Terry Crews Reveals Secret Art Practice

Actor, former NFL player, Old Spice commercials star, and forthcoming Who Wants To Be a Millionaire host Terry Crews has another skill: He’s a talented artist. He revealed as much on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, sharing his portfolio of photorealistic sports paintings and sketches. His works are reminiscent of sports art giant Daniel A. Moore, though presumably Crews hasn’t faced the same kind of legal hardships as Moore over copyrighted team logos, colors, and other insignia.

Artwork by Terry Crews on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Photo: YouTube screengrab.

Before Crews set out to become a football player, he honed his art craft in a most improbable setting.

“I come from Flint, Michigan,” Crews told Kimmel. “My first job in entertainment, I drew courtroom sketches for the worst murder case in Flint, Michigan history.” His talents with pen and paintbrush were such that when it came time for Crews to head to college, it was his art rather than his athleticism that opened doors. “I had an art scholarship before I had a football scholarship,” he explained.

During his brief career as a professional football player, Crews kept up his studio practice, even depending on it for extra income.

Artwork by Terry Crews on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Photo: YouTube screengrab.

“I would get cut from a team—I played on six teams in seven years, so that happened a lot—so I would go back into the locker room and ask the players if they wanted their portraits painted,” he told Kimmel. “That’s how I survived, I was always on the end of the roster, I was never a big superstar, I was an 11th round draft pick. Humility gets you far. You gotta make some money, you gotta humble yourself…I would literally take me about two months to do a painting, and they would give me like $5,000 and I would survive off that, my whole family survived off that.”

[h/t Gawker]