He has a name: Isaiah Mustafa. That’s one bad-ass name. I can’t even convey how awesome it is. You know him as the non-Terry Crews guy in the Old Spice commercials. He rides a horse. And he has a celebrity public flirting thing with Ann Coulter. Really. I remember seeing him several times on Fox News Channel’s Red Eye (one of my favorite shows – though I miss Greg hosting it) and he flirted away with her. Anyways. Let’s see what Wiki has to say about him.
Mustafa was born in Portland, Oregon, the youngest of seven children of Shahidah Mustafa-Davis and John Wali Mustafa, who owned and ran a limousine service in Laguna Hills, California in the early 1980s.[3] Mustafa studied history at Arizona State University,[4] and, in 2000, owned a restaurant called Jo Jo’s Barbecue on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.[5] The restaurant has since closed.[6]
That sucks. I hope he had fun running a restaurant. Restaurants are tough business, just ask Johny Hendricks.
Mustafa played basketball and ran track at Santa Clara High School in Oxnard, California.[2] He did not play high school football, but he tried out for Moorpark College‘s football team hoping for an athletic scholarship;[6] he became a free safety, later becoming a wide receiver.[6][2]
After transferring to Arizona State University in 1995, Mustafa was a starting wide receiver for the Arizona State Sun Devils but had an unspecified “confrontation” with a coach and was benched his senior year.[2] Mustafa played during the 1997 Rose Bowl between the then-undefeated Sun Devils (led by Mustafa’s friend Jake Plummer)[4] and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Although Mustafa expected to become a high school teacher after graduation, a sports agent suggested that he try out for NFL teams. The Tennessee Oilers signed him to the practice squad, then sent him to NFL Europe‘s Barcelona Dragons in 1998.[2] After a season on the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns‘ practice squads in 1999, he attended the Seattle Seahawks‘ training camp in 2000.[5][7]
Barcelona Dragons sounds like an awesome team. I’ll bet they’re the 15th most popular team in Barcelona. Still, pretty cool to play ball like that – and play in the Rose Bowl no less!
After the Seahawks, Mustafa pursued an acting career, playing small character roles on various television programs. He gained sudden fame in February 2010 as the result of the popular The Man Your Man Could Smell Like advertising campaign for Old Spice, which featured his monologues.[4][8][9][10] Mustafa’s first commercial in the series was directed by Tom Kuntz.
Subsequently, a three-day session created a series of humorous, personalized YouTube videos, with Mustafa reprising the character from the original Old Spice commercial. These were directed at members of the public and celebrities, who had asked him questions on websites such as reddit, Facebook and Twitter.[11][12]
Interesting start to acting. What came next?
Mustafa resumed again for Old Spice with a series of ads released in August 2015. The theme featured him telling people to buy Old Spice Timber (or Swagger) but then Terry Crews comes and then offers people not to buy Old Spice Timber (or Swagger). He offers people to buy Bearglove instead. Later, then Mustafa returns and does something Terry hates. Then the commercial ends with Timber (or Swagger) fighting with Bearglove.
Cool. Does he have any personal interests or hobbies that might automatically make him super duper cool??
Mustafa is a comic book fan (with Spider-Man and Batman among his favorites), which has related to key events in his life. His knowledge of Doctor Doom‘s first name incidentally helped him win $47,000 on The Weakest Link for a question on the first name of Doctor Frankenstein; the money helped him pursue his post-restaurateur goal of becoming an actor.[6] Mustafa named his daughter in reference to the Batman character Harley Quinn. He has expressed interest in playing comic book superhero Luke Cage[21] and appeared as Cage in a Marvel Comics web short styled after his Old Spice commercials.[22] He is also a fan of the animated series The Venture Bros
Shit. He IS the greatest dude ever! Good for you, Old Spice Guy! RIDE THAT HORSEY WELL!!!
