My story
The highlight reel
A bachelor's in communications from Baylor.
A master's in counseling from San Diego State.
Roles on NCIS, ER, and Superbad.
Ten pieces of real estate in California, Texas, and Florida by age thirty.
A role on Dave Ramsey's team.
An invention that changed sports on a global level.
People Magazine, USA Today, Access Hollywood.
Public speaking awards and the cover of Toastmaster Magazine.
Outside winning. Inside, something wasn't right.
Behind the highlight reel
I was a communications student at Baylor when a car wreck took my leg and killed a friend of mine. I went on to earn my master's in counseling.
I ended up in LA working as an actor and a stunt double. Well, a STUMP double. Productions used my amputated stump in body double roles. NCIS, ER, and Superbad, among others. People Magazine, USA Today, and Access Hollywood came next.
What seemed like the peak of my career was an invitation to the Playboy Mansion with A-listers like Adam Sandler, Bruce Willis, and Emma Stone.
Not long after, I found my brother Matt, my best friend, dead from a drug overdose in his Beverly Hills home.
I went to work for Dave Ramsey. I invented a sports product that changed track and field on a global level. Behind the scenes, I was struggling with severe mental illness and substance use disorder.
After Dave Ramsey fired me himself, I ended up in eleven different treatment programs. Every time, I was trying to get better for someone else. The job, the marriage, the kids, the image. I went from parties at the Playboy Mansion to living in a mold-infested double-wide trailer on the banks of a river.
I got sober for a while. I went on to host a podcast about addiction, won multiple public speaking awards, and made the cover of Toastmaster Magazine.
Then I relapsed again and hit rock bottom. I was alone in an apartment, not sure I wanted to see morning.
A friend of mine came over, saw the shape I was in, and reminded me that everybody loves a comeback story. Then he asked me one question. What is one thing you can do today to start yours?
What I needed was to make a phone call. My hands were shaking when I picked up that thousand pound phone and said I needed real help. For years I believed a sentence like that would kill me. That if anyone saw how far I had fallen, that would be the end. Everything I built to look fine.
It did not kill me. For the first time I did it for me, and I let God be the director of my life. I call it my near life experience. The moment I was sure would kill me was the moment I finally started living.
Why I do this
I do this because I know what silence costs. Matt never got the phone call that saved my life. He died still performing fine. I lived because I finally stopped.
What I do now
I speak to organizations about the most expensive thing they have, which is silence. Whataburger, GAP, the City of Lawrenceburg, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Lipscomb have put me in front of their people. Most speakers leave a room feeling something. I leave them saying something.
I work one on one with people who are carrying more than anyone around them knows. The HERO Initiation is ninety days of private work for the life behind the performance, built on a master's degree in counseling and decades of lived experience.
I lost a leg, a career, and my brother, and none of it got the last word. I create comeback story after comeback story in my own life, and I help other people create theirs.
Off the stage
I live in Nashville, saved by the grace of God. I am a father of three, a below the knee amputee, and a person in recovery, and I no longer hide from any of it. I love traveling, working out, and keeping up with my favorite college and pro sports teams.
Professional bio
Keynote Speaker, Life Strategist, and Comeback Extraordinaire
Everyone has a highlight reel. Few have a life to match it.
John Mabry's life has the arc of a film, full of hope, unlikely turns, and a darkness that only breaks for those who refuse to quit.
His story took him from a communications degree at Baylor to Hollywood, where he worked as an actor and stunt double with credits including NCIS, ER, and Superbad, drawing national coverage from People Magazine, USA Today, and Access Hollywood. He went on to invent a product that changed sports on a global level.
Then he lost everything. A car accident took his leg and killed a friend. Not long after, he found his brother dead from a drug overdose. For twenty years he battled anxiety, depression, PTSD, and substance use disorder behind a life that looked, from the outside, like it was working.
Today John works with high achievers who are performing perfectly in public but perishing in private, helping them become the hero of their private life the way they already are in their public one.
He holds a master's degree in counseling, and his story has reached over 7 million people worldwide. He has spoken for organizations including Whataburger, GAP, Indiana University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Lipscomb University.
"His testimony was a reminder that no one is too far gone, no story is too messy and no season is too dark for God to break through."Lourdes C, Fit & Faith 615
John Mabry