BIO Jerry Pope Fitness

BIO

Jerry Pope FitNess Martial Arts BlackBelt

Jerry has been involved in athletic sports since a youth from Baseball, Basketball, Football & the one he was most fond of Martial Arts. He studied Shotokan Karate for 10 years accomplishing a 2nd Degree Blackbelt, 2 State Titles including a Gold in Kumite-Point Fighting & Bronze in Kata-Nunchaku in addition he was also ranked 3rd in the nation for the same.

During high school he began training to become a Kickboxer while studying Muay Thai. He also began lifting weights regularly at 14 after begging his parents for a home weight set that Christmas. Upon graduating he continued his training until he became a young father at only 19 who had to find work that paid, forcing him to stop training & get a job.

Jerry went to work loading & unloading planes in the middle of the night after a long cold winter that following Spring he joined a local gym looking to get in shape hoping it could open a different door & better opportunities. This is where he first noticed personal trainers who were getting paid to help people get in shape. He began studying workout routines & nutrition from the only source readily available at the time which was magazines.

At that particular time Jerry was wanting to accomplish 2 things, find a way to workout & get paid & break into the entertainment business. Even though he was still a lover of Martial Arts he felt content with what he had achieved as a Martial Artist, now he was wanting to build his body to see where it would take him.

Jerry Pope FitNess Martial Arts State Champ

Once he obtained his first certification he found work at the same gym he had been training at & built his clientele fast. Jerry went on for several years building both his book of personal training clients & his own physique. He was noticed by a promoter who at the time had a licensed Chippendale show & was asked to audition for the group.

After making the cut he went onto tour throughout the world with the Chippendale’s as a lead in the show for a number of years finally leaving the show in 2009 after the financial crash the year prior.

Jerry went back to what he knew best which was personal training. This time he obtained his certification thru ISSA then landed a PT Director job with Gold’s Gym. Business was slow due to the economy at first but he grinded away for a couple years at it working for a variety of gyms including Urban Active who took over the local Gold’s he was working for, then onto L.A. Fitness who built several new gyms in the area while acquiring the remaining Urban Active’s locally.

During those years he had another baby, his second son & with a growing family & needing to make extra cash he started his own Male Revue show with his experience from his Chippendale days along with the performers he met it was a natural fit. Jerry still continued to train while building out his own show & tour that eventually would take him across two countries.

After several successful years with his show he was asked to audition for the second Magic Mike movie. He landed a small role as a featured extra but was shown in the movie during a scene with Channing & Joe. After the release & success of the movie the popularity of the business continued to grow keeping him booked solid.

Jerry continued on with his training & show experiencing an influx of success during this time. His Dad told him one day about a casting call locally in Cincinnati wanting people for upcoming movies. He attended what is called a cattle call audition with a couple thousand people for a chance to be in a Bruce Willis movie. Much to Jerry’s surprise he was chosen to be 1 of 8 featured extras giving him a decent bit of screen time for a newbie.

On this set he was noticed by some casting agents producers who gave him his first real-role as a hitman in the Biopic about John Gotti starring John Travolta & his late wife Kelly Preston.

This being only his 3rd movie ever he felt things were heading in the right direction rather quickly so Jerry began to scale back his Male Revue show bookings then shift to focus on having more availability to act & do stuntwork.

Over the next several years Jerry found himself going from one movie set to the next he landed a variety of roles with some of the biggest names in Hollywood where he played everything from a gangster to FBI agent & even a cop who got shot in the line of duty as well as a homeless man who refused to leave a library on a cold winter night were him & several other started a protest resulting in the SWAT Team coming to escort them of the premises.

Things were heading in the right direction for Jerry he managed to build a resume, demo-reel, industry contacts & even wrote a 120 page screenplay that was in talks with a couple major producers to get turned into a movie in 2020. Well we all know what happened early that year.

Once Covid hit then lock down went in effect this obviously changed things for many including Jerry. Over the next couple years he continued to train out of his home putting more of a focus on his family & keeping everybody healthy & safe. Once lockdown finally lifted for good he landed a small part in another mafia/gangster movie this time with somebody that he has always wanted to work with Robert DeNiro. Feeling things might turn around with acting he began training harder & began pushing his screenplay in the right direction until the SAG writers strike went into effect for what would be the longest strike in their history.

Since then he stepped away from acting then focused on what he has always done & what he believed has opened more doors for him than anything which is training. He got re-certified in both personal training & nutrition then built this site to help anybody that wants to improve on themself regardless of age limit or experience. Jerry has trained everybody from all walks of life to newbies with no experience to high performing athletes.

Here is a clip featuring Jerry Pope as a Detective in a movie called Point Blank starring Frank Grillo, Anthony Mackie, Boris McGiver & Marcia Gay Harden who he follows into a crime scene following a double homicide. This movie was made for Netflix.