Kurt McKinney (born February 15, 1962 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American actor. A black belt in Karate, he starred in a 1980s action movie. He also starred as Matt Reardon on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light from 1994-2000 and from 2005-present, and as the first Ned Ashton on General Hospital from 1988-1991.
He moved to Hollywood in the mid-1980s and found fame within months. His first acting role was starring in the action movie No Retreat, No Surrender (1985) which also featured a then unknown Jean-Claude Van Damme. 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 movies, it remains a cult classic to many people around the world.
Early in his career he also had guest-starring roles on series such as Highway to Heaven and ALF and then came the roles in both General Hospital and Guiding Light.
In 1990, he won the Soap Opera Digest Award for "Outstanding Male Newcomer: Daytime" for his performance on General Hospital.
In addition to his success with No Retreat No Surrender and acting in soap operas he also starred in other movies during the 1990s, namely 1993's Sworn to Vengeance and 1996's Sworn to Justice. He also had roles in 1999's Pop and 2000's Cupid & Kate.
In 2005 McKinney returned once again to Guiding Light as Matt Reardon. Before his return to the show, McKinney commented in an interview he had be busy doing several independent films in recent years saying "you'll probably never see...which is unfortunately where so many of those end up."http://www.soapoperadigest.com/features/gl/where/catchingupmckinney/
McKinney is married; his wife is called Maronda and they have two children: a son named Cole Madsen and a daughter named Madison Taylor.
Kurt McKinney originally hails from Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of 21 he was already a black belt in taekwondo and an amateur kickboxing champion. He decided to become an actor and moved to Hollywood. He would go on to star in the 1985 film No Retreat, No Surrender as the lead. The film, one of the 1st Hong Kong-U.S. crossovers (written and directed by Corey Yuen), also starred the man who would become known as Van Dammage, Jean-Claude Van Damme as the main villain. The film was a sizable hit in the U.S. but Kurt didn't want to be typecast. Kurt went on to star on the soap General Hospital as Ned. This was after he was turned down for American Ninja because he was too young. He was offered to appear in American Ninja III-VI but he didn't like the idea of working on all the films in South Africa (he also turned down "No Retreat No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" in 1987 possibly due to the film's location). Kurt went on to TV films like Sworn to Vengeance to big-screen films like Blonde Justice with Cynthia Rothrock. He currently appears on Guiding Light as Matt Reardon, but martial arts fans will always remember him from his film debut in 1985 as Jason Stillwell!
