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 Westerly is a town on the southwestern shoreline of Washington County, Rhode Island, first settled by English colonists in 1661 and incorporated as a municipality in 1669. It is a beachfront community on the south shore of the state with a popula ...

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 Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. 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 An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

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 The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

and was a member of

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...

. After graduation, he moved to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

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 A gofer, go-fer or gopher is an employee who specializes in the delivery of special items to their superior(s). Examples of these special items include a cup of coffee, a tool, a tailored suit, or a car. Outside of the business world, the term ...

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

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,

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

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 infomercial and a Shakeology commercial and as a spokesperson for

NordicTrack NordicTrack is an American company that manufactures treadmills, strength training equipment, ellipticals, exercise bikes, and accessories. It is best known for its Nordic ski machines, low-impact exercisers, ellipticals, and incline trainers. ...

. He starred in a number of exercise videos including Power 90, which was marketed by BeachBody. 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 Inflammation of the geniculate ganglion of the facial nerve is a late consequence of '' varicella zoster'' virus (VZV) known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS), commonly known as herpes zoster oticus. In regards with the frequency, less than 1% of var ...

. 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