Actor TJ Shaw is turning his former talents on the football field into a winning career on-screen and beyond.
A true team player, Shaw is best known as an actor for spending four seasons as the high school footballer Scott Anderson on The CW’s hit series “All American.” He also emerged in Ryan Murphy’s FX/Hulu series “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,” as a former high school teammate and friend who reunites with Hernandez in college.
Earlier this year, Shaw was seen by over 127 million viewers starring as a football bully who gets his butt kicked by one of the best female flag football players in the Super Bowl halftime commercial for the NFL titled “Flag 50,” directed by Peter Berg.
On the big screen, Shaw suited up alongside Margot Robbie in Damien Chazelle’s acclaimed feature film “Babylon,” as the ‘USC Footballer’ that Robbie fancies after winning a date night with the football team. He also showcased his dramatic skills starring as a 1970’s drug addicted painter in the celebrated short film “The Flower That Never Wilts.” Prior to this, he starred-in and produced the short film “Panorama,” which was placed on the Academy’s Short List in the Best Live Action Short Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.
Shaw brings the same fully committed mentality from his sports career into this acting. He went to extensive lengths to create his character in “The Flower That Never Wilts,” explaining “I took on the task of learning how to become a surrealist painter and lost over 20 pounds of weight.”
Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the son of a football coach, Shaw naturally fell in love with the sport at an early age. But in a twist of fate, his promising Division 1 college football career at Virginia Tech was sidelined by a neck injury. This ended one passion but ignited another when he stepped into an acting class at school.
After graduating, he made his way to Los Angeles, where he continued to hone his skills at The Slauson Rec Theater Company, founded by Shia LaBeouf. Coming soon, Shaw can be seen featured in the original documentary “Slauson Rec,” which reveals both the creative process and troubling moments behind the scenes at the former LA theater school.
His skills as a football player have also opened another door for Shaw in the entertainment industry as a Producer. He has executive produced several independent films, short films, and even produced the football scenes in several prominent television shows. One such project is the upcoming Hulu comedy series “Chad Powers,” starring Glen Powell who co-created the series with Michael Waldron and executive produces along with Peyton and Eli Manning.
“I love creating and putting puzzle pieces together,” Shaw shares. “Whether that’s finding who the character is as an actor or creating the story and making the production engine go as a Producer.”
Either way, it’s clear that TJ Shaw is going to be in the entertainment business for a long time.
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