James Harrison has a plan beyond football. He wants to be an action star. At the very least, he wants to transition full-time to acting, something he got a taste for following his recent appearance on CBS' "S.W.A.T."
According to ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler, Harrison has with Mosaic Entertainment, hired an acting coach and has held dozens of meetings with producers and casting directors in frequent trips between his home in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.
"It's a little different [from football]," Harrison explained of his excursions to Hollywood. "They look different. They're not as big. It's a different atmosphere. It's something I had been looking at the last few years, thinking hopefully this would lead to other things."
But like football, where Harrison was an undrafted free agent who was cut several times before finally sticking with the Steelers, he knows his new craft will require a lot of work.
"I would say I'm not actually skilled in it as far as a student of it. What I bring is raw," Harrison said. "I'm trying to get that refined. Emotional responses, that's the hard thing. Being able to be, like, extremely compassionate. Actors like Denzel [Washington] being able to go that whole spectrum. I think that's what I'll have to get a lot of help on refining."
In a press release from Harrison's public relations firm, "S.W.A.T" co-star Jay Harrington said, "The Rock better watch out because #92 is aiming to be an action star, and he's coming for him."
The Rock, who is known as Dwayne Johnson, played football for the University of Miami and was a professional wrestler before turning to acting where he is now a bona fide action hero.
"What a lot of people don't realize about The Rock is he did other things over the course of 10-15 years before he really blew up," Harrison explained. "He put in the work."
If there's one thing we know about Harrison, who is 40 years old and has 84.5 career sacks, he'll have no trouble putting in the work.
