GREEN & WHITE BASKETBALL

Hardwood to Hollywood: Former MSU hoops star Delvon Roe's new show premieres Tuesday

Mike DeFabo
Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – Almost a decade after degenerative knee pain and multiple surgeries forced Delvon Roe to prematurely end his once-promising basketball career, the former Michigan State big man has become an NBA veteran after all. 

Well, sort of.

On Tuesday, BET will premiere its new drama, “Games People Play” at 10 p.m.

The show tells the story of three ambitious women (Lauren London, Karen Obilom and Parker McKenna Posey) who battle for success and the attention of an NBA superstar played by Sarunas Jackson.

Roe plays the role of Dante, an NBA veteran for the fictional Los Angeles Vipers and one of the lead character’s best friends. 

 “I always wanted to play in the NBA,” Roe said. “It’s cool to be able to live out those dreams, but in a whole different world. That’s what made me fall in love with acting, to be able to step outside of my life and into someone else’s.”

The show is Roe’s next step in his acting journey and the latest chapter in his own unique story that took him from the hardwood to Hollywood.

Roe stumbled into career in acting

Roe’s acting career began by accident.

During his freshman season as a Spartan basketball player in 2008-09, Roe had to take two introductory-level acting classes as a part of his criminal justice program. He remembers reciting a monologue from the movie “Network.” When he finished, the teacher asked him to stay back for a minute. He had potential, the teacher said, and encouraged Roe to give acting a chance.

At first, he wasn’t sold on it.

“My perception of acting was Romeo and Juliet,” Roe said. “Tights and stuff. I was like, no, that’s OK. I’m on the basketball team. That’s not for me.”

As Roe progressed through the two classes, he kept getting the same feedback. Even though he didn’t believe in his ability, those around him were convinced. One tutor was adamant. You’re trying out for the theater program.

Roe eventually gave in and changed his major from criminal justice to theater. In 2010, he was cast as Charles the Wrestler in MSU’s performance of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”

One of the highlights of the performance was a fight scene with an MSU wrestler, Curran Jacobs.

“Our fight scene was pretty epic,” Roe said. “We’re two big athletes who can throw each other around and fall without getting hurt. He’s throwing me. I’m throwing him 15 feet in the air. He’s falling and jumping up.”

During that fall, the Spartans played a home game against South Carolina on ESPN at 10 p.m. The same day, Roe had to perform in the play that started at 7:30 p.m. 

He said his lines, performed the fight scene and rushed off before curtain call to make it to Breslin Center in time for the game.  Roe scored 15 points, dished out a career-high six assists and grabbed five rebounds to help MSU beat the Gamecocks, 82-73.

But the life-changing highlights came when ESPN played clips of his play.

Director Danny Mooney just so happened to be watching that game and saw Roe. He asked the basketball star to audition for his upcoming film, “Love and Honor,” starring Liam Hemsworth.

Acting had begun as a hobby. But that night was the first step to it becoming much more.

Roe's hoops career derailed by injuries

Roe had come to MSU as a five-star basketball prospect, ranked as one of the top 25 players in his recruiting class. He helped lead the Spartans to a pair of Big Ten championships and two Final Four appearances.

But throughout his three-year MSU career, the cortisone shots, the surgeries and needles used to drain his knee started to add up. Before his senior season, Roe made the decision to step away from the game he loved after just three college seasons.

“It was devastating,” Roe said. “For me, basketball was my whole life. It was all I had. But it just wasn’t fun anymore. It was hard for me to accept moving on.”

Acting became his new focus. Roe auditioned for the part in “Love and Honor” and landed his first movie gig. It started the journey Roe has been on ever since.  

Former Spartan Delvon Roe got his first shot on the big screen in "Love and Honor" a Vietnam-era movie that was set in Ann Arbor. The role helps kick-start Roe's professional acting career.

The role helped Roe earn his SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card. He moved to Los Angeles and started a new career.

The beaches were lush and the palm trees picturesque. But the opportunities didn’t come so easy.  

 “I wanted things to happen quickly when I first got here,” Roe said. “I was going to audition for anything basketball-related and I think it should go to me no matter what.”

Roe began to realize the grind it would take to achieve his goals in a competitive field. He worked to fine-tune his craft in acting classes. He acted in projects for free. He worked one show as an extra where he had to stand outside in the rain for 10 hours.

Once, his neighbor called and asked if he’d dress up like Big Foot for a shoot.

“I didn’t realize it was going to be so hot in those costumes,” Roe said. “It made me appreciate Sparty the mascot. I was sweating bullets in there. I could barely move.”

The lessons he learned in basketball helped him understand – and embrace – the process.

After all, he didn’t just arrive at Michigan State as a finished product, right? He worked in junior high. Then AAU. Then high school. Roe approached his acting climb in the same way.

“Everything I do in life is going to be related to basketball because that’s what I love and that’s what I can understand and relate to … . I had to work my way from the bottom up,” Roe said. “In anything you do in life, you have to work for it. You have to put in time.”

Fittingly, some of Roe’s biggest breaks came in basketball-related roles.

He landed a gig in a skit with Tosh.O and worked with Houston Rockets star Chris Paul in one commercial shoot. He’s acted with LeBron James several times, including most recently in an Intel commercial where Roe hugs James after the NBA star hits a game-winning 3-pointer.

Roe’s part in “Games People Play” is another opportunity to embrace both basketball and acting in a show that features lies, cheating and plenty of drama. He appears in five of the 10 episodes and warns that his character “has some secrets of his own.”

Roe didn’t want to elaborate. You know, no spoilers. 

But if the show is anything like Roe’s own life, it sounds like there could be a few plot twists.

RELATED: Spartan Speak: Michigan State spring football game, uniform talk, NFL draft preview

RELATED: Michigan State football lands legacy commitment from Darius Snow

GET OUR NEWSLETTER: Sign up for our Best of the Big Ten Newsletter, which begins soon

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the LSJ for as little as $3 for 3 months

Contact Mike DeFabo at mdefabo@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeDeFabo.