“Ten Years of Theater”- Shaun White Once Revealed How He Got the Acting Gig for Friends With Benefits

Published 07/07/2022, 8:00 AM EDT

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Like any, acting is not an easy career option. It requires years of hard work, dedication, and patience. However, instances of people with no previous acting experience emerging as excellent actors exist. But these are rare cases and not a frequent occurrence in the industry. Perhaps Shaun White, too, entered the industry hoping for a break in movies.

When the movie ‘Friends With Benefits’ was released in 2011, snowboarding fans swarmed the movie theaters to watch the GOAT in his debut role.

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Why did Shaun White land the role according to him?

The movie featured White as an angry version of himself who will use every reason to pick up a fight with Justin Timberlake’s character. However, most of these fights were verbal. Therefore, viewers did not see the two characters come to blows.

With that said, the two traded pretty intense insults every time they came face to face. The reason behind this was Shaun White’s character attempting to woo Mila Kunis’ character Jamie. The face-off between the two led to some hilarious outcomes in the movie.

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Three months after its release, White attended an interview to answer some questions about his sport and the movie. During the interview, the host asked if the snowboarder had a lot of experience in acting.

To this, the three-time Olympic medalist joked, “Ten years of theater, bro! Shakespeare, Hamlet, the whole deal.”

Breaking character and toning down a bit, White added, “Actually, no, I just watched a lot of Billy Madison growing up.

The things that followed after the movie’s release

Upon release, the movie was a box office success, trailing just behind ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2’ in its opening week. Therefore, it was a massive achievement for the film as the other two movies were fan favorites.

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The movie garnered positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with an approval rating of 68%. Moreover, Metacritic has also given the film an average score of 63, a decent score.

via Imago

Following this role, Shaun White reprised his role as himself in other movies and series. It includes Cloud 9, The Smurfs 2, American Dad!, and Henry Danger.

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Which movie or series would you like to see White in next?

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Written by:

Aklanta Chetia

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Aklanta Chetia Wanniang is a US Sports author for EssentiallySports. He has a Master's degree in Literature from the University of Delhi. With an interest in learning about multiple sports, Aklanta himself is a former sportsperson and has participated in state and national level swimming events.
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Edited by:

Simar Singh Wadhwa