Isaiah Mustafa

Isaiah Amir Mustafa (born February 11, 1974) is an American actor and former American football wide receiver. Mustafa is widely known as the main character in a series of Old Spice television commercials, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like". He is also known for portraying Luke Garroway on Freeform's fantasy series Shadowhunters, adult Mike Hanlon in It Chapter Two, and Detective John Sampson in the Prime Video crime thriller Cross.

Childhood Mustafa was born in Portland, Oregon to Shahidah Mustafa-Davis and John Wali Mustafa, the youngest of seven children in a Muslim family. Several years after the family relocated to California, Mustafa's father was killed in a car accident.

He was educated at Santa Clara High School, and later attended Santa Monica College, before transferring to Moorpark College. He did not play high school football, but he tried out for Moorpark College's football team hoping for an athletic scholarship; he became a free safety, and later became a wide receiver. After a season on the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns' practice squads in 1999, Mustafa attended the Seattle Seahawks' training camp in 2000.

Acting

After the Seahawks, Mustafa pursued an acting career, playing small roles on various television series, including Ugly Betty and Days of Our Lives.

In 2010, he signed a talent deal with NBC and appeared as a supporting role in the comedy film Horrible Bosses. Mustafa hosted the TBS special Funniest Commercials of the Year in both 2010 and 2011. In 2011, Mustafa guest-starred in two episodes of ABC's action drama series Charlie's Angels, portraying Detective Ray Goodson, an ex-boyfriend of one of the Angels. The following year, he guest-starred in two episodes of The CW's spy drama series Nikita, playing the role of Cyrus, a former agent for Division and a member of the "Dirty Thirty".

In April 2013, Mustafa appeared in a commercial for the Israeli beer Maccabee. The following year, he starred in the pilot episode of the USA Network comedy series Sirens as a police officer named Danny. In May 2015, it was announced that Mustafa would portray the werewolf Luke Garroway on the Freeform fantasy series Shadowhunters, based on The Mortal Instruments series of novels by Cassandra Clare.

In 2019, Mustafa played the adult Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs in his younger version) in It Chapter Two, the sequel to the 2017 horror film It.

In 2022, Mustafa played an educated Civil War veteran traveling through the mining town of Yellowstone City, Montana who is unjustly accused of murder after a local miner who just struck gold is found dead, in Murder at Yellowstone City.

Old Spice In February 2010, he gained sudden fame for his main role in the popular "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" advertising campaign for Old Spice, which featured his monologues. Mustafa's first commercial in the series was directed by Tom Kuntz. Subsequently, a three-day session created a series of humorous, personalized YouTube videos, with Mustafa reprising the character from the original Old Spice commercial. These were directed at members of the public and celebrities who had asked him questions on websites such as Reddit, Facebook and Twitter.

On July 26, 2011, Old Spice launched a new campaign on YouTube featuring a challenge between Mustafa and Fabio entitled Mano a Mano in el Baño. Mustafa said he wasn't worried, even though Fabio has been "the epitome of the sex symbol as a pitchman". Mustafa ultimately emerged as the winner. He resumed his work for Old Spice with a series of advertisements released in January 2014. The campaign featured several webpages selling false products directed at men, which were interrupted with Mustafa suggesting that men buy Old Spice instead. In August 2015, Mustafa once again appeared in Old Spice commercials, this time alongside Terry Crews.

Personal life Mustafa has one daughter with his former wife. He previously dated professional wrestler and actress Catherine Joy Perry, better known by her ring name Lana. He married his girlfriend of two years, Lisa Mitchell, on May 26, 2018; they have one son together.

He owned a restaurant, Jo Jo's Barbecue, on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in 2000; it has since closed. and appeared as Cage in a Marvel Comics web short, styled after his Old Spice commercials.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2005 The Island Injured Football Player 2006 The Last Supper Moses Short film 2006 Even Money Basketball Player 2011 Madea's Big Happy Family Calvin 2011 Horrible Bosses Officer Wilkens 2012 The Three Stooges Moe's Hip Executive 2013 Crush Coach Evans 2014 Back in the Day T 2016 Girl Flu. Gabriel 2016 After the Reality Garreth 2019 It Chapter Two Mike Hanlon Shared role with Chosen Jacobs 2022 Home Team Porcupine Coach 2022 Murder at Yellowstone City Cicero 2023 Boy Kills World Benny 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer Andrew Uncredited

Television

Year Title Role Notes 2007 Football Wives Football Player Television film 2008 Ugly Betty Bailiff Episode: "Odor in the Court" 2009 Days of Our Lives Cleveland Cop 2 episodes 2009 NCIS: Los Angeles Brent Duffy Episode: "Search and Destroy" 2009 Eli Stone Newlywed Husband Episode: "Tailspin" 2009 NCIS Oliver Newcomb Episode: "Caged" 2010 Castle Team Leader Episode: "Boom!" 2010–2011 Chuck Richard "Rick" Noble 2 episodes 2011 Hot in Cleveland Coach Kevin Episode: "LeBron is Le Gone" 2011 Love Bites Captain Craig Episode: "Sky High" 2011 Femme Fatales Raven Episode: "Speed Date" 2011 Charlie's Angels Detective Ray Goodson 2 episodes 2012 Rags Reginald Worth Television film 2012 Nikita Cyrus 2 episodes 2014 Anger Management Paul Episode: "Charlie Screws a Prisoner's Girlfriend" 2014 Sirens Danny Episode: "Pilot" 2014 Selfie Mitchell McMoney Episode: "Nugget of Wisdom" 2014 Kroll Show Hammer Episode: "Mother Daughter Sister Wife" 2015 Baby Daddy Captain Hudson Episode: "An Officer and a Gentle Ben" 2016–2019 Shadowhunters Lucian "Luke" Garroway Main role 2017 Total Divas Himself Episode: "What Happens in Vegas..." 2018–2021 Robot Chicken Various voices 2 episodes 2021 Grey's Anatomy Brian Williams Episode: "Today Was a Fairytale" 2022 Black-ish Himself Episode: "And the Winner Is..." 2024–present Cross John Sampson Main role

Video games Year Title Role 2011 Gears of War 3 COG Gear (voice)