All About Anthony Robles, the Wrestling Champion Born with One Leg Who Inspired “Unstoppable” (Exclusive)

‘Unstoppable,’ starring Jharrel Jerome as former wrestler Anthony Robles and Jennifer Lopez as his mother, is now streaming on Prime Video

• Anthony Robles, born with one leg, became a 2011 NCAA champion wrestler
• His high school and college wrestling career is the subject of the biopic Unstoppable, starring Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez
• After his win, Robles became a motivational speaker, author and wrestling coach — as well as a husband and father

Anthony Robles has the kind of life that demands a Hollywood biopic. The story of how he wrestled his way to a 2011 NCAA championship in the 125-lb. weight class — despite being born with only one leg — is now the adaptation of his 2013 memoir Unstoppable (streaming on Prime Video), starring Jharrel Jerome as Robles and Jennifer Lopez as his mother Judy.

As the California-born Arizona native, now 36, tells PEOPLE, his Ben Affleck and Matt Damon-produced movie captures the highs and lows of his wrestling career in exacting detail. “I stand by what we showed in that film, and the accuracy of things,” says Robles, who collaborated on Unstoppable as producer, consultant and Jerome’s stunt double in wrestling scenes. 

He and his family “were grateful for how much care and attention that everyone showed,” he adds, from director William Goldenberg “all the way to Jharell and Jennifer … it's one thing for them to be excited about telling our story, but they really just cared about us as people.”

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How did Robles go from humble beginnings in Mesa, Arizona to NCAA champion to Hollywood biopic subject? It all started when a cousin introduced him to the sport, he recalls. “What drew me to wrestling, the way I fell in love with it is that one-on-one aspect of it. I loved how it gave me the opportunity to really go out there, and I couldn't hide behind anybody. There was nobody that would sub in for me if I was getting thrown around. It was just me.”

Born with no right leg and a partial hipbone (the cause of his condition remains unknown), Robles says he already felt “on my own” outside the ring. “It felt like everyone was just looking down at me, and everyone was just feeling sorry for me for what I didn't have.” Training as a high school wrestler empowered him: “It was like, ‘No, don't feel sorry for me, because this is what I can do.’”

Robles redshirted as a freshman at Arizona State University after none of his top college choices recruited him. As he worked his way from All-American Honors to finishing seventh in the 125-lb. weight class to an undefeated streak in his final year, Robles and his four half-siblings also endured a difficult relationship with their mother’s abusive husband. 

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It’s all depicted in Unstoppable, with Bobby Cannavale playing the family patriarch and Don Cheadle and Michael Peña as Robles’ college and high school coaches. Also in the biopic is what Robles calls the “turning point” between his junior and senior years: receiving a stack of inspiring letters from a classroom of Arizona third graders. 

“These kids, they weren't writing me … because I was a champ already. They were writing me just because they were inspired by my story, that I was going after a goal,” he recalls. “For me, it was like, ‘I'm wrestling for more than just a national championship now, for more than just a medal. I'm wrestling to share a message, to prove to these kids that they can accomplish their goals.’ So, that became my passion.”

Related: Jennifer Lopez's Unstoppable Earns Standing Ovation in Toronto and Praise from Subject Anthony Robles: 'This Team Nailed It'

That’s why, instead of pursuing the Olympics or a pro wrestling career, Robles quit and “never looked back,” he says. “I wouldn't be where I am today without my mom, without those people in my life. And I'm just trying to be that person for others in their lives now. If they hear this story, and if it can help them overcome one day in their life, one bad day, one opponent, then I accomplished my goal.”

Soon after graduating, he became a full-time motivational speaker for the Washington Speakers Bureau, and in 2014 served on President Barack Obama's Fitness Council. “That was an honor,” Robles says. “It was very humbling. And it just goes to show people, and show me, where hard work is going to get you. You never know what's around the next corner.”

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Now, in addition to motivational speaking and coaching high school wrestling, he faces a new challenge: being dad to 2-year-old Abel, whom he shares with his wife, Laura. “It's a blessing to be a dad,” he tells PEOPLE. “I want to be that dad that I wanted growing up for him, and just be his number one fan like my mom was for me.”

Hopefully his son “wrestles one day,” he adds. “Fingers crossed!”

Unstoppable is now streaming on Prime Video.