Mustafa Speaks breaks down why ‘All American’ became a Black classic

Mustafa Speaks is currently one of the stars of Paramount+’s “Landman.” Before picking up the role of Boss, Mustafa starred in “All American” on The CW as Kenny Boone. Through six seasons, “All American” is the most-watched show for The CW across all platforms, and it will return for a seventh season in 2025.

Did you want to work in a football show or film because of your background playing in college?

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That was one of my aspirations: getting into the industry. I wanted to be able to recreate that world that I was in playing football. That’s one of the things I said to myself; I want to be a part of a football film. And at the time, it was like “Any Given Sunday” was coming out and all of these other football shows like “Friday Night Lights,” all of that was happening. So, to be a part of something like “All American” and to work with theshowrunner NK (Nkechi Okoro Carroll) was a dream come true.

How was working with Daniel Ezra?

That was great, man. That’s little bro. That is a little bro. He’s a cool dude, you know, from the UK. One interesting thing about him is, I’m sure you heard about it, he always uses his American accent anytime he’s filming. I used to mess with him and try to get him to bring his UK accent out. But, yeah, he was a professional, so he never did. But working with him was great. We had fun on set, and it was really like a little bro, big bro situation.

Coming in did you feel the shift of Taye Diggs (Coach Baker) not being there anymore?

Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s more of a question for the people that were there for a longer period of time. But there was a shift when I came because I had a different dynamic, a completely different energy, especially with the storyline being Daniel Spencer is going to college. It’s elevated, it’s much more intense, it’s much more in your face. And the relationship was more dynamic, in my opinion, because of who Coach Kenny needed to be for Spencer to get him to where he needed to be at that next level. So, I think the showrunners did a great job. The showrunner did a great job at crafting a new story with the new energy that was being brought with coach.

Did you ever have a coach like that that was very impactful for you and kind of changed everything for you at every level?

At every level. And my most influential coaches were my uncles. I grew up with five kings, my father, and four uncles, and all of my uncles were my coaches at some point in my upbringing. My uncle was my baseball coach; another uncle was my football coach. Another one was my basketball coach. So, I literally had those types of relationships and interactions with all my coaches.