Who is Matthew Cherry? Matthew A. Cherry is the former NFL football player and first-time filmmaker behind “The Last Fall.” Released in theaters in October 2012, “The Last Fall” is about a topic near and dear to Cherry’s heart, as it tells the story of Kyle Bishop—played by “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” actor Lance Gross—a football player who gets cut from the league and must move home to Los Angeles and readjust to life away from professional sports.
MUST SEE: What Is “The Last Fall” About?
The question “Who is Matthew Cherry?” is perhaps better answered by movie buffs than sports fans, as the former wide receiver never made much of an impact in the NFL. Born in Chicago, Matthew Cherry studied at the University of Akron, where he earned a degree in media. After graduating, he signed a three-year NFL deal, and while he played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens, he was released from his contract at the age of 25.
“What happens is that if you get cut at any point, they only owe you what they paid you,” Cherry told CNN in 2012, explaining why the NFL is not as lucrative as many people believe. “When I got cut they reassigned me to the practice squad, and when I was on the practice squad, that base salary was $80,000.”
It’s at that point the answer to the question “Who is Matthew Cherry?” began to change from “football player” to “aspiring filmmaker.” Cherry could have kept playing football in Canada or semi-pro U.S. leagues, but instead, he moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and began working with Streetlights, an organization that helps minorities land jobs as production assistants on film and TV sets. Cherry parlayed that into assistant-director gigs on music videos, and while working on a documentary about the 2011 NFL lockout, he got the idea for “The Last Fall.”
Matthew Cherry partially financed “The Last Fall” with the insurance payout he collected after his mother died, and as he tells it, she “sacrificed herself so that I can live out a dream.” In years to come, when people ask “Who is Mark Cherry?” the answer will undoubtedly be “Hollywood movie director” (“The Last Fall” won widespread acclaim on the film-festival circuit), and that’s a testament to his tenacity, work ethic and religious beliefs.
“You definitely have to have a strong faith in God to try to get through, because this filmmaking thing, this is 10 times harder than trying to make it into NFL,” Cherry told CNN.
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