a meaningful film. Remember the Titans made its theatrical premiere in September 2000 and quickly gained popularity. Not only did it feature an all-star cast, but the plot was also compelling.
Following African American football coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) as he makes an effort to integrate a high school in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1971, the movie is based on a true tale. As the club is led by star players Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) and Julius Campbell (Wood Harris), Bill Yoast (Will Patton) is promoted to assistant coach. In addition to being a fantastic sports movie, it has a resounding undercurrent that no matter one’s skin tone, united we can achieve more.
Donald Faison, Ryan Gosling, Ethan Suplee, and Kip Pardue, all of whose characters played on the football team, were among the many other actors whose careers were launched by the movie. Along with them, Hayden Panettiere and Kate Bosworth starred.
The Scrubs alum exclusively told Us Weekly in 2017: “You want to film movies that teach young, society, and people about how other people feel and the appropriate way to respect each other.” “You want to work on projects with subjects like that. Hearing someone make unpleasant comments about you, whether or not they are acting, is incredibly difficult to handle. However, you want to be a part of something that has value to others. It wasn’t necessarily difficult, though. Being a part of something like that was enjoyable.
Faison saw another aspect of the project that stood out, in addition to the movie’s extremely potent theme: the training.
We were unaware that they had placed all of the actors in a football camp before the film even began. Every single one of us had to go through it, he said at the time. “Some of us suffered severe injuries. We were perplexed as to why we were exerting ourselves so much. Even though we used stunt doubles to perform all of these tasks, we still learnt how to play football. It was insane how many fights we got into! But we managed to escape, and we formed a close-knit team. We socialised together. We became considerably more cohesive as a result. Prior to the commencement of the camp, we had never met. To go through anything that aided us and brought us together.”
The stars had six-hour sessions and were awake at daybreak, just as in the movie.
“When a football team pushes a sled, there are around 30 guys pushing the sled for maybe 10 yards. Sometimes nine of us would push a sled 100 yards. They took advantage of us severely, he said. Weeks of that were involved, so the first week we did that, the second week they came in the stunt doubles and worked out with them, and the last week we kind of had a break while the stunt doubles picked up all the plays and other such things.
See where the cast is right now by scrolling through the gallery below.
Burgess Jenkins
Jenkins acted in numerous movies and TV shows after playing Ray Budds, including One Tree Hill, Marry Me, Nashville, and later 112 episodes of The Young and the Restless. Ashlee Payne is his wife.
Craig Kirkwood
After playing Rev, Kirkwood kept acting, making appearances in such films as Cats and Mice, Rain, Calendar Girls, and Hounded, among others. He earned his law degree in 2008, and he is currently a criminal defence lawyer. He wed Katie Kimberling in 2005.
Denzel Washington
Since playing coach Herman Boone, the actor has had a successful career, acting in numerous critically praised movies like Training Day, American Gangster, Flight, and Roman J. Israel, Esq. In addition, he has helmed four movies: Fences, The Great Debaters, Antwone Fischer, and A Journal for Jordan. Fences, a 2017 film, was nominated for four Academy Awards, won one, garnered six Critics’ Choice nominations, and was nominated for two Golden Globes (winning one). Washington won a Tony Award in 2010 for his performance in the stage production of Fences, and at the 2017 Golden Globes, he was honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. Washington and his wife Pauletta Pearson have four kids together.
Donald Faison
After playing Petey Jones for a year, Faison was cast in a major part in the Scrubs television series, which ran from 2001 to 2010. Later, he made appearances in Emergence, Uptown Girls, The Exes, and Something New. Since 2020, the Clueless actress and her former co-star Zach Braff have co-hosted the Scrubs revisit podcast “Fake Doctors, Real Friends.” In terms of his private life, Faison had his first child in 1995 with his ex-girlfriend Audrey Ince. From 2001 to 2005, he was married to Lisa Askey, and the two had three kids together. He wed CaCee Cobb in 2012. They have a son and a daughter together.
Ethan Suplee
Suplee, who is most known for his role as school bully Frankie on Boy Meets World, received many important parts after playing Louie in the football movie. He appeared in My Name is Earl, Jennifer Falls, The Ranch, and Chance as a major cast member. In addition, he appeared in other movies, such as Motherless Brooklyn, Cold Mountain, The Butterfly Effect, The Wolf of Wall Street, and John Q. In 2020, he underwent a significant shift as well, flaunting his impressive weight loss and documenting his gym routine on Instagram. He and his wife Brandy Lewis have four kids together.
Hayden Panettiere
Panettiere was already a star with a recurring part on Guiding Light when she landed Remember the Titans, despite only being 11 at the time of the movie. Later, she had numerous TV and film appearances, including those in Malcolm in the Middle, Raising Helen, and Bring It On: All or Nothing. She was cast in a major part in Heroes in 2006, and the show ran till 2010. Her subsequent prominent role was on the 2012–2018 television series Nashville. Panettiere has been romantically related to Milo Ventimiglia and Stephen Colletti. She had a daughter with Wladimir Klitschko, with whom she was involved from 2009 to 2018. She later started dating Brian Hickerson in 2018, however the couple broke up in 2020 as a result of numerous reported assaults. Hickerson informed reporters in July 2022 that the two are just “friends” and are “absolutely not” back together, despite the fact that the two were seen together frequently throughout 2021 and 2022.
Kate Bosworth
Following her performance as Emma in Remember in the Titans, the model became well-known. Blue Crush, The Rules of Attraction, Superman Returns, and Force of Nature are just a few of the successful films in which she appeared. She wed the filmmaker Michael Polish in 2013, and the two of them helped finance the 2018 movie Nona, which deals with human trafficking. In August 2021, she made her divorce from Polish public. Us Weekly reported in January 2022 that Bosworth had been dating House of Darkness co-star Justin Long “for a few months” after the two had became friends while working on the suspenseful movie in 2021.
Kip Pardue
After portraying Ronnie “Sunshine” Bass in a number of movies and TV episodes, Pardue turned to acting. In addition to Driven, he has starred in The Rules of Attraction, Thirteen, Phantom, ER, Mad Men, Ray Donovan, Runaways, and Once Upon a Time. Following a complaint from Sarah Scott, SAG-AFTRA found the actor guilty of sexual harassment in 2019. He refuted the charges.
Ryan Gosling
Gosling’s second acting job was Alan in Remember the Titans, and since then, he has appeared in scores of films, including The Notebook, Blue Valentine, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Drive, The Big Short, and La La Land. The former member of the Mickey Mouse Club will play Ken to Margot Robbie’s Barbie in the 2023 film Barbie. He previously played Neil Armstrong in the 2018 film First Man and starred alongside Chris Evans in the action film The Gray Man in 2022. He has received four Screen Actor Guild Awards, five Golden Globe Awards (winning one), and two Academy Award nominations. He and his band, Dead Man’s Bones, put out their debut record in 2009. Gosling dated Sandra Bullock from 2002 to 2003 and Rachel McAdams intermittently from 2005 to 2008 despite maintaining a very discreet personal life. He started dating Eva Mendes in 2011, and the two now have two kids together.
Ryan Hurst
Hurst gained a number of significant parts in both cinema and television after playing real-life athlete Gerry Bertier. Before winning the lead part on Sons of Anarchy in 2008, he appeared in the films We Were Soldiers, Taken, and The Ladykillers. He appeared in King & Maxwell, Bates Motel, Outsiders, and The Walking Dead in 2019 after starring in 54 episodes. He has proceeded to land TV roles after TV roles, including ones in The Mysterious Benedict Society and Paradise City. Hurst wed Molly Cookson in 2005, and the two of them later co-founded the production firm Fast Shoes.
Will Patton
Patton continued acting after his time as coach Bill Yoast, appearing in The Mothman Prophecies, The Punisher, Brooklyn’s Finest, and the 2018 Halloween remake (and its sequels). Additionally, he had numerous TV appearances and was given regular parts on Falling Skies, Shots Fired, Swamp Thing, and Yellowstone.
Wood Harris
After playing Julius Campbell, Harris acted in high-profile motion pictures like Ant-Man, the Creed series, and Space Jam: A New Legacy. He was cast in a recurring role on The Wire in 2002, and he joined Fox’s Empire in 2018. Harris returned to his sporting roots four years later and starred in the 2022 television series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. In 2001, he wed Rebekah Harris, and the two of them have two kids.