Kobe in Hollywood

Every basketball fan knows that the late, great Kobe Bryant was a phenomenal athlete. What fewer people know is that the Laker legend also happened to be a big deal in Hollywood. Beginning in his teen years, Bryant made appearances in both television shows and films, one of which netted him Academy Award gold.

Bryant's athletic career ended with his retirement from the NBA in 2016. Sadly, his film career was cut short when he lost his life along with his daughter and seven others in a deadly helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. But we decided that it wasn't too late to celebrate his time in front of -- and behind -- the cameras. Here's a look back at "The Black Mamba's" film and television work:

"The Whistleblower"

No stranger to news cameras as a hoops prodigy, Bryant decided to try his hand at acting in 1996 and made his television debut in an episode of Moesha. Incidentally, the star of the show, R&B star Brandy, happened to be his date to the senior prom.









All That

In 1998, Bryant made a guest-appearance on the Nickelodeon variety show All That.









Kobe Doin' Work

After an 11-year break from Tinseltown, Bryant teamed up with legendary director Spike Lee, who filmed one of his games for the feature Kobe Doin' Work. Lee was granted unprecedented access, which resulted in both candid commentary and unique perspectives of the hard court.









Dear Basketball

In 2017, Kobe pulled double-duty as the producer and the subject of the short film Dear Basketball. The short, an animated enactment of Bryant's letter explaining his feelings about retiring from the game he loved all his life, landed a statuette at the 90th annual Academy Awards. The victory made Bryant the first African-American to win an Oscar in the Best Animated Short category.

Originally Posted 3/9/20