Success Story: How Matthew Horn’s Time in the Navy Prepped Him for Fight Scenes and the World of Acting
Matthew Horn always wanted to be an actor, and he was willing to do anything to achieve his goal. The Kansas native enrolled in the U.S. Navy, which took him across the world and eventually to California, where he started acting. Horn’s Navy background helped prep him for set life, and helped provide him with the combat skills required for fight scenes.
Through Casting Networks, Horn has booked commercial work and appeared in action movies. The actor shares how he makes the dream work and provides advice for his peers.
How did you decide to become an actor?
I’ve always wanted to act since I was four years old. I’m from Kansas, so I wanted to come out to California. I didn’t know [if] I wanted to act in San Diego or LA, I didn’t know too much about that, but they were like, “Boy, you’re in Kansas. What are you talking about? You ain’t going nowhere.” The military was my way out. I started playing college football and some stuff happened and I ended up joining the military.
When I joined, my chief asked me in boot camp, “What do you want to be?” I was like, “I want to be an actor.” He was like, “No, for your job. What do you want to do? What do you want to be?” I said, “Just acting, man. I want to be an actor.” He laughed at me, he was like, “No, in the military.” I said, “I don’t care. I’m good with my hands, just give me anything.” He said, “All right, where do you want to go?” I was like, “California for all three choices.”
I’ve always wanted to act as a kid. My parents divorced [when I was] three years old. When I would go see my mom in Kansas City, she would take us out to the movies. As a kid, I can remember going to the movies a lot with her. That would be our little getaway time.
Now that I think about it, deep down inside, one reason I wanted to become an actor is so that my mom would come and see me [on screen], so it’s even deeper than what I had initially realized. I love being on TV and in front of the cameras. I have a good time, but I think it was stimulated partially by my parents’ separation.
I wanted my mom to be able to see me on TV, and [that wish] grew even more. When you see Disney and all these kids on TV having fun, you’re like, “I want to do that.” That’s what I want to do.
Now that I’m older, I don’t even like nine-to-five jobs. I still feel the same way, but my passion has grown even more. When I’m acting, I’m being myself, but it takes me away from the trauma that you experience in the military and your daily life and you become someone completely different, but it’s still you at the same time.
It’s weird to say, but it’s like I’m myself and someone else at the same time. It helps me to grow and gets me out of my own stressed-out life sometimes.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Horn.How do you think that the Navy prepared you for the entertainment industry?
Honestly, it helped out a lot. The TV show, The Last Ship, was the first time I got to do something pretty decent in my life as a background extra. It was like, “Hey, they’re going to be filming. Do you want to be a part of this?” I was like, “This is my chance. Yes. Yes. Yes, I do. I’m already a sailor in the military.”
[In the Navy], when you have to stop and wait and hurry up to wait, that’s like the entertainment industry. When you have a big chance, show up, show out, do your best, put a smile on and bring forth the best energy you can. With the military, it’s like the industry. You’re hurrying up to get somewhere and then you’re sitting down, you’re waiting and then you do your job and you go home.
How did you discover Casting Networks?
I believe I was in San Diego and I was searching different casting sites and didn’t know which one to join. There were some possibilities, but I was like, “Let me go ahead and give Casting Networks a try,” and I got some gigs off of there.
I had done some music videos. There was a skating commercial. I got hired as a football player extra for an Adidas commercial. I’ve done some hair commercials. Then you find out there are some movies and shows that you could end up doing.
I made a lot of connections off of Casting Networks, too, which also helped me. The people you meet, if they love your energy, you grow from there.
Tell me about some of your successes. What were some of the highest-profile gigs to date that you’ve been on?
I was in a film called Mundije. They did a red carpet viewing in Las Vegas and another one in New York. I played a bodyguard and my character didn’t die like some of their other ones did, so when they shoot the sequel, I’ll be a part of that.
There was another film where I was playing an undercover FBI agent. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to have that many lines, but they liked my character. I end up doing a fight scene where I’m throwing chairs and getting my butt kicked.
I love the action-packed scenes. There’s a director named Shaun T. Benjamin. Shaun always was really sweet. He was like, “Come on, Matthew, you were in the military. You know how to fight!” I got to come out with him and do some films where I’m fighting in it as well. That made him proud to the point where he wanted to continuously work with me.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Horn.What was the audition process like for some of those projects?
Some of them will ask you to send a video in or say, “Slate your name, your height, your size,” you know, the normal things that they ask. For Mundije, I had to come in. They wanted to see if I could fight a little bit, so they had me throwing punches. They had me throwing kicks.
I forget his name right now, but there was this guy who won three world championships. Forgive me for not remembering his name right now, but they had me fight against this guy. I had a plastic knife that they gave me. [The casting director] was like, “Now, what I want you to do is to not let him take that knife from you and slice him up.”
So we’re going at it. I’m slicing him up. He’s trying to get me. I’m cutting him up and everything, and then he finally kicks the knife after about maybe three to five minutes of wrestling and fighting. After he does that, I do a spinning world kick on him. He also flips me and as he flips me with my arm, I hit a front flip and I land on my feet a little bit. Then I fall to my knees and I get back up. He was like, “Man, you’re a really good fighter.”
The director has his own dojo and he fights over there. He has a gym as well, and he did some fight moves against me. The process was beautiful. I got hit one time for real and he was like, “Sorry, sorry.” I just shook it off. “Don’t worry about it.” I’ve been in plenty of fights, but it was a great time.
What are some other successes that you’ve had from Casting Networks?
There’s one where I’m doing an Adidas commercial with a football player. They had me come out because I played college football and I was pretty built from the military as well. They had me come out and run some plays.
It was a fun gig and afterward, I got some free socks! I met some people in that commercial that I’m still friends with today. The professional football player that’s on there, he’s acting as well now and doing pretty good.
Honestly, I feel like the best part about doing some of these commercials is the people you meet. It’s not only that fans recognize you, or if your mom sees you on TV or on YouTube, or whatever site that it ends up being on. It’s also the connections you make because then you’ll get hooked up with another job as long as they like you. Then you can keep working and better yourself.
I still have fun playing football, though. It reminds me of high school and college when I used to play.
I also booked a gig where I’m playing an uncle and he’s got the first weed and coffee shop in LA, and the first black-owned. It’s a comedy, [and] it’s really good. I’m hoping they continue to push hard to get ready to shoot it. I had a blast with that.
There’s another gig where I played a guy named John. I also played a girl on there named Denise, and I believe you can watch it on Prime. It’s called Orange Park.
I started as a cameraman. I went to school with the director and some of the other people. They were like, “Hey, can you help us out and play a role?” Sometimes you get in by just showing up.
I’ve also done some music videos. I make music. I went to LA Film School and LA Recording School. I had a chance to do a competition for Murphy-Goode wine company. I did two music videos for them, [and] one of them has over 100,000 views. They flew me out to Sonoma. They flew me in a helicopter over the winery and put me in a hotel and it was a great time.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Horn.Do you have any audition tips and advice that you could share with your peers?
What’s working so far for me is to keep auditioning and keep applying for gigs, but once you’re in an audition, if you mess up, just keep going with it. If they want you to redo it, then you can redo it a different way.
If you’re filming at home and you’re filming some type of gig that you’re doing, keep going with it, keep recording, record again and again until you get the good shot or the great shot that you want to send in, and then record again and see if it’s better. If it’s better, keep that one. If it’s worse, then stay with the better one.
What would you say helps someone succeed on Casting Networks?
Honestly, there are so many auditions and gigs that you can get off of Casting Networks. Keep pushing, keep applying for gigs and keep auditioning.
You’re going to hear “No” a lot. I was used to hearing “No” from my dad. In the military, you hear ”No” or “Yes” and you’re getting yelled at, so you’ve just got to keep going. Even if you hear “No,” maybe it’s not the right time.
I got a gig one time where it got on TikTok—it got 14 million views on there. On YouTube, it got 22 million views. I was talking to kids about getting bullied and I didn’t know I was going to get the gig.
I was hearing “No” here and there. I was going through a rough patch of trying to get auditions and trying to get money. This one got a lot of views based on me continuing to push through until I got that gig. I got another gig based on that project from the same guy who directed it.
Sometimes you’ll get gigs. Sometimes you won’t. It’s up to you whether you want to continue. If you want to act, don’t think it’s just about the money. Sometimes you’re not going to be as big as you think you should be, but if you keep pushing, you’ll make it through. Just keep pushing and hold on.
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Chris Butera is a voice actor specializing in commercial, eLearning and corporate narration voiceovers. When he’s not helping clients achieve their goals, he’s playing guitar and bass.
