Terry Crews
Credit: C/O

Growing up in Flint, Michigan, Terry Crews wasn’t allowed to watch movies. So he would draw them as he imagined them to be.

That first introduction to art, ironically, eventually led him to star in movies — and television. His roles in everything from Everybody Loves Chris to Idiocracy to Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Deadpool 2 to The Expendables franchise contributed to the Newport Beach Film Festival choosing him as this year’s Arts Champion. He accepted the honor at the Lido Marina Village, with a dreamy sky behind him, as part of the festival’s Sunset Series.

“All I can say is that I can feel my mother’s spirit right now,” Crews told the audience after receiving the award from NBFF co-founder and CEO Gregg Schwenk. “My mother passed away in 2015, and she was a champion of my art. I’ll never forget drawing and showing her everything I ever drew, because that was my thing. I would draw pictures of everything.”

Terry Crews on Putting Art First

He explained that he wasn’t allowed to see films because of his “very religious upbringing,” which his mother later moved on from. He would draw scenes from films like Jaws that he couldn’t see at a theater.

“I’ll never forget drawing Jaws and drawing sharks eating people. My mother was like, ‘What is wrong with you?'” he recalled, to audience laughter. “But it developed a talent in me to create, and it was insatiable. … To be creative, to be someone who was responsible for beautiful things, is what I always wanted to be.”

His art earned him a spot at Michigan’s Interlochen Center for the Arts, and he later attended Western Michigan University on an arts scholarship. But he was such an excellent athlete that he tried out for the football team, and earned a full athletic scholarship as well. In 1991, he signed with the Los Angeles Rams. He played in the NFL until he retired in 1997, and took up acting.

Terry Crews holds the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Arts Champion award. – Credit: C/O

“My mother told me before she passed away: ‘No matter what you do, I know you’re playing football, I know you’re doing all this other stuff, but you never forget, Terry: You’re an artist. You’re an artist.’ And it’s in her memory that I really want to accept this award,” he said.

Crews noted that past generations in his family didn’t have the opportunity to succeed as he has.

“I look at generations from my past and people who grew up in the Jim Crow South. Both sides of my family were from Georgia, and I am the answer to their prayers. I am the answer to their dreams. And the fact that I’m standing here right now, I know their spirits, their energy, they’re looking down on me, and they are so proud,” he said.

In his introduction, Schwenk noted that Crews is one of the true modern renaissance men — “an author, action-movie hero, sitcom star, children’s book illustrator, playable video game character, TV host, high-end furniture designer and human rights activist,” Schwenk said.

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He added that Cruise is also a father of five, winner of the UN Global Generation Award, and cast member of three different shows with at least 100 episodes: Everybody Hates Chris, Are We There Yet?, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He has also been named People’s Sexiest Man Alive three times, and currently hosts America’s Got Talent.

Standing on stage, holding his award, Crews took a moment to take in the natural beauty of Newport Beach, and reflect on what the award meant to him.

“I’ve been in some of the most beautiful, creative, wonderful places in the entire world — this looks like the French Riviera right here,” he said. “This is absolutely one of the most beautiful places in the world.”

He added: “And I want to thank each and every one of you here for blessing the legacy that I’ve come from, and giving me this honor, because I represent so many people and so many great, great ones that have inspired me but never got a chance to stand here.”

You can learn more about the Newport Beach Film Festival here.

Main image: Terry Crews.