Jay Ellis and Toby Sandeman had their athletic backgrounds to thank while preparing for their roles in Running Point.
“It’s crazy that I got to bring this much of my personal life to a role every single day. It was kind of wild,” Ellis, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly at the recent Running Point premiere held at Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California. “It definitely took me back to that time, which was a lot of fun obviously. It was great.”
Before transitioning to acting, Ellis played basketball at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, and was a public relations intern for the Portland Trail Blazers. While filming Netflix’s Running Point, Ellis had his teammates on his mind.
“I thought about injuries, like guys who had gotten hurt. I thought about my own selfishness or my ambition of wanting to be the best player on my team,” Ellis told Us. “I thought of all of those things and how that relates now that I’m a coach in a show, having to talk to these younger players. And I’m only also a year or two removed from playing myself [in the show]. It was an interesting experience.”
What to Know About Mindy Kaling’s Series ‘Running Point’
Running Point follows Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) who unexpectedly becomes in charge of her family’s professional basketball team. Ellis portrays Jay Brown, head coach of the fictional team the Los Angeles Waves, on the Netflix series, which premieres on February 27. Alongside Ellis and Hudson, the 10-episode comedy series also stars Scott Evans, Brenda Song, Drew Tarver, Scott MacArthur, Toby Sandeman, Chet Hanks and Max Greenfield.
Sandeman, 36 — who stars as basketball player Marcus Winfield in Running Point — was also an athlete himself, winning two gold medals at the European Athletics U23 Championships.
“I think some of the insights that I had being an athlete [helped] — certainly knowing the business side of being an athlete and how much that can actually take away from the love,” Sandeman told Us. “I think Marcus Winfield is going through that in this season, but also being a competitor and that’s just in me. So even when we were on the court, even though it wasn’t real, sometimes it felt real.”
Without giving away any spoilers, Sandeman teased his character’s athletic feat in the series. “I certainly dunked and pulled down the entire ring,” he told Us. “[The] Shaq attack came back.”
Running Point premieres on Netflix February 27.
Reporting by Mariel Turner
