxing career.

Speaker 1 So you started at 16.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, man. I was was little growing up.
And,

Speaker 1 you know, my parents got divorced when I was real young. So I moved down to Miami, Florida, and started living down there with my mom.

Speaker 1 And I would go up and visit my dad all the time up in DC, lived right outside DC, Northern Virginia. And he'd start training fighters.
And that's when,

Speaker 1 you know, I just kind of fell in love with it, watched him, you know, training fighters. I was around a gym.
And, you know, being that I was little, you know, I just like, you know,

Speaker 1 I had moments when I was a kid where I felt like powerless. And

Speaker 1 I wanted to have, I wanted to have a sense of power and being able to defend myself and stand up to people. And, you know, being around a boxing gym seemed like the way to go.

Speaker 1 And so my dad, my dad was all about, you know, being Irish and, you know, boxering.

Speaker 2 Fighting Irish.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's it. And so my, me and my brothers, my dad trained me and my brothers.
And so I would spend all my summers and winters up there.

Speaker 1 And, and then, um, you know, eventually I lived up there after college. And, um, and that's when I like, you know, I had my, a lot of my amateur fights.
I fought all over the country.

Speaker 1 You know, my dad would, like, every other weekend, we'd like be going off somewhere. He would find fights that were going off in Roanoke or, you know, West Virginia or, you know, up in New Jersey.

Speaker 1 He would just find fights for all of us to go to. I mean, one time we were going to.

Speaker 2 I was thinking how much death and radiation your body is exposed to every single day.

Speaker 2 From smartphones to Wi-Fi, modern technology never stops emitting invisible stressors that could disrupt disrupt the brain function, hormone balance, and cellular health.

Speaker 2 That's where Aries comes in, the only scientifically validated solution designed to help your body adapt to today's technology.

Speaker 2 It's trusted by elite athletes used by the UFC, WWE, Canada Basketball, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's backed by science, 100-plus scientists, and 40-plus institutions confirm its effectiveness.

Speaker 2 Its patented, peer-reviewed, clinically proven, and publicly traded Wi-Fi is the most tested, researched, and validated EMF solution on the market.

Speaker 2 Upgrade your biology to keep up with modern technology. Protect yourself with Aries today.
Click the link below to learn more.

Speaker 2 That's great. Except, that was Aries' tech.

Speaker 2 Cool.

Speaker 1 To fight in Brockton. I mean, it was just like my dad was always trying to get his son's fights.
Wow. Yeah.
I mean, when we were real young,

Speaker 1 I've even got a picture of it.

Speaker 1 My brother, my brother's three and a half years older than me, and my dad laced this up when I was like nine. My brother was 12, and he's just,

Speaker 1 he's like about to, they caught the photo right as he's about to land a right hand right on my head. Yeah, yeah, so you were stopping with your brother, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 He, but that's one thing my dad, like, he loved like, you know, putting gloves on the kids, and we'd all like to get out in the yard and get after it.

Speaker 2 So he had some tough love to him.

Speaker 1 That's, I think that's, I mean, that's what, you know, when he was, when he was coming up, uh, he grew up in Alcoa, Tennessee, and, you know, his uncles were prize fighters, and

Speaker 1 they would, they would lace up all the cousins and put gloves on them. And then,

Speaker 1 and then, you know, they'd, they'd all go to, you know, go to battle out in the backyard. And my, my dad was like, you know, he was, he was one of the better ones.

Speaker 2 Yeah. That's how it was back in the day, man.
My dad grew up on a farm and he was scrabbing all the time.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 You could lay hands on people in school even back then, but now you get immediately suspended.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's a lot.
I think there's a lot of fight stories back then. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Different era. Now people fight online.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Cyberbullying or whatever. Yeah, it's a much different era, but at the same time, mental health's worse.
So you kind of start to wonder like which one was better.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 1 I mean, it's a toss-up.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Would you rather get physically beat up or mentally assaulted on the internet, I guess?

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 I'll take an ass kicking. I'll take an old ass kicking up.
Yeah, I'll take a physical ass kicking, man.

Speaker 2 Man. So that was kind of your destiny from a young age then fighting.

Speaker 1 Well, you know, look, man, you know, know, I wasn't very good when I, like, it's interesting because

Speaker 1 I was real small and I wanted to wrestle and box. Those were my two sports.
And

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 started out wrestling in high school and I just, I was terrible. I wasn't very good.
I was weak. I was small.
And I think I started at 119, my, my, wow, my sophomore year.

Speaker 1 And then I went up to 130, my junior year. I never even made it to the, to the, um, to the regional tournament, you know, in Dade County.
And, and,

Speaker 1 and so I didn't even make it to regions, man, you know, regionals. And, uh,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 right before my senior year, um, I wrestled freestyle and then I went off to a summer camp. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Went to Jay Robinson Intensive Wrestling Camp in University of Minnesota before my senior year in high school. And I wrestled with the guy who was a state runner up in Michigan.

Speaker 1 I wrestled with him every day for 28 days. And it was just, me and him became pals.
And then, and then you just wrestled. They had you working out at J-Rob.

Speaker 1 They had you wrestling, you know, a couple of times a day. Then you were doing runs in the morning.
You were doing weightlifting. And then they had you write out all your goals.

Speaker 1 I came back my senior year and just destroying everybody.

Speaker 1 And one of the best wrestlers in Florida my senior year. So it was.

Speaker 1 I had a good senior year. But I'd never even wrestled.
I'd never even wrestled in a regional tournament. And,

Speaker 1 you you know went to state championships didn't do as well as i wanted to but you know um got to got to go off to college and i wrestled d1 in college amazing that's a great story of just being in the right environment right because you had to feel inside you you just needed someone to help bring that up yeah and you know and that that camp jay robinson intensive camp was you know they we had a we had a shirt that that we would all wear said i'm going to heaven because i've been through hell jay robinson intensive passing camp i love it and so i don't know what i did with that shirt but i wish i could find it yeah that that sounds like a legendary shirt.

Speaker 1 I love that quote, though.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you got to go through some tough stuff if you want to make it to the top.

Speaker 1 You do. And

Speaker 1 what was great about that, that camp was, you know,

Speaker 1 they had us writing out goals and just like, in, and, and just doing things that you, you know, pushing you farther than you realized you could go.

Speaker 1 And so I came back that year, my senior year, and preseason tournaments, I would wrestle 145 and 152. I'd go and

Speaker 1 I'd register in two way classes, and then I'd be in the finals in both. And then that's hard to do.
Yeah. And so,

Speaker 1 yeah, man. So that was, you know, it was,

Speaker 1 it was a good, it was a good, it was a good career, you know, in high school. And, and, you know, I did something.

Speaker 2 That's why I love the mental side of sports, actually, which is why, I don't know if you watch basketball, but I think Phil Jackson's the GOAT.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Because he just had the mental side of the sport on lock.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 You make the players meditate, write out goals, like you're saying. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I think that's kind of what separates the best athletes from like everyone else, the mental side.

Speaker 1 You know, man,

Speaker 1 I think you're right.

Speaker 1 It's just, it's just a matter of just working, working, working. For me, you know, I've always

Speaker 1 kind of fell on my face quite a bit. You know,

Speaker 1 it seems like I fall down 10 times before I actually succeed. And,

Speaker 1 you know, it was the same thing with boxing.

Speaker 1 There was a guy in the gym when I was younger, when I first started, he'd been boxing since he was five years old. And

Speaker 1 he just, you know, he was just better. He was just better than me because he'd been boxing so long.
It was just starting.

Speaker 1 And he would just beat my ass all the time, all the time.

Speaker 1 And my dad on the drives, you know, we'd be driving home and my dad would just be like, just keep working, just keep working, just keep working.

Speaker 1 And he's like, one of these days, it's going to be like, you know, a light bulb goes off. It's like a window is going to open.

Speaker 1 And all of a sudden, you're going to, you're going to see, you're going to see the punches. You're going to see things coming at you.
And it's just going to like get easier.

Speaker 1 He said, you just got to keep working. So

Speaker 1 I listened to it. I'd go back to the gym.
And again, you know, we'd box, we'd spar. He'd beat my ass again.

Speaker 1 And my dad would just say, just keep working, just keep working, just keep working. You work harder.
You work hard. And so,

Speaker 1 and then next thing you know, he was, my dad was right. It was like, all of a sudden, one day it was just like, you know, it's like the window open.
I was like, oh, wait a second.

Speaker 1 I'm like, I see everything. I like, you know, I started seeing punches coming at me.

Speaker 1 I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no way, no way, you know, and then, and then that, that guy, that, that, that guy, um, that kid, he never, um, he never beat me after that. Oh, really?

Speaker 2 Yeah. It was like an overnight thing for you?

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was, it was just like, and it was just like my dad said, it's like, one day,

Speaker 1 the light went off. And that, but that comes with hard work.
Yeah. And,

Speaker 1 you know, it's the same thing, you know, in wrestling, you know, it's like, it was just hard work, hard work, hard work. So I was just lucky to do two sports that,

Speaker 1 you know, that just spoke to me, you know,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 really gave me a sense of identity because I kind of felt lost most

Speaker 1 of my high school career until my senior year.

Speaker 2 You felt lost, like, just overall.

Speaker 1 Just felt like unseen, you know. Just

Speaker 1 didn't really have

Speaker 1 a sense of identity. That's the thing I love about sports is

Speaker 1 working hard at something gives you character. And then all of a sudden, you know, you start having some success and you start to feel, okay, this is like, I am here.

Speaker 1 I am, I'm seeing, I'm seeing this hard work pay off.

Speaker 1 And it was valuable for me.

Speaker 2 Absolutely. I attribute, I was a track runner in high school and that helped me find myself and learn mental discipline too.
But like, like you, I was, I was lost in high school, man. My identity.

Speaker 2 I was pretending to be someone I wasn't for sure.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was, it was tough, man. Uh,

Speaker 1 I just, I think, you know, I was smaller and and

Speaker 1 you know, I didn't really have the right direction. And,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 I found wrestling and boxing and it changed my life.

Speaker 2 So, you really tied a lot of your identity to your, your height and size?

Speaker 1 I think so. I think I did because, you know, I felt like everybody was bigger than me.

Speaker 2 Was that intimidating to you?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think, I think, especially in junior high. Junior high was rough.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 ninth and tenth grade, you just, you know, you want to be taken seriously. And,

Speaker 1 you know, you, you just,

Speaker 1 yeah, you know, it was just

Speaker 1 when you, when you,

Speaker 1 I attributed, I attributed like

Speaker 1 being not being able to like stand up to, being scared. Okay, I'll give you an example.
I'll give you an example of what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 When I was in junior high,

Speaker 1 there was a big fight, right?

Speaker 1 Out in the yard. And

Speaker 1 a couple of my friends were outnumbered.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 a bunch of guys jumped in.

Speaker 1 And I went to go help and I froze.

Speaker 1 I froze because I was scared.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I felt like I just, like, I literally couldn't make myself, I couldn't make my, like, because I was scared. Yeah.
I couldn't make myself go help.

Speaker 1 Now, a bunch of other my friends jumped in and like, you know, they, they got out of the situation, but it's still like that feeling of,

Speaker 1 of, like,

Speaker 1 being scared and frozen. I was like, dude, I can't, I can't live my life like this.
I don't want to live my life like that. And, and that's why,

Speaker 1 you know, I think I, I turned to wrestling and why I turned to boxing. And there's nothing like, you know, Rory, my buddy Rory Carpo is on here.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 He's a director. And, you know, he said he always wanted to have one fight.
He wanted to know what that's like when you're walking out to, you know, taking that walk out to the ring.

Speaker 1 And he wanted to know

Speaker 1 what that feels like. And

Speaker 1 I wanted to know what that felt like. I wanted to know

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 I can conquer being scared and frozen. And

Speaker 1 that's why I did it. And, you know, when you first walk out, that first fight that I had,

Speaker 1 I fought a guy named Leonard Johnson from Alexandria Boxing Club at the Olympia Boxing Club in Falls Church, Virginia. And it was a big smoker event.
And

Speaker 1 I, you know, walking out to that ring

Speaker 1 was one of the, one of the scariest moments of my life because I was like, why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? You know, and, and you, your part of you wants to chicken out.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 I just force myself. I was like, you have to, you have to, you have to.
And then you get in there and then

Speaker 1 you start mixing it up. And you're like, all right, I can, I can do this.
I can do this. And conquering your fears.
And I think that's what it is.

Speaker 1 It's, you know, the thing about boxing and wrestling is you learn to conquer your fears, learn to like, you know, to really like stand up and fight for yourself. And,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 there was an interesting thing that happened in that fight. It was my first fight.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 between,

Speaker 1 so it was a three-round, you know, there's a three-rounder. And between rounds two and three,

Speaker 1 you know, me and this guy had been going at it. We had been going at it.
And I was, I was doing really well.

Speaker 1 And Jim Ed Jones, who was my trainer at the time with my dad, Jim Ed Jones said to me in the middle of round two and three, he goes, hey, this next round, this next round ain't about boxing.

Speaker 1 This next round is about heart. It's about how much heart you got.
You go out there and you give it everything. This round is about heart.
It's about what you got inside.

Speaker 1 You get out there and you get it. You take it.
You take it right now. And I've never forgotten that.
Wow. And

Speaker 1 I went out there and it's just like, brother, brother, you know, just, you know, put it on the guy. And, and it was one of the greatest moments of my life.

Speaker 1 And, and I'll never forget that, that, uh, that advice. Wow.
You know, sounds like,

Speaker 1 and go ahead.

Speaker 2 No, it sounds like a really pivotal moment in your life. You remembered every single word.

Speaker 1 And like, yeah, yeah. And I remember him like standing there looking at me.
He was like, cause you're, I was gassed. I was so gassed.
I was, you know, I was exhausted. And you get.

Speaker 1 When you have your first fight, you know, and the amateurs, you, you're, you're exhausted, bro.

Speaker 2 Because you don't know how to pace yourself yet.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no. I mean, it's just, you know, it's exhausting.
And, and,

Speaker 1 you know, there's so much going, there's so much adrenaline pumping through you because you're all so nervous and scared. Right.

Speaker 1 And then you get in there and, you know, it's just, you know, you're probably going at a faster pace than you would, you know, as time goes on.

Speaker 1 I mean, as the years went on, you know, the fights got easier. You know, you, you manage those emotions better, but nothing like

Speaker 1 that first match.

Speaker 2 I love it, man. Yeah, that's why I love sports and especially fighting sports.
It builds your confidence, right?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 1 you know, I was boxing and wrestling way before

Speaker 1 MMA became a thing.

Speaker 1 I kind of missed the MMA window,

Speaker 2 but I always loved

Speaker 1 feeling like

Speaker 1 I could defend a takedown and also defend myself with my hands.

Speaker 2 It's a good life skill to have, you know, you never know when you'll need to throw hands with someone at the bar or something.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 But just that confidence knowing you can defend yourself, you can defend your girl, your friends.

Speaker 1 I mean, that's really the only reason I'd at blinds.com. It's not just about window treatments.
It's about you, your style, your space, your way.

Speaker 1 Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right.

Speaker 1 From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows. Because at blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you.

Speaker 1 Black Friday deals are going on all month long save up to 45 off site-wide plus an additional 10 off every order right now at blinds.com rules and restrictions apply

Speaker 4 this episode is brought to you by progressive insurance do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game well with the name your price tool from progressive you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills try it at progressive.com progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states.

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 started boxing and wrestling as I wanted to be able to defend myself. And then I just, as the years went on, I did it more and more.
And then my dad was such a proponent of it that, you know,

Speaker 1 just ended up having a career longer than I ever anticipated.

Speaker 1 But that was the, the main.

Speaker 1 The main reason I started was just to be able to defend myself. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Did your brother get to the pro level too?

Speaker 1 Yeah, both both my brothers. Uh, uh, I've got a bunch of brothers and sisters, but two of my brothers fought.
Uh, my younger brother, he started fighting when he was like, you know, he was like six.

Speaker 1 Wow, yeah, he was young. Yeah, he was like, you know,

Speaker 1 he was, uh, you know, he just scrapping it out, just scrapping it out. You know, you know, seeing little kids fight at that at that age is ridiculous.

Speaker 1 It's like, this looks like the running story. Yeah, super early, man.
I don't know about that.

Speaker 1 But he had tons of fights, you know,

Speaker 1 had a very long amateur career.

Speaker 1 Um, my older brother had a, had an amateur career too, and then he turned pro. And uh, I think he had like, maybe my, my brother had like maybe four pro fights.
Same thing with my younger brother.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 uh,

Speaker 1 and then,

Speaker 1 you know, but they had my, my little brother, he started boxing at a very young age, fought, fought in all kinds of national championship tournaments and did, you know, did really well for a long time.

Speaker 1 And he was even a better wrestler than he he was a boxer

Speaker 1 um but there's no money in that right no i mean no but uh i mean now he would be mma yeah you know but uh

Speaker 1 back then he had the most single season wins uh

Speaker 1 as a freshman wow in his high school he had the most single season wins as a freshman and he could have been he could i mean he could have done really he went to the state championships a couple times and and then he just got you know he got in a little bit of trouble he followed my my other brother was in and out of jail.

Speaker 1 Both my brothers have been in and out of jail. Yeah.
They both, uh, they both kind of,

Speaker 1 you know, I think they were selling drugs at one point and, you know, getting in all kinds of trouble. And then they did some time.

Speaker 2 I mean, I get it, man. I was a little weed dealer in college, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 You're broke. I mean, yeah, yeah, but yeah, they were, they were, you know, they got messed, they got messed up.
But my, my little brother's cleaned himself up pretty well.

Speaker 1 My older brother's doing all right. And, um, but they were actually both of them, what's a funny story? They were both in Fairfax County jail for about a year and a half

Speaker 1 around that time. They were both in the that in that jail on different floors when I was on the young and the restless.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And both of them got in fights in the TV rec room over somebody trying to change the channel when I was on the young and the restless. Both of them at different times.
And so

Speaker 1 that's,

Speaker 1 you know.

Speaker 2 That's cool cool that you could provide them some hope while they were in there, though.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
And then, you know, my one brother's like, that's my brother. It's like, no, it ain't.
It's

Speaker 1 that's my brother. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It sounds like you tie with your brothers.

Speaker 1 That's cool. Yeah, we're all really tight.
I'm tie with all my brothers and my sisters.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I grew up an only child, so I can't relate.
But when I have kids, I want them to, you know, have siblings. I think that's important.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was good. I mean, you know,

Speaker 1 we came from a rough and tumble family, you know.

Speaker 1 Some of my brothers and sisters had, you know, they had, they struggled with addiction. Um,

Speaker 1 you know, I think that that's why,

Speaker 1 you know, this movie that we did, Grace Point, has been so important to me.

Speaker 1 Um, you know, the character, the main character struggles with addiction, and you know, then he goes on this journey, and it's about a father and a son, and a son trying to find his father.

Speaker 1 You know, it's like an inspirational thriller

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 a heart, you know, heart, a heartwarming thriller. And so, I think,

Speaker 1 you know, that's why I related to the script

Speaker 1 and why I wanted to do it. And, you know, something like family.

Speaker 2 I love that. I think everyone can relate to addiction, whether it's themselves or their family members.
Right. I saw my dad with alcoholism.
That wrecked him.

Speaker 1 Sure.

Speaker 2 You know, I think there's, it's a problem everywhere, addiction.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it really is. And it's commercialized too.
Like, you know, alcohol, be out, you know, be, you know, and,

Speaker 1 you know, beer commercials. Right.

Speaker 1 Everything, everything.

Speaker 2 Drug commercials on every television network, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
So easy to get access to this stuff, too. Yeah, you really got to have the right people around you to break you out.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I had to break my brother out of a crack house one time. Damn.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Straight out of the movie The Fighter. I swear to God.
I saw that movie. I was like, Jesus, man, that's me and my older brother.
So those actually exist, those crack houses.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he was in some like, you know, some like,

Speaker 1 like

Speaker 1 just this worn-out house that you know everybody went and did drugs at and he called me one day and he goes hey man hey man you got it you got to come get me man these bikers are coming to jump me man these bikers are coming to jump me and so i was wrestling at george mason university at the time and

Speaker 1 i you know i was there and

Speaker 1 i was at a i think i was like i forget where i was but but a couple of my other wrestler buddies were with me and i said hey man i gotta go i gotta go rescue my brother man he's at this this, you know, drug house.

Speaker 1 And, you know, it's, I, I, I don't know. I, I just got to go.
And they were like, hey, we're coming with you. And I was like, yeah, I don't know what I'm walking into, man.

Speaker 1 You know, so just, just letting you guys know that. And so they're like, we're coming.
So

Speaker 1 my buddies, um,

Speaker 1 uh, Mark and Ty, you know, they're guys that wrestled on my wrestling team with me.

Speaker 1 We went and we got there and we pulled up to this house and I go, all right, I don't know how this is going to go, but what I'm going to do is I'm just going to go kick that front door in and start yelling, where, you know, where's Michael Kerrigan?

Speaker 1 Where's Toby Kerrigan? Where's he at? And so

Speaker 1 you guys, you know, Ty, you go around the back. You can come, Kir, you come with me or you get, however, you want to do it.
So Ty went around the back. I went in the front.
You know,

Speaker 1 Kir was with me. I just kicked the door in.
I was like, yeah, where the fuck is Michael Kerrigan? Where the fuck is Toby Kerrigan? He also goes by Toby. That's the big name.

Speaker 1 And I said, where the fuck is he? Where is he?

Speaker 1 And they're like, you know,

Speaker 1 people were like, oh, he's over there. He's over there.
I was like, I was like, hey, hey. You say, oh, hey, man, amen.

Speaker 1 And I grabbed him, got him out of there. And then,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 save him, I think. I don't know.
And that was your older brother? It's my older brother. Yeah,

Speaker 1 he's struggled with addiction over the years.

Speaker 2 So you kind of had to grow up quick then. You got to be responsible for your older brother.

Speaker 1 You know, he's,

Speaker 1 he's, like I like to say, he's my, he's my older little brother i love that so but uh but he's always you know look we have different moms and you know he had he had a rougher upbringing than i did really and so you know same same thing with my other uh older brothers and sisters and so i take that into account you know uh

Speaker 1 you know it it's

Speaker 1 i guess we're we're a victim of our environment sometimes when we're growing up yeah

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 you know, I just

Speaker 1 try to be as much help to my brothers and sisters as I can. And, you know,

Speaker 1 family's meant so much to me over the years that I'll do anything for them. I love that, man.

Speaker 2 My blood.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Family is important for sure.
I saw,

Speaker 2 so I grew up mixed. I'm half Irish, half Asian.
So it's such a different lifestyle with family on the two sides. So I got to experience both, you know.
Wow, man.

Speaker 2 So now I kind of know what the best of each and I'm going to have a good family one of these days, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Are you going to have kids? Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I didn't want kids when I was younger, but now I do. Yeah.
You know, I

Speaker 1 just, I don't know if, should I talk about it? I just,

Speaker 1 I just,

Speaker 1 my girl and I, we decided to have kids. Oh, nice.
And so, and we just found out that. We're having twins.
Dude, congrats. Yeah.
And I called it, too. I called it, by the way.

Speaker 2 Two for one, baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 I told her, I actually told her beforehand, I was like, hey, listen, we need two for one. I'm not getting any younger.
You met me.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And so

Speaker 1 we're pretty excited about that.

Speaker 2 That's cool, man.

Speaker 1 You held off. Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know, hey, what was the deciding moment to have them?

Speaker 1 When I met her. Wow.
I just,

Speaker 1 I hadn't met

Speaker 1 anyone that checked all the boxes like that for me. And it made me, she's such a good mom.
She has, she has two kids from previous marriage. And

Speaker 1 she's just the most wonderful person and mother that you could ask for and and i just met her at the right time and we've known each other for a long time but we never really uh

Speaker 1 really started dating until back in may is she an actress as well no no she she she she's government worker she works at she runs the water department over in the city of oxnard total opposite personality it sounds like yeah yeah it's uh she i like i always tease her i'm like you like the movie chinatown you run the water

Speaker 2 sometimes you need that balance man the opposites attract like

Speaker 1 it's uh it's cool. It's uh, she's, but she's amazing and she's super supportive with my career.
And, um, so I'm just lucky.

Speaker 2 I love that, man. I want to hear about your transition to acting because that's not an easy, easy space to penetrate, right? Getting acting gigs.

Speaker 1 No, uh, you know, man, uh, when I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be an actor. And, um,

Speaker 1 you know, I, one of my favorite movies is Star Wars, you know, classic. Yeah.
And,

Speaker 1 you know, then Return of the Jedi came out and, or

Speaker 1 Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. And like, you know, when I was a kid, I'd see these movies and I'd like come home and I'd just like act them out to my mom.

Speaker 1 And then, you know, Luke Skywalker did this and then Ansel did this. And my poor mom, you know, she's like, you know, been working all day.

Speaker 1 She's like sitting there trying to like listen to me describe all these different scenes of these movies. And

Speaker 1 I think she knew at that point that I wanted to be an actor.

Speaker 1 But, you know, when I was in high school, I had, you know, especially after,

Speaker 1 you know, my, especially my senior year, it was like, you know, going into my senior year, I had, I had these athletic goals that I wanted to try to hit. I wanted to, I wanted to go to,

Speaker 1 you know, a Division I program, wrestle in Division, you know, Division I, try to be an all-American. And then I also wanted to have

Speaker 1 an amateur career, more of an amateur career, and then turn pro.

Speaker 1 and fight professionally for a couple of years. I only wanted to have like, my goal was to have like five pro fights.
I ended up having eight. And so, um,

Speaker 1 I just wanted to, uh,

Speaker 1 but I wanted to, you know, uh, do those things. And then I, I used to tell people my senior year, I was in drama my senior year.

Speaker 1 I would tell, I used to tell people in my class, I'd be like, I'm going to go to, I'm going to go to college, I'm going to try to be an all-American in wrestling.

Speaker 1 I'm going to, I'm going to have a few, I'm going to have a brief pro career in boxing, and then I'm going to become an actor. Wow.
And so you called it.

Speaker 1 And so, so, like, people, like, uh, you know, they'd be like, you're going to do what? You're going to do what? Oh, and then you're going to do what?

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 okay, pal. You know, that's not the path that everybody takes.

Speaker 1 But I was just, I had it, I had it in my mind.

Speaker 1 And so when I, when I was boxing, I was, you know, I turned pro in 98 and I was, you know, fought professionally until April 2000. And

Speaker 1 after that fight, I, I, I got cast in a UPN pilot that was shooting in Baltimore. And

Speaker 1 I got my SAG card from it. And so

Speaker 1 once I got my SAG card, I was like, all right, well,

Speaker 1 I'm going to go to New York. I'm going to go to L.A.
I'm going to give up my

Speaker 1 boxing career. Wow.
It's time. It's time.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 my dad,

Speaker 1 he was pissed, right? Oh, he was so mad. He said, hey, man,

Speaker 1 you're going to be driving cabs the rest of your life.

Speaker 1 I go, hey, Pop, I'll show you that one of the one of these days you're going to see me on the big screen he's like hey he's like i'll be dead and gone before that ever happens

Speaker 1 and then uh

Speaker 1 i went off i went off to new york i was having no luck uh up in new york i was like bouncing at the china club in new or uh for like six months having no luck and then and then i ran into michael rapperport and he goes he goes hey i i he was at the club and i go hey man when you made it in in film or when you made it in acting did you did you make it here in new york or did you make it in la he goes what kind of acting you want to do you want to do tv and film and i go yeah he goes then you got to go to la man

Speaker 1 and so i would next thing you know i was i was in my truck driving out to la

Speaker 1 and i've been here for 24 years wow shout out to michael yeah does he know that story by the way no i mean i've never i've never ran it just let him know he's coming on the podcast is that right yeah i'll tell him about it yeah that's cool man and so uh yeah i love that guy i love he's hilarious yeah and and he's a great actor and and uh he he said that to me right there.

Speaker 1 And I was, I was bouncing at the China Club.

Speaker 1 And I was like, you know, and he, and because I, he, and he was cool too, because as he was walking out, I was like, hey, man, you mind if I asked you something?

Speaker 1 You know, and, and he was, he was very forthcoming, man. He, he was a good dude.
And, uh, but anyway, so

Speaker 1 fast forward years later, I'm, I'm sitting with my dad. We're at, we're at a DC film festival.
We're about to watch this movie I did on the big screen.

Speaker 1 And he, and my old man's sitting right next to me. And I go, hey, hey, pop, remember how you said that you'd be dead and gone before you saw me on the big screen? Guess what?

Speaker 1 You're about to watch me on the big screen. He's like, You saw him a bitch.
You remember everything. God damn it.
And so it was good.

Speaker 2 Sometimes your biggest haters are your biggest smoker.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he became one of my biggest fans, though. He was, he was, he was.

Speaker 2 Yeah, shout out to my mother. You know, skeptical at first, you know, coming from China, academics is everything.
Education, getting good grades. That's how she escaped poverty.
So

Speaker 2 why not apply it to me, but a different path, you know? Sure. So we used to butt heads all the time about it.
But now she watches every single episode. She's like my biggest fan.

Speaker 1 Of course.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's funny how that works.

Speaker 1 My dad, at the end of, you know, in his older years, he would hang out. He would hang out at like the Moose Lodge and the American Legion.
And he'd be like hanging out with all these, you know,

Speaker 1 like be hanging out with different women and stuff. And he, and all of a sudden, I get a call and he, and I go, hey, what's up? He go, hey.

Speaker 1 Tell this girl that you play stitch on the young and the wrestlers.

Speaker 1 And the girl go,

Speaker 1 your dad says you're stitch. I don't believe.
And I'll be like, oh, yeah, hey, yeah, yeah. And she's like, prove it.
And I go, all right, well, I was with Victoria. I left Victoria.

Speaker 1 I got with her stepmom, Ashley. And then, you know, I left Ashley and then I got with Ashley's daughter, Abby.
And then I was in a love triangle between Ashley and Abby.

Speaker 1 And she was like, oh my God, it is Stitch. And then my dad grabbed the phone.
He's like, all right, hey, thanks, man. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 Used it together, girls. This was before FaceTime, you know?

Speaker 1 Yeah, man.

Speaker 2 Times have changed. That's funny, man.
Yeah. Well, dude, this has been really fun.

Speaker 1 What are you working on on next where do people keep up with you uh i'm on instagram follow me on the real sean kerrigan and uh you know do us a favor go out and uh buy or rent grace point yeah on linking below yeah it's on amazon and uh apple and

Speaker 1 you know uh

Speaker 2 we worked really hard on the movie and and it's got a great twist at the end and people uh get a lot of great feedback from it see you guys after you're done watching beast games check out grace point it's on the same platform right on let's do it all right guys, see you next time.

Speaker 2 Thanks.