Prior to acting

McKinney had earned a black belt in karate and was a former amateur kickboxing champion in Kentucky prior to his pursuit of an acting career. Kurt McKinney is also a practitioner of Jeet Kune Do, Tae Kwon Do, Kung-Fu, & Kickboxing.

Acting

No Retreat, No Surrender

McKinney moved to Hollywood in the mid-1980s and found fame within few months. He auditioned for the lead in American Ninja (1985) but was turned down due to his youth. Instead his film debut would come playing Jason Stillwell in 1986 martial arts film No Retreat, No Surrender, which also starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, J.W. Fails and Tai Chung Kim. The movie grossed $5 million at the US box office (and spawned two sequels). Although this success was moderate compared to similar movies of the time, such as the Rocky series or The Karate Kid series, it remains a cult classic film to many people around the world. 1987's No Retreat, No Surrender 2 was originally intended to be a direct sequel to this film, but safety concerns over filming in Cambodian jungles persuaded Van Damme to back out of the project, and he convinced McKinney to do the same.

TV series

Early in his career, McKinney had guest starring roles on series such as Gimme a Break! (1985-86), Highway to Heaven (1987) and ALF (1989). He reportedly turned down the chance to star in American Ninja 3, and instead accepted his first contract role in a TV series. He appeared as the first Ned Ashton on the ABC soap opera General Hospital, from 1988 to 1991. In 1990, he won the Soap Opera Digest Award for "Outstanding Male Newcomer: Daytime" for his performance.

Films

After departing General Hospital, McKinney starred in 1993 TV film Sworn to Vengeance and (unrelated) 1996 feature Sworn to Justice. The cast of the latter included Cynthia Rothrock, Tony Lo Bianco, Brad Dourif, Mako and Walter Koenig.

Guiding Light and films

His second contract role in a TV series was also his longest, appearing as Matt Reardon in the CBS soap opera Guiding Light from 1994 to 2000 and 2005 to 2009, when the series was canceled.

During his first stint in Guiding Light he filmed a minor role in 1999 film Pop. McKinney left the soap in 2000 and continued to appear in minor roles in relatively obscure independent films, including 2000's Cupid & Kate, 2001's Supertalk, 2002's Bending All The Rules and 2004's Savage Faith.

Shortly before his return to Guiding Light in 2005, reprising the role of Matt Reardon, McKinney commented in an interview that he had been busy doing several independent films in recent years saying "you'll probably never see which is unfortunately where so many of those end up."

Personal life

McKinney is married to Maronda. They have two children.

Filmography

Movies

• No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)
• Sworn to Justice (1996)
• Pop (1999)
• Carnival Knowledge (2002)
• Savage Faith (2004)

Short

• Supertalk (2001)

TV movie

• Sworn to Vengeance (1993)
• Cupid & Cate (2000)

TV series

• ALF - 1 episode (1986)
• General Hospital unknown episodes (1988 - 1991)
• Gimme a Break! - 2 episodes (1985 - 1986)
• Guiding Light - unknown episodes (1994 - 2009)
• Highway to Heaven - 1 episode
• As the World Turns - 14 episodes (2010)
• One Life to Live - 2 episodes (2011)
• Blue Bloods - 1 episode (2013)
• One Bad Choice - 1 episode (2015)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]