May 14--Dallas Cowboys star Terrell Owens will take center stage off the field on Wednesday night with a guest spot on Under One Roof, a sitcom starring Flavor Flav on MyNetworkTV.
But this isn't simply a celebrity cameo. Mr. Owens is serious about launching an acting career after his football days are done.
"I'm just a natural," Mr. Owens joked during a recent telephone interview. "After doing this, right after the taping, I did get some positive feedback from production staff, the producers. With that, I want to pursue this after football."
Mr. Owens' screen debut came in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday, with a cameo as a wide receiver for the fictional Miami Sharks. On the set, he struck up a friendship with one of the movie's stars, Jamie Foxx, who put him in touch with a Los Angeles casting agent who continues to help Mr. Owens in his pursuits in the entertainment industry.
Mr. Owens said he draws inspiration from Mr. Foxx and Flavor Flav, both of whom parlayed other pursuits -- Mr. Foxx as a stand-up comedian and Flavor Flav as a rapper -- into acting careers.
And to the Cowboys receiver, the Under One Roof experience represents an important step. While Mr. Owens has done numerous cameos in movies and on television, this will be the first time he's had to play a character that wasn't himself or a football player.
"It was a challenge, it's a different arena," Mr. Owens said. "It's similar to being in front of the camera [for football], but it is different. You just try to block the camera out. You're trying to go into character, and you have to be able to turn it on and turn it off. Once I got in front of the camera, I was really at ease, the cast made me at ease."
Mr. Owens did well enough, he said, that the show's producers have already talked about a recurring role.
The show's premise is of a well-to-do family that's housing the patriarch's ex-con brother, played by Flavor Flav. On Wednesday's episode, Mr. Owens will appear as the long-lost brother of Flavor Flav and the father of the house, played by Kelly Perine.
"They're wealthy, and I'm trying to get some money," Mr. Owens explains. "I manipulate the family. But Flavor Flav, he's on to me. He smells a rat."
Under One Roof
Wednesday at 7 p.m. on MyNetworkTV (Channel 27). 30 mins.
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