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“I was auditioning for the California Love video with Tupac”: Gabrielle Union reveals how she became an actress in movies and TV through video actress roles on the JJ Redick Podcast

Amulya Shekhar
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"I was auditioning for the California Love video with Tupac": Gabrielle Union reveals how she became an actress in movies and TV through video actress roles on the JJ Redick Podcast

Gabrielle Union revealed how her acting career took off as she began auditioning for roles as a video actress, resulting in an audition with Tupac.

Gab has become one of the most iconic actresses in Hollywood over the past 2 decades and change. Her first television series role was in a 6th-season episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Her major turn to fame came when she appeared in the immensely popular sitcom Friends as a love interest to Ross and Joey. This role was followed by a sterling performance in Love & Basketball.

Gabrielle Union became a major success commercially when she reprised the role of Syd Burnet in Bad Boys 2. This 2003 movie grossed over $273 million and was a worldwide hit. It placed Gab squarely in the pantheon of the most sought-after actresses in the industry.

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However, like many other actresses before her, Union’s first choice wasn’t always acting in movies. She revealed this on the latest episode of JJ Redick’s ‘The Old Man and the Three’ podcast.

“I was auditioning for the California Love video with Tupac”: Gabrielle Union

Gabrielle Union is the most recent guest on possibly the best podcast show by an NBA player. Redick has perfected the art of interviewing guests with the proper depth and context that viewers crave into their lives.

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Gab herself is an expressive lady and enthusiastically revealed her approach to writing her latest book and how it was different from her past experiences as a writer. The 15-year NBA veteran then redirected the questions to how she began her acting career. Union had an unexpected revelation to make at that point:

“I was a senior at UCLA and I was paying for school myself. And I was just trying to get it done, cuz as it turns out, school’s expensive! You could get an internship for 4 units (credits), and I said awesome! I found one working with models, I mean how hard can it be!”

“I was working in the kids department with those young child actors. And when my internship ended, they were like ‘Would you ever consider being our clients?'”

“I had such bad self-esteem that I only wanted to be in videos, be a video girl. I didn’t wanna be on television, didn’t wanna be on shows, I wanted to be the video wh**e. Except I didn’t have the big bums and the a**. I was literally auditioning for the California Love video with Tupac!”

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Union has indeed come a long way from those humble beginnings.

About the author

Amulya Shekhar

Amulya Shekhar

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Amulya Shekhar is a sports junkie who thrives on the thrills and frills of live sports action across basketball, football (the American variant works too), parkour, adventure sports. He believes sports connect us to our best selves, and he hopes to help people experience sports more holistically.

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