Torry Martin: Finding a New Character
CBN.com Growing up Torry Martin was different from other kids.
"I was an easy target for kids to make fun of, so I learned to just shut down inside of myself," he says. "I was always overweight as a kid, and I have chronic attention deficit disorder, and it made me socially awkward. I never fit in socially, but my appearance didn’t help me become popular either."
The taunting of schoolmates led Torry to the stage -- a place he could be anyone he wanted.
"I discovered acting when I was in high school, and that’s what really changed things for me. I realized that I liked playing somebody else. I liked being a totally different character than who I was. I liked having lines written for me because I could sound intelligent or at least portray it convincingly enough," he says.
After graduation, Torry moved to Los Angeles so he could be close to the entertainment industry. "Once you’re in that circle you get the opportunity to meet celebrities and to mingle with them and to find out more about the industry, " he discovered.
Torry’s talent was obvious. Just a few months after being in LA he landed his first job -- a part in a play. Before long he was socializing with some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities. Torry was even doing some stand-up comedy at the time and was hired to entertain guests at two private parties for Bill Gates.
"There’s parties and it’s just a whole lifestyle that’s really easy to get caught up into, and I got caught up into it. I made a lot of wrong, stupid, bad choices, " says Torry.
Torry started drinking and using drugs. "I started feeling guilty for some of the things I was doing. I wanted to get rid of the guilt."
Torry had gone to church when he was younger and knew the difference between right and wrong, so he set out on a strange mission.
"If I could get rid of the guilt then I could do whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted, so I thought if I could disprove the Bible that kind of takes care of the guilt," he recalls.
One night while high from smoking pot, Torry decided to go to Alaska with an old childhood friend named Rob, who just happened to be a Christian. He decided to go to a Bible study at a local church. His goal was to disprove the Bible, get rid of the guilt, and get back to his life in Hollywood.
"It backfired on me big time. It was through that Bible study and my relationship with Rob that I decided I’m going to dig into the Word of God."
As he studied the Bible, Torry soon realized what he had been taught was true. He accepted Christ and quit acting.
"Acting had always been my first love and now Jesus was my first love, so if I was going to make that a reality, I wanted to make sure I placed Him first in every area of my life," says Torry.
At church, the pastor and his wife took Torry under their wing. They taught him about God’s forgiveness. They urged him to use his gift as an actor. Finally, Torry stepped back on the stage. He now travels the country telling Torry stories and even writes sketches for other actors.
"My whole life until I accepted Christ all I wanted to be was an actor, to be somebody else, to have the lines written for me and then once I accepted Jesus and once He started changing my life, I became a writer," tells Torry. "I’m writing lines for other people, and I ’m traveling telling stories by being me, not hiding behind another character. I’m being me. The authentic me. The person God created me to be."
Torry believes, "Jesus to me is the difference between life and death. It’s the difference between a past of torture and a life of freedom. Jesus is everything to me."
