Matt Cohen on His Wellness Journey, Hosting Conventions, and Supernatural – INTERVIEW

Matt Cohen opens up about the value of finding mental and physical balance.

While you might recognize Matt Cohen from his role on Supernatural, you can also see him hosting multiple Creation Entertainment conventions, such as RescueVerse. The actor recently took the time to answer my questions about the importance of the wellness discussion, his upcoming Mind/Body Balance Meet-Up, connecting with fans, and more.

How did you find your own mental and physical balance? What are you most proud of when it comes to how you handle this ongoing journey?

Cohen: Finding my mental and physical balance has been over 30 years of trials and tribulations. Since about 15 years old, I’ve been working out in the gym about seven days a week, and when I turned 30-something, I finally started going to therapy. We do all these things for our body, but not for our mind. It’s time to check in with both places. I try to do breathing, work, read, meditate, listen to music, build something, or make some art. I try to stay off screens, especially later in the day, and I make sure I do some sort of physical activity every single day. It’s important to move your body, and it’s important to look after your mind.

For those just learning how to manage and maintain that balance, what are some tips you have for them?

Cohen: The beautiful thing about what I teach is that most of the protocols I offer are available in your home or outside of your home every day for free. If I were to give you a basic daily schedule, it would look something like this: wake up, nice and early, see a sunrise, drink a big cup of water and delay your caffeine for at least an hour and a half after you wake up, do some journaling, list, making, or some other kind of writing or quiet, thinking in the morning, followed by some exercise.

Eat something healthy, stay away from sugary drinks and processed food, especially all these seed oils that are killing us. If you sit down at your desk all day, make it a point to stand up, stretch, and move for five minutes every hour. Eat a healthy, balanced lunch that serves you and doesn’t wear you out, protein and something green.

After you finish your day at work, get home and eat a healthy dinner, maybe stretch or do a Diamond Dallas, Paige yoga session, lol! YouTube is a beautiful place to find any length of time physical exercise videos for any type of person. And then, I want you to go to bed at a decent time, dim the lights, shut off the screens, and relax. Thank the universe that you existed today and our breathing oxygen. Gratitude over everything!

You have an event in Austin coming up that will offer a total wellness overhaul, including expert-led stretching, yoga, nutritional advice, skin treatments, facials, and jacuzzi sessions. Why is it important to have all of those different elements for a retreat?

Cohen: Boredom, mostly! I want to provide as many healthy, physical, and mental protocols as possible that are readily available to anybody and everybody all the time. We love the excuse I don’t have time, and I don’t have money! We love to believe our job is tearing us down, and that’s all we have the capacity to handle. Or a person has made us feel away, and now we’re sad and have to sit quietly and not do anything.

I try to offer as many different protocols that you can do so you can take control of your mind and stop making excuses for yourself. I’m as guilty as anybody! We control our minds, and we cannot change a single other person on earth. However, in controlling our minds, we can make our bodies do amazing things, and our minds will follow! I’m the guinea pig for mind-body balance! It works!

Why Cold Plunges Became a Life-Changing Tool

Which wellness tool has been most life-changing for you, and how did you discover it?

Cohen: I would say the tool that helps me the most is the cold plunge. I suffer from depression like most people in this day and age, unfortunately. The ups and downs of being an entertainer and being broke and then financially stable are a constant. I learned from Andrew Huberman and Dr. Rhonda Patrick how important exposure can be; the protocol requires about 11 minutes a week in water about 50 degrees. Three minutes three times a week in Coldwater that feels like you fell off the Titanic, provides a long list of benefits.

Cold exposure lowers your cortisol by 40%, gives you a 250% dopamine dump, helps with inflammation, helps release endorphins, and one of the most important features is that you prove to yourself that you can overcome and challenge yourself to do things that are truly difficult. And the best part is, it’s over in three minutes! There’s not a pill on the market that provides those benefits, and if there were, I’d be rich right now because I’d be selling it. Feeling truly great requires self-control and mind control of yourself. Every step of the way, proving more and more what you’re capable of and how powerful you are as a human being.

Why is it important to you to use your platform to highlight the wellness conversation?

Cohen: The reason I use my platform to do all this is because I’m a 43-year-old middle-aged man. I’ve been an actor for 20 years, and I’ve seen a lot of hurt people along this journey, me included! At my age, if I’m not doing something that helps others, I don’t know what I’m doing. I want to leave my mark on this earth, and that means helping as many people as possible feel better about themselves and live long, healthier lives. It’s what I’m good at. I can rally a group of people and get them excited to try and do something that they’ve never done before.

It literally may be my only true skill as a human. So I must use it. I know Shia LaBeouf can be a polarizing character, but a few years back, I heard him say something pretty spiritual on a podcast with John Bernthal. He said, “The purpose of life is to find out what you’re good at and then figure out how to help people with that.” I took that one to heart, and I haven’t been able to let it go. So I’m out to change lives!

Hosting RescueVerse Conventions

You’re also going to be in Austin for two more Creation Entertainment conventions: RescueVerse in June and Supernatural in October. What has it been like to host the RescueVerse conventions and see all of the different first responder fandoms coming together with their shared passion?

Cohen: I do a whole bunch of conventions. It’s given such great value to my acting work. Connecting with people and sharing my authentic triumphs and defeats, and them exchanging theirs, has been the most rewarding experience of being an actor. The RescueVerse actors and conventions have been incredible! I have to give a massive shout-out to Briar and Lynn for working so hard on adding these tremendous shows to Creation Entertainment’s already amazing lineup of conventions. I always worry that when I meet a new cast as an outsider, there will be egos. I’m happy to report that at both the RescueVerse conventions and the other amazing convention that Briar and Lynn put together, Page, Screen, and Everything In Between, the talent and celebrities that have shown up are extraordinary, kind, patient, and authentic. Really good people, and the audience is enjoying it!

Do you continue to learn new aspects of hosting with every convention that you do? What have the RescueVerse conventions taught you in that regard?

Cohen: As a host, you’re constantly learning it’s some more in between radio, DJ, and stand-up comedian. Two things that I’ve never done professionally. I learned from the great Richard Speight, Junior, and Rob Benedict about how to grab a mic and create a moment. Had to be authentic and self-deprecating, while staying excited and having something to say that actually has a period at the end of a sentence. Working with the RescueVerse team had me nervous at first, but they’re such a giving and welcoming group of actors that I quickly found myself trying to become the host that served them and really took care of them through their journey at the convention. I’m always, always grateful for great people! The RescueVerse team is exactly that!

How Supernatural Changed Matt Cohen’s Life

Moving on to Supernatural, what has it felt like to see the connection that the series created firsthand, still in full force all these years later?

Cohen: Supernatural changed my life, to say the least. Having the opportunity to play young Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the early seasons, four and five, and then again in season 11, has given me life, and it’s the only reason I’m not bartending or waiting tables in Hollywood in between jobs. In addition to that, the friend circle I’ve made within the Supernatural universe has changed my life. I was never proud of myself. The men and women inside the Supernatural cast have taught me to be a man, a brother, a father, a husband, and a friend that I am proud of.

Not to mention an obnoxious and overwhelming host entertainer. But it’s authentic! I get pumped up to grab a microphone and show a group of people a good time. Supernatural gave me the ability to spend time with my family because I was working as an actor, and I was able to do conventions to pay my bills. Then, finally, in the 15th season, the great Bob Singer gave me an opportunity to become a DGA Director and come direct the show. His mentorship, acceptance, and trust gave me the confidence to go out and star in and direct a feature film with some of my favorite actors from Supernatural and adjacent shows. I owe Supernatural, Eric Kripke, and Bob Singer everything.

What has been your favorite Supernatural convention memory, and why does it continue to stick out?

Cohen: It is impossible to have a favorite convention or a favorite moment. My last favorite moment is always capitalized. By the next time I get around the cast and my friends of Supernatural, we share everything, and we help each other with everything. Family doesn’t end with blood, and we always keep fighting to say the least!

For any fan who has not attended a convention yet, how would you describe it to them?

Cohen: To any fan who’s not attended a convention, I urge you to attend a Creation Entertainment convention, especially with me involved. I know that sounds a little bit narcissistic, but I assure you that me and my team of Supernatural actors show up and show out! We want you to have fun, and we want to have fun trying to make you have fun! The conventions that Creation Entertainment puts on are not just actors collecting more money for writing their name on an 8 x 10 picture.

It’s an exchange of humanity that’s made up of various different actors, events, and opportunities to sit and communicate with all of them in an absolutely authentic and honest way that changes all of the lives involved. Sometimes it’s just fun and funny, sometimes we cry for two hours together. The Creation Entertainment conventions are a place of humanity in a world that needs humanity now more than ever!

You can see further information regarding Cohen’s wellness event in Austin, TX, here. The RescueVerse tour continues with conventions in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 30-31 and Austin, Texas, on June 6-7.

Don’t forget that the Creation Supernatural tour has upcoming 2026 and 2027 convention dates.

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