Tag: Matthew A. Cherry

Ex-NFL player Matthew Cherry won an Oscar for animated short film — and predicted it 8 years ago

On Sunday at the Academy Awards, Matthew Cherry became just the second pro athlete to win an Oscar for “Hair Love.” The late Kobe Bryant won one in 2018 with his animated short “Dear Basketball.”

Matthew A. Cherry, a former NFL wide receiver who had exactly zero receptions during his career as he bounced around from team to team, reinvented himself and the reward for that was an actual award, a big shiny gold one on Sunday: An Oscar for the animated short film “Hair Love.”

Cherry wrote and directed the short, about an African-American father attempting to style his young daughter’s hair for the first time.

The film was produced after a 2017 Kickstarter campaign and was also released as a children’s book in May 2019, with illustrations by Vashti Harrison.

Cherry becomes just the second pro athlete to win an Oscar. The late Kobe Bryant won one in 2018 with his animated short “Dear Basketball.”

“’Hair Love’ was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation,” Cherry said after accepting the award with Sony Pictures Animation executive Karen Rupert Toliver. “We wanted to normalize black hair. There’s a very important issue that’s out there, the CROWN Act, and if we can help to get this passed in all 50 states, it will help stories like DeAndre Arnold’s — who is our special guest tonight — stop to happen.”

The reference to Arnold, who attended the Oscars as Cherry’s guest, is this:

The speech was powerful and, naturally, included a shout-out to Kobe.

Cherry called his shot back in 2012. How confident is that?

You can watch the Oscar-winning short film below.

Finally, here are Cherry’s sweet tweets after the ceremony:

 

 

Matthew A. Cherry becomes second former pro athlete to win Academy Award

Former college and NFL receiver Matthew A. Cherry became an Academy Award winner Sunday night, taking home the Oscar for the Best Animated Short Film, “Hair Love”.

Former college and NFL receiver Matthew A. Cherry became an Academy Award winner Sunday night, taking home the Oscar for the Best Animated Short Film, “Hair Love”.

Former NFL wide receiver gets an Oscar nomination for moving animated short

Matthew A. Cherry went from the NFL to an Oscar nom.

Kobe Bryant went from pro athlete to Oscar winner thanks to his work on Dear Basketball, the animated short film that won in 2018.

Now, he could be joined by Matthew A. Cherry.

Cherry was a wide receiver in the NFL who shuttled between practice squads and active roster for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens after he had a great college career with Akron.

Since he left the league, he became a filmmaker who has directed music videos for some big names and some television shows. He also was an executive producer for Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman. Most recently, he created an animated short, Hair Love, that was a hit both on screen and on the New York Times Bestseller list thanks to a book adaptation.

On Monday, Hair Love was nominated for an Oscar, with the announcement coming from actress Issa Rae, who voiced the film:

You can watch the short right here, and it’s incredible and moving, well worth the seven minutes it takes to watch:

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