The UTRGV campus community spent Monday evening with Actor, Activist and Former Athlete Terry Crews as a headliner in the Distinguished Speaker Series.
The night highlighted Crews’ come up from humble beginnings to having to start over after leaving the NFL to becoming a part of history involving himself in social justice movements.
Sociology Assistant Professor Arlett Lomeli asks Crews at the beginning of the evening about his artistry during his childhood.
Crews says his artistry came from his unconventional home where he would see his parents fighting.
“For me art was my peace,” Crews says.
Lomeli recalls Crews’s hometown of Flint, Michigan which has been plagued with environmental justice issues — namely lead in the water supply — since 2014.
She then asks Crews about his current relationship to Flint.
“There was so many problems for families in Flint that came out of that water situation,” Crews says. “There are people who say they want to help the poor, but a lot of times, people want to use the poor…people were bringing in trucks full of bottled water…but nobody stayed to solve the problem.”
Crews reminisced on his experience in the NFL and his transition to becoming an actor in the film industry.
Lomeli asks Crews if he knew acting was what he wanted to do when he left professional sports.
“This is going to be a shock to everybody. First of all, I never wanted to be an actor. Ever,” Crews says.
Crews says he believed he was going to be a special effects artist working for Industrial Lights & Magic, a visual effects company.
He says when he moved to Los Angeles he went broke and took to searching for change in couch cushions.
“We were just out here really suffering. My first job in L.A. was sweeping floors at a factory,” he says.
He says he then became a security guard on a movie set when a chance audition for the 1999 TV series “Battle Dome” got him into acting.
“It was like “American Gladiators” on steroids, it was crazy. But I was in as an actor and I never looked back. I meant that’s now almost 22 years ago,” Crews says.
Crews’s career has been filled with hit movies such as the 2004 comedy “White Chicks” to the penny-pinching dad on “Everybody Hates Chris” and the yogurt-loving detective on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”.
However, Crews’s career and life have become more than just acting. He turned to being an activist as well.
Sociology Lecturer Billy Ullibarri asks Crews about what motivated him to speak out as a high-profile man in support of the #MeToo movement of 2017.
“I remember when it was happening, when all these women were coming out against Harvey Weinstein and others and all I could think about was when it happened to me,” Crews says.
Crews says he didn’t realize at the time how many other men would also share a connection with him after he tweeted about being a victim of sexual harassment.
He also adds that he saw a similar situation between himself and the #MeToo movement.
“It was a thing where this guy was a very powerful Hollywood exec and that was the deal,” Crews recalls. “He felt he could do whatever he wanted. And I just thought about ‘look at all the women, over centuries that have been through this.’”
Crews says he thanks the women who came forward because it was their courage that allowed him to share his story. Ullibarri asks Crews how students can pick and choose their battles just as he has done throughout his life.
“If you buy into it, if it’s me vs. you…but i decided to not compete.,” Crews says. “And by not competing, I became my own person, my own thing. One thing, the battle I choose to fight, are about humanity, about other people.”
Ulibarri closes by asking Crews what he believes is a good skill set for students to have as they transition in their lives.
Crews says he has an acronym for that. He calls it AC/DC: Adaptability, Creativity, Decision and Commitment
“That’s the best way I say to remember it and that’s where you get your power,” Crews says.
Director of Student Activities Cindy Mata-Vasquez says to keep an eye out for an announcement in the near future.
Justin Elizalde contributed to this report.
