Laith Wallschleger looked like a mess.
he just pass through an exploding wall — literally — served as former NFL star Rob Gronkowski‘s stunt double in a Super Bowl commercial, plastering his head, face and entire body.
But he red-eyed from Los Angeles to New York in a matter of hours, and his appearance was never on his mind. Quickly putting on another suit, Wallschleger rushed off the set and headed to Los Angeles International Airport for the acting role he had booked as Gronkowski.
A future Hall of Famer and larger-than-life personality, it was easy to portray Gronkowski on screen. After all, they’ve been friends since college.
“I hung out with him for years,” Wallschleger said of playing Gronk. FX’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.”
“It’s like imitating your brother.”
That familiarity was evident last week when Wallschleger’s imitation of Gronkowski, a former New England tight end, went viral. The footage of Gronkowski interacting with teammate Aaron Hernandez in the Patriots locker room was so accurate that the real-life version had to applaud the effort.
I asked @RobGronkowski About the viral actor’s clip from the FX show…
We saw it twice. 🙂
The story behind it is here: pic.twitter.com/whqASbUk90
— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) October 10, 2024
“Playing me there is my good friend Laith. I’ve known him for about 14 years,” Gronkowski said on the “Up and Adams” podcast. “He laughed right away. If I cheer myself up and someone tells a good joke, it will definitely make me laugh.”
An actor, stunt double and voiceover artist, Wallschleger is a former defensive back at the University of Delaware who spent training camp with the Arizona Cardinals. After his athletic career ended in 2018, he auditioned for and was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and moved to Los Angeles full-time to pursue a career in entertainment.
He acknowledged that his size (6-foot-4, 255 pounds) and athletic background helped him land small roles early on. His first big break was playing a football player in “It’s Time,” a movie about former Ole Miss defensive back Chucky Mullins, who was left paralyzed after making a tackle. It was there that Wallschleger met executives from Game Changing Films, a group that casts actors for sports-related projects. They eventually helped him land appearances on shows like The CW’s “All-American.”
The company’s mission seemed simple enough. The idea is to find actors who can actually play the sport and make the show or movie look authentic. Except it wasn’t easy.
“There’s a size component, a speed component, and a performance component. It’s really hard to find all of these things in an actor,” Wallschleger said. “Most actors are very small. I mean, if you look at Tom Cruise, he’s like, what, 5-8? So it’s really hard to find that combination.”
Laith Wallschleger and the former Rob Gronkowski. (Courtesy of Laith Wallschleger)
Wallschleger went on to have roles on “NCIS,” “Grown-ish,” “The Rookie,” “9-1-1” and other shows. He is currently filming an episode of Peacock’s “Poker Face” and is starring in a show called “Paradise” starring Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden. Oh, and it was announced this week that he will star in a Lifetime Christmas movie about a football player finding love with a pop star (sound familiar?).
He also narrated a Dodge Challenger commercial and several video games.
But his true calling may be as a stunt double for “all the big white guys in the NFL.”
Wallschleger was cast as Travis Kelce, Nick Bosa, Joey Bosa, JJ Watt, and Zach Ertz. In the NFL 100 Super Bowl commercial, he played legendary Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and tackled Deion Sanders through a table.
No, of course not the real Deion Sanders. his Stunt double.
“They get paid millions of dollars,” Wallschleger said of professional athletes and coaches. “The last thing they want to do is take a wrong step, slip on something, and then watch that horrible Visa commercial and break their knee.”
Wallschleger is best known, at least for now, as Gronk 2.0. The two became close friends years ago through his cousin Dean “Mojo” Muhtadi, who knew Rob’s brother Dan Gronkowski. The families started hanging out, and there are countless stories of them partying together ever since.
The camaraderie paid off big time. When FX needed someone to play Gronk on “American Sports Story,” Wallschleger was the perfect fit. He appeared in a movie scene as a teammate of Hernández, the Patriots tight end who was later convicted of murder.
Laith Wallschleger as Rob Gronkowski and Norbert Leo Butz as Bill Belichick on FX’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.” (Courtesy of Laith Wallschleger)
Wallschleger said she was initially worried about telling her friends about the role. A few years ago, Gronk refused to talk about highly sensitive issues.
“What would be the benefit of saying something like that then?” Wallschleger said. “You want to respect the family and the seriousness of the situation and just get away with it. But he completely supported me on set.”
In general, playing Gronk is much more fun.
For FanDuel’s “Kick of Destiny,” a live field goal attempt at halftime of the Super Bowl, Wallschleger stood in for his friend in a commercial leading up to the event.
In one, a montage similar to one in the “Rocky” movies occurs. Gronk’s quads explode from overtraining and rip his shorts.
“It was my leg,” Wallschleger said. I think it really stems from that. “It was like saying, ‘Hey, if you need me later, I’ll help you out,’” he said.
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