“They would be cooking all night, and they’d literally have plates for the players when we were going in,” remembers Crews, 53, who, while a linebacker for the San Diego Chargers in the early ’90s, would grab burgers and ribs in the parking lot of Jack Murphy Stadium. The players got so hooked on the fans’ food, he says, “They’d be like, ‘You want so-and-so’s ribs, over there!’ It was awesome.” Now, as the NFL season heads into Super Bowl LVI (Feb. 13 on NBC), Crews makes his own football food at home in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family. (He and his wife, RebeccaKing-Crews, have five children and one grandchild.) And as he Zooms with Parade—along with his youngest child and only son, IsaiahCrews—the football memories come rushing back. “We still have a bunch of the old football helmets that my dad wore in our garage, and it’s so cool, honestly,” says Isaiah, 16. The teen has just finished filming an episode of his own TV show, Side Hustle, for Nickelodeon—in which his dad also appears, playing funny Uncle Nedward. But in December, the elder Crews turned the positive, comic personality for which he’s become known on its head in his latest project: providing the voice of the powerful villain in the animated film Rumble (Paramount+). Rumble, based on the graphic novel Monster on the Hill, is set in a world where monster wrestling is a global sport. It tells the story of a big red beastie named Steve Rayburn Jr. (voiced by WillArnett) who grew up in the shadow of his successful monster wrestling champion father, Rayburn Sr. With the help of a young girl, Winnie (voiced by GeraldineViswanathan), the daughter of Rayburn Sr.’s former wresting trainer, underdog Steve takes on the challenge to save their town from being destroyed. He must defeat Crews’ terrifying character, Tentacular: the reigning superstar monster wrestling champion, an enormous, blue, shark-faced behemoth whose tentacles easily crush his competitors. Crews relished playing Tentacular because “I got to be a bit evil,” he says, laughing, though he actually approached the role with deep empathy. “The bad guy doesn’t know he’s bad,” he says. “He’s just getting what he wants, and he thinks this is the best route to get it.” But as Steve and Winnie learn in the film, following in their fathers’ footsteps won’t win them this fight; they need to pave a path for themselves. “You win with what you’re given,” says Crews, a lesson he had to learn himself in his real life. “I faced a lot coming up, even within my own family. I felt like I was always swimming uphill. But the thing about swimming against the stream is that it does make you very, very strong.”
Working-Class Misfit
Crews was raised in Flint, Michigan, with his older brother, Marcelle, and his younger sister, Micheall. His father, Terry Sr., was a foreman at the Buick factory in Flint, and his mother, Patricia, was a housewife. It wasn’t an easy childhood. “My dad was very physically abusive, especially to my mom,” says Crews of his father, an alcoholic. And the environment of Flint—which at the time was struggling with the crack epidemic and the demise of the auto industry—was tough on the young Crews. “This was a factory town where everyone had the same house, the same car, the same job,” he says. “You were supposed to like this sport, you were supposed to like fixing cars, and I was not into any of it. I’m left-handed, right-brained, and I didn’t fit in.” He liked painting, drawing and playing the flute. He loved to dance, and he had a breakdance crew with his friends and hosted his high school talent show. “I’ve been a honey-baked ham since I was a little kid!” he says. But his father “was part of the era where he felt he had to withhold his love from his sons,” he says, so “there wasn’t a lot of ‘I love you,’ just a lot of ‘Get to work.’” Thanks to the support of his high school art teacher, Mr. Eichelberg, who championed Crews’ artistic gifts, he was accepted into a summer program at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in northern Michigan, where he studied with students from all over the world; and then he got a small arts scholarship to attend Western Michigan University. The summer after Crews’ first year in college, his art also earned him a summer job with a local television station, WJRT. And when the courtroom sketch artist could not make it to court one day, Crews took on the role: rendering the court proceedings of the worst murder case in Flint’s history. “It was crazy,” he remembers. “Six people in a crack house; it was horrible. And what was wild is, I knew some of the people who had been murdered.” Crews attended the trial for about two weeks, drawing the lawyers, the defendant and the jury from different angles. “And it went on the TV and my mother, my whole family, was so proud.” But since his art scholarship didn’t cover his full tuition, Crews took a different tack: “I decided that football was going to be my way out.” He joined the university’s football team and earned himself a full-ride athletic scholarship. What started simply as a way to pay for his education led Crews to realize, “‘Wow, I could go pro at this.’” In 1991, he was drafted by the L.A. Rams, and his career took him to the Green Bay Packers, the Chargers, the Washington Redskins (now-renamed the Washington Commanders), NFL Europe’s German team Rhein Fire and the Philadelphia Eagles. “But you have to understand: For me, football was never an end,” he says. “It was always a means. I always saw past football.”
Life of Dreams
Crews had always dreamed of California, so he headed West, straight to Hollywood. And while playing the nemesis in Rumble seems almost out of character for him now, it wasn’t always. “I started out being a bad guy,” he says—beginning with his role in 1999 on the American Gladiators–like TV show Battle Dome. “I played the heel, a real heavy named T-Money,” who would battle contestants in a cage set on fire. And that tough-guy identity stuck for a while. As Crews worked security in Hollywood, he worked his way in front of the camera in the sci-fi film The 6th Day with ArnoldSchwarzenegger and Training Day with DenzelWashington. And he planned to continue on that burly bad-guy path—until rapper-turned-actor IceCube stepped in. After Crews worked security on 2000’s Next Friday, Ice Cube asked him to audition for the third comedy in his Friday film franchise, 2002’s Friday After Next—and playing the part changed everything. “I’ll never forget,” says Crews, “Cube told me, he said, ‘Man, for years, muscle was never considered funny, but the fact that you were so funny in this movie, you broke a comedic rule.’” Two years later, the Wayans brothers cast Crews in 2004’s White Chicks, in which his character sings VanessaCarlton’s “A Thousand Miles” to his date in arguably the most memorable scene in the film. The role cemented Crews as a comic actor, which he’s continued for two decades since. On the big screen, he’s appeared in Idiocracy; several AdamSandler films, including Blended and The Longest Yard; played Hale Caesar in theExpendables action-thriller franchise; and had a popular cameo as the boot camp instructor in Bridesmaids. On the small screen, Crews was a pitchman for Old Spice, played ChrisRock’s father, Julius, on Everybody Hates Chris and recently wrapped up his role after eight seasons as Lt. Terry Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine—a part that reflected so much of his real life, from his difficult relationship with his dad to his love of yogurt. The character was even named after him. “What I realized was that I’m never really acting,” says Crews. “I’ve always thought that every character I’ve played is just another side of me.” But “as an actor, I got tired of having to be picked,” he says, so in 2014, he took on the part of playing…himself. Crews hosted the 13th season of daytime’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, “and I learned it was my calling,” he says. He next landed the role of hosting America’s Got Talent, which just wrapped season 16, and America’s Got Talent: Extreme (which premieres Feb. 21). “Listen, I love what I’m doing right now,” he says. “I am one of the most grateful men in Hollywood.”
A New Legacy
Crews met his wife, Rebecca King-Crews, 56, in the late ’80s when he was a sophomore in college. He was visiting a local church where Rebecca was the music minister. “I saw her on the piano, and I was like, ‘Wow! Who is that?!” They got married two years later and have now been married for 32 years—though he admits they almost didn’t make it, due to the bad habits he carried into their marriage. But when his wife left him about 12 years ago, it was the wake-up call he needed. “It allowed me to revamp and reshape my life for the better. I had to humble myself and reroute, and there’s nobody more thankful that we’re still together than me. That’s why we’re still here and we have this beautiful family.” The couple has four daughters (Rebecca’s daughter Naomi Burton-Crews, 34, from a prior relationship; Azriel, 31; Tera, 23; Wynfrey, 19) and one granddaughter (Burton-Crews’ daughter, Miley, 11). Crews calls his only son “my homie,” and Isaiah agrees. “Best friends,” he says. The teen shows his dad music he likes and songs that he’s creating, while in return Crews shares the music he loved at 16. “And what’s so crazy,” says Crews, “is that I had his haircut when I was his age too: the high-top fade!” With the family, Crews and Isaiah love hitting theme parks, watching movies, and, in football season, attending NFL games at SoFi Stadium. “Just hearing the crowd cheer is so exhilarating,” says Isaiah—though really, he laughs, the food is his favorite part of a game. And while Isaiah never had an interest in playing football, he is following in his father’s acting footsteps. Isaiah is currently in his second season playing the loveably funny “Munchy” on Side Hustle—a show about three friends who, after accidentally destroying one of their dads’ boats, work odd jobs to earn the money to pay for it. “I always end up the one wearing the weird dog costume or getting, like, salsa poured on me,” he says. “It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of, honestly.” Crews, watching his son speak, is beaming. “I am in awe of his talent,” he says, noting that he dreams of directing Isaiah in a major movie. “He’s a much better actor than I ever was. At 16, I wish I was as cool and calm and focused as he is! I see nothing but greatness coming.” And sure, Isaiah has felt the pressure of trying to succeed at something his father was a success at first. But when people ask him how it feels to be Terry Crews’ son, he has an easy answer: “I don’t even know how to describe it. I love my dad so much. But I’m my own person as well. I can have my own accomplishments.” But whatever path Crews’ children want to choose, he is behind them. “Whatever they wanna do, we support,” he says. Whether they are in entertainment or not, they are proud of all five of their kids and their grandbaby, because true success is about so much more than notches on a career belt. “We kind of wrap everything up in achievements, but the movies and all the things I’ve done? They’re not my legacy,” he says. “It’s really my son, and my daughters, and my family. That’s the legacy.”
The 411
Terry Crews’ earliest football memory
Isaiah: When I played flag football in second grade and I had a really mean coach. But he would give us honeybuns after practice, so that was nice. Terry: I was a fan because my brother and I had a rivalry. He loved the Pittsburgh Steelers and I loved the Dallas Cowboys. [Now] I don’t have a favorite team, because I was on six teams in seven years!
Book Terry Crews is reading
Isaiah: Invincible by RobertKirkman. It’s the same author as the Walking Dead comics. Terry: Factfulness by HansRosling. It’s an amazing book. It just talks about how the world is not as bad as you think when you look at the facts. It’s kind of like therapy through facts.
Terry Crews’ favorite toy
Isaiah: I had this WWE action figure of the Miz. I carried that with me everywhere. I had it in my pocket all the time. And I ended up working with the Miz, so it’s kind of like a circle. Terry: For me, it was this gooey slime. It was one of the most beautiful, blobby things. And they still sell it! And it’s still some of the kids’ favorite stuff.
What they say the most
Terry: [Isaiah will] jump out of nowhere with “Hey! Did you hear the new music from so and so?” Isaiah: And whenever I show my dad something, he always goes, “That is hot!” [Laughs] He says that whenever I show him anything. Every single time.
Terry Crews’ favorite cereal
Isaiah: Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Terry: Fruity Pebbles.
How to stay healthy
Isaiah: Eating veggies and drinking juice. Terry: I work out two hours a day at my own gym. Love it. Isaiah: I joke with my friends about how many vitamins he takes in the morning, and just, like, the vats and vats of protein powder in our pantry.
Isaiah Crews’ childhood crush
Isaiah: Well, I’m still a child so… When I was younger, I had this really big crush on Shego, from this [animated] Disney show called Kim Possible. She was my favorite ever—and sometimes I still have a crush on her now. Terry: I had a big, big crush on LisaBonet on The Cosby Show. I wrote her a letter and everything. I was just, you know, “I think you’re awesome. I just want to let you know I think you’re the greatest…” And I got a chance to meet her at the Oscars, and I was like, “You were my crush when I was a kid!”
Sport Terry and Isaiah Crews suck at
Isaiah: Basketball. I may be tall but being tall has nothing to do with aim. I can’t shoot whatsoever. Terry: I lost all my basketball skills—they just keep getting worse every year.
Dream role Isaiah Crews most wants to play
Isaiah: I want to play Miles Morales [a Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe] in a movie or TV show. Terry: I want to play JackJohnson, the famous boxer from years ago who was undefeated. He was the one they based [the 1967 play and 1970 film] The Great White Hope on.
Who’s got the best dance move
Isaiah: I’m the better robot. Terry: I’m the bigger robot. I have the best robot of all time. I’ve put probably all my dance moves into every movie I’ve ever done. Next, Everything You Need to Know About America’s Got Talent: Extreme
