Terry Crews

Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, artist, activist 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 appeared in films such as Friday After Next (2002), White Chicks (2004), Idiocracy (2006), and the Expendables series. Since 2013, he plays NYPD Sergeant Terry Jeffords in the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

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, and college football at Western Michigan University.

Crews, a public advocate for women's rights and activist against sexism, has shared stories of the abuse his family endured at the hands of his violent father. He was included among the group of people named as Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2017 for going public with stories of sexual assault.[1]

Early life
Terry Alan Crews was born on July 30, 1968[2] in Flint, Michigan, the son of Patricia and Terry Crews, Sr.[3] He grew up in a strict Christian household in Flint and was raised mainly by his mother. His father was an alcoholic who was abusive.[4][1]

Education
After earning his high school diploma from Flint Southwestern, he received a Chrysler-sponsored art scholarship at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan, which was followed by an Art Excellence scholarship and a full athletic scholarship for football at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. As a defensive end for the WMU Broncos, Crews earned All-Conference honors and won the 1988 Mid-American ConferenceChampionship.[5]

American football career
Crews was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1991 NFL Draft.[6] His career included stints with the Rams, the San Diego Chargers, the Washington Redskins, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

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 Detroitwith 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.[7]

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.[8]

Appearances in commercials, films, and music videos soon followed.[7] His breakout role came in Friday After Next starring Ice Cube, for whom Crews had previously worked as an on-set bodyguard.[9][10] Having never taken acting classes, instead he asked himself what the audience wanted, and he 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.[7]

Based on his 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.[7] 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.[10] 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 Foxsitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which premiered in 2013[11] and ran for five seasons before it was picked up for a sixth season by NBC in 2018.[12]

Crews has appeared mainly in comedic roles, such as President Camacho in Idiocracy, but he 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. Although 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.[9][13][14]

Crews has lent his voice to animations such as American Dad! and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. Crews found he enjoyed the work and sought out more of it, finding satisfaction in how it carries his spirit into the animation.[10] 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. He has also starred 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.[7]

In June 2017, Crews was cast in the science fiction comedy film Sorry to Bother You.[15] The film was released in theaters on July 6, 2018.[16] Also in 2018, he appeared as Bedlam in the superhero film Deadpool 2.[17] Crews made appearances in the music videos for "Pressure" and “Algorithm” by English rock band Muse.

Illustration and portraiture
Crews considers his first job in the entertainment industry to be a stint as a courtroom sketch artist in Flint, Michigan.[18] He later performed the role for the local station, WJRT.[19] During his football career, Crews supplemented his income by producing portraits of fellow players, and in some cases this was his primary income stream on which he depended to feed his family, typically earning $5,000 for a two-month commission. His work included a series of NFL-licensed lithographs.[7] He believes his imaginative side has transferred itself to his acting work.[7]

Design
Crews is a co-founder of design company Amen&Amen, with fashion designer Nana Boateng.[20] Their first collection was a set of furniture and light fixtures designed by Ini Archibong.[21]

Personal life
In 2014, Crews released his autobiography, Manhood: How to Be a Better Man or Just Live with One.[22] In the book, Crews made public details of his long-standing pornography addiction, which he related had seriously affected 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.[23][24][25]

On October 10, 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 Hollywood executive had groped him at a party in 2016 and that he did not publicize the incident for fear of retaliation.[26][27] 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 (WME).[28]

For his part in coming forward with the sexual assault allegations, Crews was named as one of the "Silence Breakers" from the Time Person of the Year award in 2017.[29] When WME reportedly concluded from investigation that the incident was an isolated one, Venit returned to work after a one-month suspension, but was demoted from his position. In response, Crews stated, "Someone got a pass".[30] Crews has filed a lawsuit against Venit and WME for sexual assault.[31] WME responded to the lawsuit, arguing that Crews' claims were "both swift and serious" after having formally apologized, and showing willingness to let go of the incident.[32] In March 2018, prosecutors decided not to file any charges against Venit. The city attorney's office claimed that the statute of limitations for them to prosecute Venit had expired as the incident was in February 2016 and Crews had decided not to report the incident until November 2017.[33]

Crews is married and has five children and one grandchild.[34] He is a devout Christian.[35][36]

Filmography
Main article: Terry Crews filmography