A native of New York, the son of a FDNY officer, Justin was a gifted athlete in all areas. He left team sports early for his two-wheeled passion of BMX. Justin spent his teen days and nights relentlessly practicing on his bicycle, becoming one of the best known tricksters of his time. His talents lead him to magazine spreads and sponsors by bike companies. He was also under contract with the famous VANNS brand sneaker company. Right before he turned eighteen years old, he gave up the two-wheeling world and started lifting weights to pursue his other dream of the gridiron. Even though he had a late start, Justin quickly became a force and starred on the 1991 Junior College national championship team (ranked #1 by the Sporting News) at Nassau CC. While attending college he set a record in the ADFPA American Drug-free National Collegiate Powerlifting Championship. He graduated community college with a degree in science and received a full-ride via football scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where he studied biology and played defensive-tackle under coach Johnny Majors. Justin arrived on campus with a torn hamstring and after his first game vs Notre Dame in October of 1993, he ran into problems with some of the coaching staff and became the sixth defensive linemen to leave Pitt within a year and a half under the then dysfunctional defensive line coach. After playing only eight games of organized football in his life, he had a stint with the Arizona Cardinals in 1995. Later on, Justin turned down a starting position from the Baltimore Stallions who went on to win the Grey Cup. A foolish choice that haunted him for some time.
He's been physically tested at a bodyweight of 305 lbs. with a 4.71 40 yard dash, 36" vertical leap, 4.4 20 yard shuttle, and a 10.3 broad jump. He's bench pressed 500 lb., raw and has officially squatted over 700 lbs., raw in the American Drug-free Collegiate Nationals competition (polygraph/urinalysis), Years later he dieted down to a lighter bodyweight of 266 lbs, as to play DE/OLB, and ran a 4.51 40 yard dash, 42" vertical, 4.20 shuttle run and benched 225 lbs. for 39reps-all supervised by Dick Butkis and was featured in ESPN Magazine circa 2000. Unfortunately he was filming his 1st movie during the combine and was already committed to the project, which kept him in the Caribbean for two months, thus missing initial mini camp and then the disappearance of his actual contract.
From 1999-2000 he entered into the fitness modeling arena, posing for covers/spreads as well as writing for some publications and was selected as Mr. Fitness 2000. Soon after he left that part of the business to focus on acting. He went on to crash an audition on a whim and landed a supporting role in Life's A Beach--his first film, and played across from Chris Walken, only to leave southern California the day he returned home from filming in the Caribbean, to migrate back to his home dwellings on the East Coast.
He eventually ventured back West and faithfully started his chase in the competitive world of acting. Occupying cyborg-like discipline, he understood the sacrifices one must deal with as to make it in such a shark infested business. He chose not to accept offers for many Reality based TV shows as well as turning away offers from the WWE. He has always stuck to his vision on developing into an actor. In early 2006 he entered into Hollywood and into a casting studio posing as a UPS messenger and pleaded for the casting director to let him get on camera and improv for a part they actually weren't casting for--he landed the role in Balls Of Fury where he played Wedge McDonald and acted across from Christopher Walken for a second time. In 2007 he landed a lead role on an HBO show that later went to Cinemax. Justin turned down the second season in relation to how the producers allowed the show to turn out.
Off screen Justin spends most of his time with his Great Dane, Da' Moose, strength training, writing, fishing and mountain biking. Two lifelong passions of his are the study of ancient civilizations, consciousness and the nature of reality.
In 2009 he became a published author of As A Man Traineth-a comprehensive guide to the craft of physical and cerebral transformation. In 2012 he published The Daily Grub-The Carb Cycling Manifesto (asamantraineth.com).
Another passion also involves working with mentally disabled children and the homeless.
