Many fans wondered how rookie C.J. Stroud would fare this season in his new role as the Houston Texans quarterback.
He’s exceeded everyone’s expectations, and is currently the heavy favorite to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. But the 22-year-old Stroud is already looking ahead to his next role, and other possible honors. Stroud told The New York Post this week that he would like to one day be an actor.
“Movies helped me escape my reality at times when I was a kid,” Stroud said (via The Post). “They helped me get into a new mindset … and showed me here’s a different way of life, you know? I always kind of just joke around, but after I’m done playing, I want to kind of be an actor or something. I want to see what it’s like because I just love TV shows and movies.”
Acting is probably more similar to playing in the NFL than people realize. There’s a script (game plan) to follow, and anyone used to performing in front of millions on TV and handling media scrums should feel comfortable on the set. A number of former NFL stars have gone on to acting careers, including Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson, Howie Long and Merlin Olsen.
Stroud said he’d be open to a wide variety of roles.
“Ether a comedy, like a rom com,” Stroud said. “Something that will make you feel good — and also, I would want to be in a TV show like Power or Snowfall … I would like to be like a ’90s drug kingpin or something.”
Stroud’s love of TV and movies helped him through a tough childhood. When he was 13, his father, Coleridge Bernard Stroud III, pleaded guilty to charges of carjacking, kidnapping and robbery, among other offenses, and is currently in prison.
That has led Stroud to become active in pushing for justice reform, including work with the REFORM Alliance, a nonprofit organization that aspires to transform probation and parole throughout the U.S.
“I think it’s good for people to know that we’re [professional athletes] regular people and we go through things that everybody else goes through,” Stroud said.
