"Mr. Throwback" Is the Beginning of Steph Curry's Acting Career

There’s a long history of professional athletes making a splash on the big (or small) screen. Jim Brown’s long career as an actor is one example; more recently, John David Washington and Wyatt Russell have made that career change seamlessly. There’s also a long history of athletes testing their onscreen charisma via an appearance hosting Saturday Night Live, which Vulture’s Jesse David Fox recently revisited with an eye towards who might host this season.

And then there’s the new Peacock show Mr. Throwback, which co-stars Steph Curry playing a version of himself. There’s a time-honored tradition of basketball stars doing this, including LeBron James in Trainwreck and Kevin Garnett in Uncut Gems. So far, Curry’s foray into acting has gotten solid reviews. “Building the entire production around Curry was a radical choice, sure, but the payoff is nothing but net,” wrote Andrew Lawrence at The Guardian.

What makes Curry’s foray into acting stand out is that isn’t just a foray into acting — it’s also from his production company Unanimous Media. In an interview with Alex Welprin for The Hollywood Reporter, Curry discussed his ambitions to make waves in the media world.

Curry called acting in the project “extremely fun and hopefully not the last time I get to do it.” He mentioned working on his acting with his wife, Ayesha Curry, and spoke candidly about his approach to this new craft. ‘I didn’t want to half-ass anything,” he told Welprin. “You don’t want to just not be prepared, not be polished and come with the right approach to it.”

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Curry isn’t the only star athlete considering ways to elevate their screen profile. But in reading the The Hollywood Reporter interview, one also gets a sense of Curry evaluating his own acting work as part of a larger media business. At a time when more athletes are looking to expand their forays into business, it’s an understandable maneuver — and one that might well lead to more entertaining films and TV series in the coming years.