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Connor Baxter Skific was born in Van Nuys, CA, to Darko Skific, who sold cars, and to Karen Baxter, who happened to be buying a car. His mother is of Norwegian and Scottish descent. His father is an immigrant from Croatia who moved to America at the age of 24. Connor had a very uncommon upbringing, growing up in a small town called Malibu. He was used to seeing celebrities on a regular basis and as a result learned that they are regular people just like anybody else. Growing up he also had the privilege of traveling to Croatia every summer to visit his extensive family there. As a young adult there were so many professions that Connor wanted to pursue, among them: Architect, Archaeologist, Physicist, Computer Scientist, Marine (like his grandfather), Boxer, Warrior, Firefighter, Writer, and the list goes on. It took him until the age of 24 to finally realize that there was only one profession in the world that would allow him to do all of those things, and that was to be an Actor. As a teenager Connor sought escape into fantasy with fiction novels, films and video games. He always felt as though he had been born in the wrong century. Watching the film Gladiator, Connor idolized the character Maximus (played by Russell Crowe) to him that was the idealistic man. The twin to that character is found in a novel by author Terry Goodkind, called The Sword of Truth series. The character, Richard Rahl, is the epitome of courage, kind-heartedness, and self-sacrifice. If you know both of these characters then you know who Connor strives to be. Connor was not a very confident individual growing up, in fact it was not until he found the sport of Powerlifitng at age 22 that he began to believe in himself. Powerlifting teaches that small consistent gains over long periods of time yield extraordinary results. In essence this gave him a measuring stick for everything he did in his life. Starting with a measly 95lbs deadlift (lifting the barbell from the ground to your hip level) he increased that to 502lbs (in competition) over 3 years. (How many people do you know that can lift 500lbs?) Over time he realized that this applies to everything in life. Nobody is born talented. Some people excel quicker and are exposed to more potent stimuli than others, but if you put in the work you can be just as good as anyone at the top. You will conquer the world only if you take the first step and believe in yourself.