Kerri Hoskins is Sonya Blade
When I was nine years old, I attended a rec center on the Navy base that we lived on. It was where I hung out after school and the summer while my dad was at work. We’d play games, make crafts, take field trips to water parks, and do all the fun things rec centers in the 90s did.
The center was attached to the base’s skating rink. Inside the center were pool tables, a TV with a Nintendo hooked up, some arts and crafts room, and a handful of arcade machines. One of those machines was the most coveted machine at the time, Mortal Kombat.
I don’t recall my first introduction to the series, but it was shortly before the rec center got their Mortal Kombat cabinet. It was the most popular game in the arcade, as the brutality was unmatched and the realistic characters were so unlike anything else out at the time. I dropped so many quarters in that machine, and I slowly learned the fighting moves of my favorite characters. I was best with Raiden, followed by Kano, and then Sonya Blade. I wanted to be the best with Scorpion, because he was hands down the coolest character in the world, but I just never did master his move set.
Mortal Kombat got a home release around this time, and for my tenth birthday that was all I wanted. I had a Sega Genesis, and I knew that a blood code was available, and I was going to get the closest thing to the arcade experience from the comfort of my own bedroom. Thankfully, my father obliged, and armed with my Mortal Kombat strategy guide, I proceeded to master every move and fatality in the game. It was glorious.
The following year, the Mortal Kombat movie was released in theaters, and I sat alone in that dark theater loving everything I saw on screen. Two years later, I was back in the theater watching Annihilation and loving it quite a bit less but still having fun. Mortal Kombat was fun, and it was always about fun, and that is what made it such a great franchise to be a fan of.
My Mortal Kombat fandom peaked around this time, but over the years I’ve purchased several of the games, watched the TV show, web show, and the new movie. The original film’s soundtrack is part of my workout playlist. I would call myself a casual fan of the series, and if I had more time to dedicate to learning the movies and a fight stick, I’d probably invest more time in the new games when they come out. Then again, WB has made it difficult to appreciate these games as they’ve converted to a free-to-play model, but still while charging $70.
One of the best Mortal Kombat stories to come out of the last few years was when Mortal Kombat 3 actress and model, Kerri Hoskins, put on her Sonya Blade outfit twenty-five years later and well… she still looked the same.
The former Playboy model kept in incredible shape, and it went viral. It’s been fun to see Ms. Hoskins be able to relive her twenties and the appreciation and the respect that has come from the fans. It’s always nice to see her pop-up on a podcast or show up at a con or even doing a new photoshoot as the character she portrayed not only in the game, but in the marketing as well as the live show.
Recently, Ms. Hoskins was the focus point of a short documentary that I really enjoyed. In this sixteen-minute film, she discusses how she came cast as Sonya, her career beforehand, and her conversion into motherhood afterwards. She opens up a box of old merchandise and a photo album, that makes for a fun glimpse back in time, and it’s actually a great story about a resilient woman who was able to adjust to the difficulties life presented and her ability to find herself over and over.
It was also a great peek back into the Mortal Kombat fever of the 90s and all the cool and unique tie-ins that came with that. I forgot about the Mortal Kombat live show, and you don’t really hear much about themed live shows these days like you did back then. So, I think a touch of nostalgia really had me wanting to hear more and more about Ms. Hoskins story, or a more expansive look at Mortal Kombat in the 90s.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the documentary as much as I did.