A public advocate forwomen's rights and activist againstsexism, Crews has shared stories of the abuse his family endured at the hands of his violent father, and was also included among the group of people named asTime Person of the Year in 2017 for going public with stories of sexual assault during theMeToo movement.[3]
Early life and education
Crews was born on July 30, 1968[4] inFlint, Michigan; he is the son of Patricia Ann (née Simpson) and Terry Crews.[1][5] The middle child of three,[6] he grew up in a strict Christian household in Flint and was raised mainly by his mother, who was 18 when he was born.[5] His father was an alcoholic and abusive to his mother.[3][7] Crews received aflute from his great-aunt, and took lessons for eight years.[8] He spent a summer atInterlochen Arts Academy and enteredWestern Michigan University inKalamazoo on an art scholarship. After his freshman year, he tried out for thefootball team and earned a full athletic scholarship.[6]
After retiring from the NFL in 1997, Crews moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He had a long-standing ambition to work in the film industry, but up until then had no plans to pursue acting, and simply wanting to be involved in some way. A year earlier, he co-wrote and co-produced the independent feature filmYoung Boys Incorporated. A self-funded production filmed inDetroit 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 film industry.[14]
Crews in 2008
In 1999, Crews auditioned for a role as a character athlete (known as Warriors) in the syndicated game showBattle 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.[15]
Appearances in commercials for products such asOld Spice, films, and music videos soon followed.[14] His breakout role came inFriday After Next (2002) starring rapper-turned-actorIce Cube, for whom Crews previously worked as on-set security.[16][17] 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.[14]
His role asJulius Rock, the father on theUPN/CW sitcomEverybody Hates Chris, brought Crews wider public recognition, and the series aired for four seasons from 2005 to 2009.[17] Since then, Crews has had main roles as husband and father Nick Kingston-Persons in theTBS sitcomAre We There Yet?, which aired for three seasons from 2010, and asNYPD Sergeant (and commencing in Season 7, Lieutenant)Terry Jeffords in theFox/NBC ensemble sitcomBrooklyn Nine-Nine, which aired from 2013 to 2021.[18] In June 2020, Crews stated in an interview withAccess Daily that four planned episodes for Season 8 had been aborted following theGeorge Floyd protests, as themurder of George Floyd prompted the producers to reassess the direction of the season's storyline.[19][20] The series was not renewed for a ninth season. In early 2021, Crews commented: "I'm sad it will end, but happy to have had the chance to be a part of something so special".[21]
Crews has predominantly portrayed comedic characters, sometimes playing off his athletic physique.
Based on his performance in the filmWhite Chicks (2004),Adam Sandler changed a role inThe Longest Yard (2005) to give it to Crews, who auditioned for another role in the film.[14] Crews has appeared mainly in comedic roles, such as Porter inStarsky & Hutch (2004), Steven inThe Benchwarmers (2006), President Camacho inIdiocracy (2006), Big Jack Latimore inNorbit (2007), Agent 91 inGet Smart (2008), and Nickens inBlended (2014), but he later found success in action roles beginning with his part asHale Caesar inThe Expendables series (2010–2014), 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 bodybuilder. This contrast has also led to sustained work as part of various humorousOld Spice TV commercials.[16][22][23]
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.[14]
Crews also starred in the video forBrittany Howard's 2019 song "Stay High" in which he lip-syncs the vocals.[29]
Other ventures
Illustration and portraiture
Crews's first job in the arts was as acourtroom sketch artist inFlint, Michigan. He received an art scholarship from college before an athletic scholarship.[12] He later worked as courtroom sketch artist forWJRT. During his football career, Crews supplemented his income by creating portraits of fellow players. At times it was the primary income on which his family depended, typically bringing $5,000 for a two-month commission.[30] His work included a series of NFL-licensed lithographs.[14] He believes his imaginative side has transferred itself to his acting work.[14]
In 2021, Crews announced that Amen & Amen had entered the film production sector as a "virtual production studio" based in Pasadena, California.[37]
Writing
In 2021 Crews and his wife Rebecca King wrote a memoir titledTogether: How Fame, Failure and Faith Transformed Our Lives.[38] He has written several other books includingTough: My Journey to True Power.[39] He has also written and illustrated children's books including Terry's Crew, and with Ken Harvey,Come Find Me, a story about the adventures of two brothers, Anthony and Marcus, who are based on Crews' sons.[40]
On March 10, 2021, Crews announced theEthereum-based cryptocurrency $POWER.[43]
Personal life
Crews with his wife Rebecca in 2019
Crews is a devout Christian.[44][45] He met Rebecca King when he was a college sophomore; she was the music minister at a local church.[6] They married on July 29, 1989.[46] They have four daughters and a son, Isaiah Crews, also an actor, and one grandchild.[6][47]
In 2014, Crews released his autobiography,Manhood: How to Be a Better Man or Just Live with One.[48] In the book, Crews detailed his long-standingpornography addiction, which had seriously affected his marriage and his life, but which he overcame around 2009 and 2010 after enteringrehabilitation. Since then he has taken an active role in speaking out about the condition and its impact, including posting on Facebook in his Dirty Little Secret Series.[49][50][51][52]
Crews is very keen onpersonal development and his favorite book isThe Master Key System byCharles F. Haanel: "I have read hundreds of personal development books, but this is the one that clearly showed me how to visualize, contemplate, and focus on what I truly wanted. It revealed to me that we only get what we desire most, and to apply myself with a laserlike focus upon a goal, task or project. That in order to 'have', you must 'do', and in order to 'do', you must 'be' – and this process is immediate. [...] I also reread it probably once a month to keep my vision clear".[53]
Crews appeared at the launch of the Cadillac F1 Team, where he spoke about his childhood in Detroit.[55] He cited the many years that his father worked at General Motors, of which Cadillac is a subsidiary.[55]
Sexual assault of Crews
On October 10, 2017, in the wake of numerous Hollywood actresses going public withtheir stories of sexual harassment and assault by film producerHarvey Weinstein, Crews revealed that a male Hollywood executive groped him at a party in 2016, but he did not report the incident for fear of retaliation.[56][57] It was later revealed that the "high-level executive" was Adam Venit, head of the motion picture department of the talent companyWilliam Morris Endeavor (WME).[58]
For his part in coming forward with the sexual assault allegations, Crews was named as one of the "Silence Breakers" from theTime Person of the Year award in 2017.[59] WME reportedly concluded from an investigation that the incident was isolated. Venit was demoted and returned to work after a one-month suspension. In response, Crews stated, "Someone got a pass".[60] Crews filed a lawsuit against Venit and WME for sexual assault.[61] Some witnesses stated that Venit had gotten intoxicated, dismissed the groping as "horseplay", and apologized to Crews the next day. WME responded to the lawsuit, arguing that their reaction to Crews' claims was "both swift and serious".[62] In March 2018, prosecutors decided not to file any charges against Venit. The city attorney's office announced that thestatute of limitations to prosecute Venit had expired, as the alleged incident was in February 2016 and Crews did not report it until November 2017.[63]
After Crews said that producerAvi Lerner attempted to silence him on the assault in order to retain his role inThe Expendables film series, Crews vowed not to appear in any further installments of the franchise.[64]
^Terry Crews Goes Undercover on Reddit, YouTube and Twitter.GQ (YouTube). January 9, 2019. Event occurs at 05:34. Archived fromthe original on October 30, 2021. RetrievedFebruary 7, 2020.I am not a 'Jr.' Terry Crews is my dad, but I have a middle name: I am Terry Alan Crews [highlights spelling "Alan"]. So that technically does not make me a 'Jr.'
^Timothy, Ferriss (2017).Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 19.ISBN978-1-328-99496-7.
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