Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, artist, and former American football player. Crews played Julius Rock on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris and Nick Kingston-Persons in the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet?. He has also hosted the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and starred in the BET reality series The Family Crews. He has appeared in films such as White Chicks, Idiocracy, and the Expendables series, and currently plays NYPD Sergeant Terry Jeffords in the Fox sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In football, Crews played as a defensive end and linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and Washington Redskins, as well as in the World League of American Football with Rhein Fire.
Acting career
After retiring from the NFL in 1997, Crews moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He had held a long-standing ambition to work in the film industry, but up until then had no plans to pursue acting, simply wanting to be involved in some way. A year earlier, he had co-written and co-produced the independent feature film Young Boys Incorporated. A self-funded production filmed in Detroit with an anti-drug message, the film drew on his own observations, as well as those of his friends and family. Despite describing it as a "horrible" film, he credits the experience with getting him interested in the industry.
In 1999, Crews auditioned for a role as a character athlete (known as Warriors) in the syndicated game show Battle Dome, which became his first acting part. He played T-Money for two seasons until its cancellation in 2001. The audition process and the opportunity to perform in front of an audience made him realize that he wanted to pursue acting as a career. However, he failed to land another acting job for the following two years. Appearances in commercials, films and music videos soon followed. His breakout role came in Friday After Next starring Ice Cube, for whom Crews had previously worked as an on-set bodyguard. Having never taken acting classes, instead he asked himself what the audience wanted, and believes this ultimately brought him success. He now believes acting is what he was born to do and would not wish to have any other career, despite the physically demanding nature of the work.
Based on Crews' performance in White Chicks (2004), Adam Sandler changed a role in The Longest Yard (2005) to give it to Crews, who had auditioned for another part in the film. His role as Julius Rock, the father on the UPN/CW sitcom on Everybody Hates Chris, brought Crews wider public recognition, and the show aired for four seasons from 2005 until 2009.[8] Since Everybody Hates Chris, Crews has had main roles as husband and father Nick Kingston-Persons in the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet?, which aired for three seasons from 2010 to 2013, and as NYPD Sergeant Terry Jeffords in the ensemble cast of the Fox sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which premiered in 2013 and was renewed for a fifth season in 2017. Crews has mainly appeared in comedic roles, although he also later found success in action roles beginning with his part as Hale Caesar in The Expendables series, which saw him make his first appearance in a film sequel.
Though he has managed to sustain an athletic physique in his career as an actor, Crews has avoided being type-cast as a muscle bound action hero, and has attained critical success through exploiting the contrast of his elaborate character comedy with his physique, which extends to the point of even mocking the stereotype of the gym obsessed body builder. This contrast has also led to sustained work as part of various humorous Old Spice TV commercials.Crews has lent his voice to animations such as American Dad! and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Crews found he enjoyed the work and sought out more of it, finding satisfaction in how it carries his spirit into the animation In 2010 to 2011, Crews starred in his own reality series on BET, The Family Crews, about his everyday life with his family.
It ran for two seasons. From 2014 to 2015, he hosted the syndicated game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Starring as an American host for the 2017 Netflix original show Ultimate Beastmaster. Crews cites the many similarities between acting and professional football, including the structure and expectations, as helping his transition between the two careers. He credits Reginald Hubbard with mentoring him in his early career in the film business.
Crews is a Christian. In 2014, Crews released his autobiography, Manhood: How to Be a Better Man or Just Live with One. In the book, Crews made public details of his long-standing pornography addiction, which he relayed had seriously impacted his marriage and his life, and which he was only able to overcome around 2009 and 2010 after entering rehabilitation; he now takes an active role in speaking out about the condition and its impact.
In October 2017, in the wake of numerous Hollywood actresses going public with their stories of sexual harassment and assault by film producer Harvey Weinstein, Crews revealed that a high-level Hollywood executive had groped him at a party in 2016 and that he did not publicize the incident for fear of retaliation. It was later revealed that the "high-level executive" was Adam Venit, head of the motion picture department of the talent company William Morris Endeavor. Venit was suspended by the agency
Terry Crews Sues The Talent Agent Who Allegedly Groped Him
According to the suit, Crews discussed the alleged assault the following morning with his agent at the time, Brad Slater, who also worked for WME, and was assured the company would handle the matter. But, the suit claims, Crews never got wind of any penalty for Venit, although the agent did call him to apologize. Crews dropped WME as his agency last month. The suit says the alleged groping psychologically damaged Crews and that WME has retaliated against him by preventing the actor from landing certain roles. Crews met with WME co-CEO Ari Emanuel last month to discuss his accusations and, according to the filing, Emanuel promised strong corrective action.
The suit says that Crews, to make his point, produced a letter Emanuel once wrote to HuffPost calling for actor Mel Gibson to be shunned by the entertainment industry after his anti-Semitic outburst at a cop in Malibu, California, several years ago. But Crews inserted Venit’s name for Gibson and “sexual assault” for “anti-Semitism” in the letter, telling Emanuel that Venit should receive similar punishment and be fired. “Shockingly, Emanuel told Crews that the situations were different because one was in a corporate setting and the other in a highway in Malibu,” the suit says. The suit also accused the agency of fostering aggressive behavior without reprisal, even for misconduct, and claimed that the agency knew Venit was “reasonably likely” to behave in such a way.”
“Given the history of inaction by WME and the retaliatory actions that have occurred and likely will occur, Crews had no choice [but] to bring this action to protect himself and to stand up for all victims of sexual predators,” the suit said. “After all, if Crews, a 6′4″, muscled, man, former professional athlete, with a long list of entertainment industry credits, can be the victim of sexual assault at the hands of a much more powerful individual in the entertainment industry, anyone can be a victim.”
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