Terry Alan Crews[2] (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former football player.

A public advocate for women's rights and activist against sexism, Crews has shared stories of the abuse his family endured at the hands of his violent father, and was also included among the group of people named as Time Person of the Year in 2017 for going public with stories of sexual assault during the MeToo movement.

[1][5] The middle child of three,[6] he grew up in a strict Christian household in Flint and was raised mainly by his mother, who was 18 when he was born.

[12] Repeatedly cut from rosters, Crews often supplemented his football income by receiving portrait commissions from teammates.

He had a long-standing ambition to work in the film industry, but up until then had no plans to pursue acting, and simply wanting to be involved in some way.

[14] In 1999, Crews auditioned for a role as a character athlete (known as Warriors) in the syndicated game show Battle Dome, which became his first acting part.

The audition process and the opportunity to perform in front of an audience made him realize that he wanted to pursue acting as a career.

[14] His breakout role came in Friday After Next starring rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube, for whom Crews previously worked as on-set security.

[14] His role as Julius Rock, the father on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, brought Crews wider public recognition, and the series aired for four seasons from 2005 to 2009.

[23] Crews cites the many similarities between acting and professional football, including the structure and expectations, as helping his transition between the two careers.

[26] Crews made appearances in the music videos for "Pressure" and "Algorithm" by British rock band Muse.

[37] In 2021 Crews and his wife Rebecca King wrote a memoir titled Together: How Fame, Failure and Faith Transformed Our Lives.

[40] Together with Unnar Helgi Danielsson, Dylan Sprouse and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Crews is a co-founder and brand ambassador of Thor's Skyr, an American-made high-protein cultured dairy product based on a traditional Icelandic recipe, which is high in probiotics and low in sugar.

[48] In the book, Crews detailed his long-standing pornography addiction, which had seriously affected his marriage and his life, but which he overcame around 2009 and 2010 after entering rehabilitation.

Since then he has taken an active role in speaking out about the condition and its impact, including posting on Facebook in his Dirty Little Secret Series.

[53] On an interview with Rotten Tomatoes in 2020, Crews listed his five favorite films as Do the Right Thing, Star Wars, Aliens, Training Day and Pulp Fiction.

[55][56] It was later revealed that the "high-level executive" was Adam Venit, head of the motion picture department of the talent company William Morris Endeavor (WME).

[57] For his part in coming forward with the sexual assault allegations, Crews was named as one of the "Silence Breakers" from the Time Person of the Year award in 2017.

The city attorney's office announced that the statute of limitations to prosecute Venit had expired, as the alleged incident was in February 2016 and Crews did not report it until November 2017.