Terry Crews Had an Impressive NFL Career Before Becoming an Actor

Posted by author August 14, 2024 Football

Terry Crews wears many hats. You know him as an actor from memorable projects like The Longest Yard, White Chicks, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. America’s Got Talent fans have loved him as Host of the show since 2019, where he brings his pec-popping gusto to the stage weekly. But before that — before fame and Hollywood success — Crews was a football player. He actually played on and off for the NFL for five years.

How to Watch

Watch America’s Got Talent Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and next day on Peacock.

His journey to the football world is interesting. He didn’t set out to be a professional athlete. In fact, his original dreams couldn’t have been further from the gridiron. Read more details, below.

When was Terry Crews in the NFL?

Terry Crews played football in the NFL between 1991 and 1996. That’s roughly between the ages of 23 and 28.

What NFL teams did Terry Crews play for?

How did Terry Crews become a professional football player?

How did Terry Crews get into acting after football and the NFL?

Crews got his first on-screen role in 1999 as the character T-Money on the syndicated American Gladiator-style series Battle Dome, which combined the challenges of American Gladiator with the scripted antics of professional wrestling. A crossover event led to his appearances in Season 6, Episodes 45-47 of WCW Monday Nitro in 2000 (which you can stream on Peacock).

His first movie role came during his Battle Dome tenure, when he appeared as an assassin in the Arnold Schwarzenegger cloning film The 6th Day (2000). He also had an uncredited role in the Denzel Washington movie Training Day (2001), and played Damon, a formerly incarcerated man, in the third installment of Ice Cube’s Friday trilogy, Friday After Next (2002).

Crews then had a variety of guest appearances on television before his breakout roles in White Chicks (2004) as pro basketball player Latrell Spencer. He followed that up by playing Cheeseburger Eddie in the Adam Sandler prison football film The Longest Yard (2005), and President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in the 2006 Mike Judge film Idiocracy. He played Terry Jeffords on the popular TV series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which you also can stream on Peacock.