Star Wars has greatly impacted the entertainment industry, and it’s easy to see why. It wasn’t named one of the biggest movie franchises in the world for nothing, inspiring other production houses and influencing the filmmaking industry. In addition to revolutionizing sci-fi movies, it has impacted many lives, including Terry Crews. Though the actor hasn’t joined the franchise yet, he reveals how it has influenced his life and career as a devoted fan.
Speaking on the new episode of Josh Scherer’s Last Meals on his YouTube Channel, Mythical Kitchen, Crews was asked about the movie that had the strongest impression on his moral code. As someone who has been open about his love for Star Wars, he naturally answered that it was the epic space opera franchise for him.
“You know what, Star Wars,” he said. “Star Wars, because it was about evil, it was about good. I'll never forget, even with Empire Strikes Back, it was almost like finding the goodness in things that you wouldn't find...”
While the America’s Got Talent host first saw Yoda as a joke, being a cute cartoon character, he found him the wisest. In fact, he couldn’t help but get emotional when he recalled how Yoda showed his power to Luke Skywalker in Irvin Kershner’s 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, where the Grand Jedi Master stuck his three fingers and helped raise his apprentice’s ship.
I get emotional about that cuz it's like, look at his power, and you start to learn about being good, and what you know, you didn't really die. I get choked up because it's like I truly believe in my heart that no one ever really dies; our Spirits are never dead. Our Spirits have always been here, so we just moved to another state. Move to the next thing and it supplants all that fear and scary, 'Oh, what's going on into a whole other thing for me.
While Crews knows Star Wars isn’t real, it helps him learn a pivotal lesson about life, especially after his mom, Patricia Crews, dies. He credits the movie series for making everyone understand morality by putting it in a picture. This makes him accept that people will be here in a minute and gone in the next.
Hence, it makes him feel that his mother is still here, proud of him, and looking and watching over him while she is in a better place. After her passing, he understands that everything has already been revealed to her, and everyone will eventually enter the afterlife.
“So, I don’t fear moving to the next level,” he added.
Star Wars Has Changed Terry Crews’ Life Forever
Crews went on to reveal that Star Wars was the first movie that he saw in a theater. Since then, it has always been one of his major influences and changed his life forever. This even gives him the idea that he will be part of the entertainment business in the future, and he’s not wrong about that.
After retiring from the NFL in 1997, the now-56-year-old star pursued an acting career. Following his first acting part in the game show Battle Dome, he started playing some of his famous roles in the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Of course, who could forget his unforgettable role in Keenen Ivory Wayans’ 2004 movie White Chicks? No one. He also started in the reality series The Family Crews and hosted the US version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire from 2014 to 2015.
This isn’t the first time Crews has talked about his love for Star Wars. In 2022, he told io9 that he was the “biggest, biggest fan” of Star Wars growing up. Despite coming from a very religious family that couldn’t consume any form of entertainment, he thanked his aunt for taking him to watch Star Wars at the drive-in, which forever changed his life.
Star Wars has touched the lives of many, and it’s no surprise that includes Crews. Starting in 1977, it made a significant impact on pop culture, and its first movie, George Lucas’ The Phantom Menace, was considered a cultural unifier that a diverse group of people enjoyed. Evidently, with a single film, the franchise made people unite.
