From Orphan to TV Star: Rudy Reyes’ Rise to Prominence

With Pray.com, you can begin each morning with powerful daily prayers, inspiring Bible

“stories, and messages created to strengthen your faith.”

Whether you need peace, encouragement, or a fresh start, Pray.com helps you make prayer part of your everyday life. Download the Pray.com app today. It's not the kid, it's not the gear, it's not the guns, it's the passion, and the love, and the duty to excellence in all things that makes this different. That was Rudy Reyes, Marine Recon veteran, and star of The Hit Show Special Forces,

the world's toughest test. In this episode, we sit down with Rudy to talk about his rise from an Oklahoma orphanage to the star of a major network show. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Beckley, and this is a weekend episode of Morning Wire. I'm a fanboy. We're so glad to have you in the studio. It's really fun. Every one of the daily wires been buzzing about this all week. So all of us excited, there's a lot

to talk about. There is your show season five streaming on Hulu, like you said, that

is become a massive hit. I want to hear about that. But first, we're thinking, tell us a

little bit about your background. How the world did you become this world famous guy in

“TV series and scripted and unscripted. How'd you get here?”

First, I got the golden lottery ticket of being born American. First, amen. And it's really true. When I was talking to Lauren earlier, I had a tough childhood and eventually became an orphan and was thrown away. I know that the word is bastard. Somebody else was my dad. And it was hard. So I used to pray, right, until six or seven years old. First him help. Two little brothers and we were in poverty on the border of Texas, Mexico. Well,

things didn't get any better. They didn't get any easier. So I learned to adapt. And I took charge of my little brothers. And after seeing Rocky and first blood, I trained and made sure my little brothers trained with me every day. A few years after that, we all had worms

“and lice and still we trained. Wow. And I built myself a steam by taking charge of my”

life first and foremost with physical culture. I read comic books, I saw heroes, I saw Stallone. And I wanted to be like that. And that gave me hope to overcome the immense abuse and neglect. Then I was taken to the Omaha home for boys. Also tough, gladiator academy sometimes. You got to fight all the bigger kids. Everybody comes from a tough background and everyone's sad or angry. Have you been thrown away or the parents are dead? Parents are in prison.

And we were taught to work and grind to run the home. I started working in the kitchen and working the farm. We had to do our chores. We lived in barracks and our house parents were all military veterans. And they're wives. We were taught etiquette. We were taught manners. And we went to a public school to be socialized. Even though they all know that we are the orphans, the OHB Omaha home for boys, the home boys. And we had to overcome stigmas like

real life. Like real freaking life, you had to make it on your own with making self strong, adaptable, creative alliances, soft skills, communicate, even though you're all overcoming pain. I became a wrestler, fell in love with the wrestling mat in the weight room. And the rest is history. I found that being excellent at sport put you in a different class of people, started going to tournaments. And I saw a family that were actually there for their kids.

I was like, wow, this is so amazing to have a mom and dad be there right. And I knew right

there competition is the critical factor. So I said, I'm going to compete the rest of my life

in everything I do because it leads me to a higher place and a better place with better people who care. And that was the, that was the bedrock of my life after kickboxing and doing

and like Rocky. Yeah, yeah, I just found myself in that made a narrative of authentic heroism

“meaning sacrificial. And that's why I joined the Marine Corps. We were going to war in”

course of all. And I was vegetarian because it kept my weight down. I fought at 155. I had never used

to weapon killing anybody. I had to fight, but I fought now in the ring and there are rules and and you don't want to kill each other. You're bringing the best out of each other to defeat each other. But I, because of those ethics, I know that they're going to send another young man to go fight. Another American man, I must do my part. I didn't know much about the military except the movies. And I just heard the Marine Corps is the freaking hardest. So I said, well, very well,

Marine Corps is infantry. I excelled as the honor-grad and the Ironman and then went to school of

infantry. Meritorsically promoted and the honor-grad again, put on a really tough detail and then

“had the opportunity to try out for recon, a 300,000 Marines, there's only 300 re-commarines”

and we're the best in the business and it's not the kid, it's not the gear, it's not the guns, it's the passion and the love and the duty to excellence and all things that makes us different. I somehow make it through selection and start my tutelage, find myself on the ship when the towers were hit, just leaving team war and we are snapped to to go fight in Pakistan. I've can't stand it on one. We take Kandohar, almost a year later we're home and long before the civilians

knew we were preparing for Iraq and so we were already now preparing for Iraq. We were there in months before doing probing missions and training and preparing and then when we led the invasion

first recon battalion, my team, my brother, team, a bravo company, somehow survived that freaking

“bloodbath and it was turned into a book, Generation Kill, Generation Kill was then picked up by HBO”

and they needed someone to teach and train the culture and the physical confidence and strength of these re-conmarines because they were very dedicated to making it authentic so they reached out to me, they couldn't find anybody to play me, they auditioned a bunch of other Latino actors and they were either too sweet or like too, because you know, I'm a street person or or did not have the physicality because I was a f*** monster. I guess I started

a horse. I was a freaking monster, but then like a while after you've seen Rudy Reyes, who's gonna, who are we gonna get the plan? Unbelievable. Why don't you play yourself? And that show becomes a hit, a huge hit. It's renowned more now than ever for the global war and terror people because it captures the culture of all of us, it's all of our stories, it's not just recon's, it's all of our stories, the gallows humor, the ridiculousness of the suffering and the dysentery,

the danger and then the levity through laughter that we need to get through it all. And that's kind of what got me into entertainment. I've been doing survival and military type work since on some modeling to do whatever it takes to keep bringing in some money and building my abilities to be an asset for my kids in an asset for my community. And it works so far. I want to tell you about my friends at Alliance Defending Freedom.

ADF is dedicated to protecting free speech, religious freedom, the sanctity of life, parental rights, and God's design for males and females. They've scored huge legal victories, like helping to topple Roe vs Wade and securing a landmark free speech win at the Supreme Court just a few months ago on behalf of Christian Counselor Kaley Childs, and they're fighting some of our culture's most pressing issues. From creating model legislation to protect women sports

to efforts to dismantle male-order schemes for abortion drugs. ADF relies on the generous support of people like you to defend every person's God-given rights, working in the courtroom to make a difference in the culture. For a limited time, every dollar you give to ADF will be matched. That means $25 becomes 50, 50 becomes 100, but only while matching funds last. Go to joinADF.com/wired or text wire to 83848 to have your gift to ADF double. That's joinADF.com/wired

Spring is here and your yard probably means some love after winner. Our sponsor

“Faskrowing Trees is America's largest and most trusted online nursery with thousands of”

trees and plants in over 2 million happy customers. Think of it as your local nursery available

anywhere, with a bigger selection than you'll find anywhere else. From fruit and privacy trees to flowering varieties, shrubs and house plants, every plant is grown with care and guarantee to arrive healthy. Simply click, order and grow to create your dream yard with options that fit your climate, space and lifestyle. I ordered two Bambino fittedly figs, so they're small, but they are so adorable and they arrived in beautiful condition. Healthy, happy, and my living room

is forever changed. Their live and thrive guarantee ensures your plants arrive happy and healthy. Back by ongoing support from train plant experts, they'll be planned, choose, and care for your new greenery. Right now, they have great deals on spring planting essentials up to have

off on select plants. And let's just to our show get 20% off their first purchase when using the

code wire at checkout. That's an additional 20% off better plants and better growing at FaskrowingTrees.com using the code wire at checkout. FaskrowingTrees.com code wire. Now's the perfect time to plant. Let's grow together. Use wire to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. So discipline and competition. Yes, sir.

Draw view through a lot of this. It doesn't seem like really translating with like even generation kill. There, anybody that's been on a set realizes there's a lot of discipline involved all this stuff. And then you had the the focus of the physicality of it. Yes. And do you see all of this, the entertainment world as a competition in a sense? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And aside from you all here at Daily Wire, which I've been fans of you all for a long,

long time. Most of our industry that we work in now does not have a depth of character or soul. And there is no higher calling. They're pursuing our world in media and entertainment for the most part is buying and selling people to sell a user paying people money to sell narratives. And it's really, really hard on the on my it's been hard on my soul to not get the job because you're too good to not get the job because so and so alisters agent does not want you standing next

to him because remember in the world of entertainment and smoking mirrors so there's so little of it is real. Well, when I saw the impact you can make with story. And I remember all my rocky films

in first blood and then watch and blade runner and then watch in Michael man's thief and then

man hunter and then and then last though heekens in heat and don't forget Miami vise. I'm seeing story in what made a narrative and and the passion of story music and the human connection playing out what it does to people. It inspired me once I found myself in it. I said, all right, Rudy,

“you're going to find a way to make it and that's what I've been doing. The it's wild to me to hear”

your story. I mean, so what inspired you? You're a divester still known. These movies and all these things and then you find yourself in movies. You know, you also have the reality TV show which is a fifth season. I know you believe so. Another huge hit and it does that one feels like it does have a mission. It is. You know, what would you define as its mission? You know, what how about this special forces is not a military show. It's a human transformation show that under the guys

of military selection. It is a human transformation show. We know myself, Billy Foxy, Q. Chris, we know our process works because we saw what we witnessed what it did to us and generations of men like us all the way back to the Greeks. We want to see these people break through and find

“out who they really really are because we actually care about them. That's why we're so hard on them.”

That's why it is cruel to be kind. That we're not kind. We're incredibly cruel to them. It's because we love them and they do break through every single recruit that leaves our course no matter when they leave it, they are all changed for the better and they'll tell you the very same thing. These wonderful recruits who are not exactly spring chickens like me push themselves for an ideal that they don't

describe for people who are not familiar with it? The structure like what your show is? Yes. Okay, on special forces which Fox brought us over from the UK. The original SAS who dares wins. SAS is the British Delta Force and it's run by Billy and Foxy. Billy is SAS Foxy's SBS which is their Seal Team 6 right? He's the greatest brothers freaking been there and done that. We've been in Billy's been a POW twice freaking tortured. These brothers when it comes down to the bonus

feedies they've been there done that got the T-shirt and these are my teammates. We've been running this really docu-style info attainment. This special course in the UK all around the world. So for audience out there we only insert to very very difficult environments and conditions to imitate combat conditions. Arctic jungle desert, urban, amphibious because these these places are a character

“in the program itself is the actual environment is a character. The first enemy you must overcome is”

the jungle when you're out there. The first enemy you must overcome in the ocean is your hypothermia.

You know it's not me and it's not the bad guy shooting you. First you must overcome yourself. You can see already how this can be so transformational for these people who are top of their class and whether it's acting modeling or sport but now to be in a sense in the deep end of life in which all their pre-conceptions about who they are and who they think they are must be discarded to survive. So we run this selection in the beginning we did not take numbers. So

their recruits, we call them recruits, we don't call them their names. They live in barracks, they we build portage port a johns so they can do number one and number two out of plywood and they got to see each other and talk to each other while they're doing it. It's the rough conditions.

There's no mirrors, there's no snacks and it's always on. You'll see me sometimes coming at

for in the morning with explosives and a smashing the trash can for the Rudy awakening to get them up and on the parade square and thrashed them. This is all to teach us state of readiness and to switch on something inside of you called human potential. So no matter how long they last they are

“a better version of themselves it's it's humbling and beautiful for me to see as well. That's why”

I get close to some of these recruits. I see what they've been through not just with us but in our mirror rooms where we do our tactical questioning we find some have been abused, some have been betrayed, some have lost it all. The veneer in the beauty with the sports accolades you find is a shell to cover some difficult things that they have gone through and maybe have not addressed. When the audience sees these heroes and of course me and the boys we've all been to the

very bottom before our way to come back up to the top and they see their sports heroes or their people they love for movies and TV a share and breakdown crying about you know physical emotional sexual abuse about staying in an abusive relationship and although portraying such a tough human being and and such and in the rest of the audience like I'm not alone we're not alone.

“I think this is a deeper meaning of the program. So is it like a survivor style thing where”

people drop and you have someone who lasts or how long does the course go? Okay so we run it like our selection it's 8 to 15 days depending on where we're at. We start with 20 or so. We run taskers or mirrors of our real training evolutions hostage rescue hand-to-hand combat gas chamber

underwater helicopter escapes squad operations ultimately hitting them in the base and they've

putting putting them in the bag and now they're being interrogated by professional special operations

“interrogators from the UK some of them who have to remain anonymous because they are still active.”

The goal is to make it as long as you can to at the end of interrogation and the interrogations are hard core to be standing on that parade square at the end and sometimes we have one sometimes we have

two sometimes we have three but we never know there's no price money there's no uh yeah all those

regular reality people you know like what I mean I'm only doing this for pride and self respect so a lot of them after a few days I'm out I don't got enough pride and self respect to endure what what I love is the young or the small female actresses they end up being the toughest on the hardest all showbiz people that started when they were kids the punishing hours that I know you will know about the constant rehearsals checking and testing and doing it again the patience it

takes to not flash I mean get angry when you do this kind of work um the the female showbiz

people do very well because no one ever thinks they're that strong no one ever thinks they're that tough and they're used to failing or being told they they fail and they don't break down when the men fail which they do their whole self concept and ego is shattered and they normally

“give up there's one time I failed I thought exactly like that did you know that I think a lot of”

people will be surprised uh to hear that that the young the actresses a lot of times are tough and you're right some people you might recognize that I don't know oh I can tell okay I can tell you now because I saw that it's going out well we've had some rad folks on my favorites my favorite is Brody Jenner um I didn't know any of his history or anything like that aside who his father was and such because remember I guess when he was really famous in the earlier 2000s mid 2000s I was in

more fair and I was I had no idea of popular culture he was such a humble leader gentleman every time he succeeded he shared the praise to the team every time he failed he took on all

responsibility he was physically robust never showboded a thing and uh the character in him is the

character that we look for another one was Carrie Hart who is not exactly young the motorcycle pro uh pinks husband mentally physically spiritually tough a pleasure to work with because that you know what is an instructive when you see great attitudes it makes you excited when you have a bunch of bad attitudes man it it makes the workplace bad or negative right a couple of females there been oh of course freaking uh Sean Sean Johnson the little pocket rocket she was the smallest

person out there and uh everyone carries the same weight everyone carries the same pack we had to mark some up the mountains and putting on chains after chains on them and uh I was right there I can see it like it was yesterday she started getting dizzy and she almost was done for as a heat casualty everybody gets dehydrated we pushed him to the absolute brink um oh and that freaking geodduce the real how the real housewives of new jerseys daughter tough Italian American

they had pride and did not give up um it's less alone yeah yes there's there's these revelations that you see in these people the um that are also a discovery for them too I don't think they

“even knew they had it uh this next season we've got some pretty solid folks there's uh remember”

I don't know their names because I know they're freaking numbers as recruits uh there is a handsome NBAer who's half Italian and half black and he was a sports announcer for ESPN this is the best

and I used to such um special treatment uh they don't like what uh what they're doing with us because there's no special treatment uh you're a dirt bag that everybody else you know I'm saying until you prove otherwise you're all equally worthless right we're not used to that and in our course just like in our selection if there's mistakes made everyone pays uh this year this man handsome cat I think he was 14 number 14 of 15 this NBAer was fantastic he got around all the

recruits it was always pitchin' in for work we do lots of team tasks mostly carrying heavy heavy

stuff through mountains and jungle he a lifetime work uh playing for the LA um makers and then the clippers you know his knees are not good still he just drives on um it's it's really all it's so strange too because remember I know these recruits as numbers and his recruits

“and that's how they are addressed the whole time um but names reduced to numbers yes”

just like we were just like we were like yeah we were not even in boot camp you you can't even speak to you about yourself except in the third person now you have I'm sorry before we let you go yeah I want to talk about your non-profit oh of course blue yeah can you just tell us it's interesting you know I looked into it I hadn't heard about it as much I did some research before this yeah tell us about force blue okay it is the greatest accomplishment of my life

and what legacy uh I'm hoping to leave behind force blue the first of all creating it is what

switched me back on to believing in myself because I went through a real hard time after the military and then contracting and then being in a Hollywood um I had a real hard time with drugs and alcohol violence and depression when I found out that the reefs are dying and that the animals and the

“the whole society's subsurface are at risk of dying I think I had flashbacks of flausia”

but a family that helped me fight there and then and then ultimately I had I was ordered to leave because we had to go back home and they were killed by the by the death squads because they knew that we were leaving and it so broke my heart as part of the reason I probably had so much depression and hatred towards myself for some time these reefs were in danger I'm in love I'm a combat diver but finally I'm underwater during the daytime we only freaking combat dive with weapons

out of submarines and the pitch black and when we hit the beach we're going to be killing the enemy right I get to see the beauty see the animals and I said if this we've got to fight and protect this talk to my other teammates well what are we going to do we got to figure something out that's work with reef scientists that's work with marine biologists and let's get to work rebuilding and protecting coral reefs recummarines green berets pera rescue navy seals

SAS SPS we created a Avengers of the ocean and we started with six men and now we've got 60 we are sponsored by NOAA we are sponsored by the federal government to protect our underwater national parks we rebuild in Okinawa in Indonesia we are global now this will be our 10th year anniversary we are saving live subsurface and saving our lives because if a warrior does not have a purpose he will turn upon himself and now we have a children's

program some next week I will be doing force blue our children's program OCS Ocean Conservation School with my daughter who's already been through and she's going to help me and mentor the youngsters

“and that's what I'm doing next week force blue team dot org check it out donate get involved”

it will inspire you and it's something that it's so so so positive and fills me with pride honor and I hope it's something left behind after I go I mean this is a wild ride of an interview I had no idea what you were going to bring with us is so awesome thank you so much for you're welcome you're welcome thanks for having me thank you so much for coming on you know what so when oh Lauren reached out to me to do a little you know little video thing or whatever I'm like man heck

and you know hacks no it's always better live when you get to see people and connect to people

take every opportunity take every meeting and improve your position always

“so you must push yourself so that's why I'm here and I'm so glad I came thank you so much”

you're welcome brother it's awesome thank you that was Rudy Reyes host of special forces

the world's toughest test and this has been a week in addition of one and a while

“as krondering and krondering will you for all of the 1st channel for one comment”

egal or by a product market fit then in the next script or in the 1st course enterprise deal with Ka e the development of ever channel is also the advantages of security and that's

“further than you before the topic of security and compliance really goes to the right time”

long term for the first time that's a lot of data from the front and wait and wait and if it's

the right time then it's not the first time in the world now start at the front point come