Anthony Sawyer Horton Jr. (born July 2, 1958), known professionally as Tony Horton, is an American personal trainer, author, and former actor. He is best known as the creator of the commercial home exercise regimen

P90X The Beachbody Company is a publicly traded American fitness and media company based in El Segundo, California. It operates the brands Beachbody On Demand, Team Beachbody, MYXfitness and Openfit. The company also sells dietary supplements such ...

Early life

Tony Horton was one of 23 children born in Westerly, Rhode Island to Anthony Sawyer Horton (Sr.) and Jean (née Gencarelli) Horton, and was raised in

Trumbull, Connecticut Trumbull is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders on the cities of Bridgeport and Shelton and the towns of Stratford, Fairfield, Easton and Monroe. The population was 36,827 during the 2020 census. Trumbul ...

. He has two sisters. His family is Roman Catholic. He was a self-described "98-pound weakling" with a speech impediment.Profile
nytimes.com; accessed July 7, 2015. By the time he was 10 years old, his family had moved more than five times. His father served three years in the Army as a 1st Lieutenant, and the family was stationed at various bases around the U.S. His father was a minor league baseball player, golfer, and yachtsman. Tony Horton became interested in fitness when he took a weightlifting class while attending the University of Rhode Island and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. After graduation, he moved to Southern California and worked various jobs, including as a

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

and gofer for

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. He is a practicing Roman Catholic.

Career

After moving to California in 1980, Horton became a personal trainer to an executive at 20th Century Fox, working out of his garage and charging $20 per lesson. His clientele grew, eventually including

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

Usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** Fiel ...

, Tom Petty, Billy Idol and

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

. He did some improv and worked as an actor. He appeared in a

Thighmaster The Thighmaster is an exercise product designed to shape one's thighs. The device is essentially two pieces of metal tube bent in a loop and connected with a hinge. The intended use is to put the Thighmaster between the knees and squeeze them toge ...

infomercial and a Shakeology commercial and as a spokesperson for NordicTrack. He starred in a number of exercise videos including Power 90, which was marketed by

BeachBody The Beachbody Company is a publicly traded American fitness and media company based in El Segundo, California. It operates the brands Beachbody On Demand, Team Beachbody, MYXfitness and Openfit. The company also sells dietary supplements such as ...

. He later created several sequels:

(''Power 90 Extreme''), which was his breakout hit; P90X2, and P90X3. In 2017 Horton revealed that he was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2. Horton eventually left BeachBody and started his own streaming service, ''Power Nation''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horton, Tony 1958 births Living people People from Trumbull, Connecticut University of Rhode Island alumni American exercise instructors American sportswriters Businesspeople from Connecticut People from Westerly, Rhode Island