The 'Old Spice Guy' Is Still Handsome Today — Look At Him Today

Jun 20, 2022 by apost team

People have a love-hate relationship with commercials and advertisements. Some commercials receive positive feedback and some commercials don’t. For the company Old Spice, their commercials have been pivotal in successful advertisement campaigns. Old Spice is known for its men’s grooming products. Customers and viewers of their commercials can find advertisements for body wash, cologne, deodorant, and more. 

Their iconic commercial campaign was called “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” and it launched in February of 2010. The commercials were so successful that Old Spice produced them up until 2018. The man that acts in all of these commercials would be Isaiah Mustafa. 

He was originally born in 1974 in Portland, Oregon. He was born into a large family with seven brothers and sisters. At the young age of five, Mustafa and his large family relocated to California. After moving his father opened and ran a limousine business. After high school, Mustafa attend Arizona State University and graduated in 1995. Eventually, he also joined the NFL’s Europe Barcelona Dragons in 1998. He even played on the Raiders and Cleveland Brown’s practice squads in the late 90s and early 2000s.

After retiring from football and hanging up his cleats Mustafa decided to pursue another passion of his, acting. After stepping onto the scene the athlete now actor was soon landing consistent gigs. He started by landing small roles on “Ugly Betty,” and “Days of Our Lives.” In 2010 he landed the biggest opportunity of his life by signing with NBC. This was just the beginning of his acting career which included the iconic Old Spice commercials. 

In an exclusive interview with Variety in 2019, Mustafa shared he had always wanted to be an actor.

“I was able to get a scholarship, and I made it on a couple of NFL practice squads. I did that as long as I could. After that, all I really wanted to do was acting,” he shared. 

The actor said he was able to take a lot of life lessons from his football days and career and use them to help in his new career switch. He shared that football prepped him for the biggest role of life.

“My work ethic transferred over from football and also the ability to ignore rejection and keep pushing. Being cut from any athletic team, it’s 1,000 times worse than not getting a job or not booking a role. When you don’t book a role, you don’t ever know what you did wrong,” Mustafa said. 

The actor added, ”They just say it’s not going further, and someone else gets the job. When you get cut from a team, they would literally give you a sheet. They would check off boxes so you would know exactly what you did wrong. It’s so traumatizing to get cut and have to go through that. And I got cut at least four times. But the rejection in Hollywood isn’t that bad. You get rejected, nobody knows. You pick yourself up and try again.” 

Mustafa landed the favorite Old Spice role in 2010 and has been acting in the commercials from then to 2018 Super Bowl LII. 

apost.com

Mustafa wasn’t just a fan favorite during his Old Spice era, he was the face of the brand. He told Oprah that when the opportunity came around it was unexpected. 

"As an actor, you take commercial jobs just to pay the bills, so they called me up and they said, 'Go in for Old Spice,'" he said. "My mom was at my house, and I asked her, 'Can you watch my daughter real quick while I run over to do this commercial audition?'"

After his iconic commercial run ended with the company, Mustafa told CNET that he knew he had more to his life and career.

"I was like, 'Wow, I'm going to expire one day.' It became more real ... it almost gave me a deeper sense of meaning. It just kind of opened my eyes to the possibility that anything can happen,” he shared. 

Aside from commercials, he has recently acted in “It Chapter 2” in 2017. He said that movie had more to it than meets the eye. "It's still about that friendship those kids in chapter one developed and how they really became each other's best friends to fight this evil," he said. "Don't get me wrong, it's horrifying, but it's still touching,” the actor added. 

In 2020 Mustafa shared with Essence that he was single and looking for a partner. Having a daughter, he shared that woman would need to be able to step into her life too.

“Ideally, I would like a woman who is intelligent and strong enough to handle this single dad and his 11-year-old daughter. That’s the most important quality that I’m looking for,” the dad and actor revealed. 

Do you recognize Isaiah Mustafa from the Old Spice commercials? If you are a fan of the iconic commercials— pass this article along to someone else who loved them too!