Sheldon Bailey is an actor who played professional basketball in China, Taiwan, and Ecuador. His acting career began with basketball commercials and body doubling for such b-ball legends as LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, and Dwight Howard. He is highly known for his role as “Ruthless” on the Nickelodeon 2015 series, Game Shakers, and is currently in the Hulu/FX miniseries, Clipped. The 6’6″ actor speaks about Clipped, the infamous Dan Schnieder scandal, his son Solo, and his humble beginnings.
To start, it would be greatly appreciated if you could begin by describing yourself.
I’m Sheldon Bailey AKA Big Shel. I’m an actor, rapper, entrepreneur, and an all-around good guy.
You played basketball overseas, and it seems like it’s your all-time favorite sport, but you hail from a military family. You could have chosen to carry on the legacy and go to the Army. So, what made you choose the former?
Well, I felt like I served anyway as a kid growing up in the Army. My parents had me in Germany, you know what I mean? So, my whole upbringing, my parents were in the military. They didn’t retire until I went to college, so I lived on Army bases. I was around all of that stuff. So, for me, I almost felt like I already had a good amount of that. And then I had a little bit of an issue with authority. So, with that, I was like, “Nah.” Plus, my parents didn’t push me that way. They wanted me to do something else and be independent. They felt like they held it down and did enough that I didn’t have to. So, they were like, “Go and do your own thing, do your entertainment stuff, play basketball. Just make sure you know you take care of your school.”
What was it that sparked your interest in acting and made you get bitten by the acting bug?
I think it’s an early love for movies. My parents loved movies. We watched a lot of them back in the day, and then there were a couple of things where I had to perform in front of crowds at school and at church, and the field was an exhilarating feeling, and that’s when I got the bug. Then, as soon as I made a joke and some people laughed at it, I was like, “Oh, I’m lit.”
I’m curious to know what movie holds the top spot in your list of favorites.
I would say Forrest Gump. I think that’s my pound-for-pound.
Out of all the movies available, what made you choose that movie specifically?
The performance of Tom Hanks was so great. He just made Forrest seem so incredible, unintentionally. Someone with a good spirit and a good heart just going through life and doing all these amazing, memorable things. I found that to be incredible. And he almost didn’t even have any real understanding of all the dopeness that he was doing. Yeah. But that’s something, I feel like people with big aspirations and ambitions aspire to do anyway. And he almost didn’t even care, but he did all these things along the way.
What we see as major achievements, he saw as just another day.
It’s got all the levels. He was even a low-key social activist. He helped the little black girl get to school in Alabama. He was in there with the Black Panthers, too. He was down for the cause. And then, I mean, come on, Lieutenant Dan, and Bubba, and all those guys. These are such memorable characters. I love that movie.
You were on Nickelodeon’s Game Shakers, which was, of course, created by Dan Schneider. Have you seen Quiet on the Set?
It took me a while to watch it, but I did. I probably had a duty to inform myself of some things that were going on.
Could you share with us your thoughts and perspective on the scandal as a whole?
There were a lot of rumors going on before Game Shakers. It was the last show, so by the time Game Shakers got there, Viacom had gotten serious, and they had changed leadership. There wasn’t room for any misbehavior or anything like that. They had a serious corporate meeting with us before we even started filming, but I had heard rumors about misconduct and all that, but we didn’t see any of that. By the time he was on Game Shakers, he was on his best behavior, but I did hear him yell at an assistant a couple of times, but the dude was running two shows at once, which I thought was creatively incredible to do at the same time. Henry Danger and Game Shakers were in the same building next to each other.
We shared a common space, and he ran both shows. So, to say somebody yells at somebody for not whatever, not plugging up a computer, or whatnot, I don’t know. But as far as the cast, he treated us all well, like stars. The guy gave me an amazing opportunity and grew the Ruthless character because whenever I first started; it was like pretty minimal and then I became a series regular. I believe that the kids love Dan. Unfortunately, this show came out. So, now it’s all tainted, but in that space and at that time as a cast of actors, we were all cool. He went above and beyond us. He might have tripped out on an assistant, but he never really tripped on any of us from missing lines and such. I never saw any inappropriate things with him or the young people. He did get massages a lot, though. There were designated ladies. That’s one of the things, but I just was like whatever. They always did it. It all seemed consensual, but the way they spun it on the thing, I’m like…I don’t know. Them massages seem kind of tainted now. I’m not sure what is happening, man.
Do you still feel that you have a little bit of Ruthless in you?
Of course, I do! It’s Ruthless for life, baby! Game takers on mine. What are you talking about? The kids still love it. I still break it out from time to time.
Now you’re on the miniseries Clipped, which focuses on the infamous Donald Sterling. What attracted you to the show and the role of DeAndre Jordan?
I’ve always been kind of closely associated with the Clippers since I’ve been in Los Angeles. I played on the minor league team when I came to LA under the Clippers and we shared practice facilities I have friends who have season tickets, so I do very much remember the Donald Sterling situation and whenever I got the audition, I was surprised on DeAndre’s stance, and so that made me gravitate to it because he was the one guy who was down for the cause and wanted to boycott. So, I was more than happy to represent that character and that side of the players.
How was it working with Laurence Fishburne & Ed O’Neill?
Oh, man, Laurence Fishburne was incredible, especially as Doc Rivers. He got the essence, and the voice was perfect. The crazy part is that he’s not even a sports guy at all, so to pull off a top NBA coach is impressive. I have worked with Doc before on NBA2K, so it was a surreal moment working with Laurence as Doc.
Ed O’Neill is so cool. He’s a down-to-earth guy. It’s amazing to see how down-to-earth and chill he is and how amazing a performer he is when it’s time to go. He just got it. People always think of Married with Children and Modern Family, which is legendary, but this guy’s got real acting chops that I don’t know that he gets enough credit for, and I’m glad that he was able to do this. I asked his daughter about his role as Donald Sterling, and she was like, “Yeah, I think he did it a little too well.” He’s making me a little nervous. He played Donald Sterling a little too well.
Would you consider him a method actor?
Nah, he wasn’t method-acting at all. I mean, from my understanding and knowledge of method acting, I wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with Ed about his football career or him telling stories about Married with Children or whatnot.
How’s Astro?
Astro was cool. It was really chill. I had an iguana during COVID. So, for me, it was very serendipitous and ironic that I am here, working with a similar type of lizard. I had no idea that DeAndre had the lizard. He appears in a lot of scenes. He’s like my little sidekick. I did like that it just made the character different. It gave me some dynamics, something more to talk about, to be honest with you, but he appears a lot now that the lizard is famous.
And you also had your son, Solo, in the show. Did you give him any advice before his debut on the show?
Yeah, I’ve been working with my son for a while. He’s also in the remake of White Men Can’t Jump, too. That was his movie debut. I was very happy to walk him through his audition. I don’t do all his auditions. Whenever we got on set, I just talked to him. He already knows about professionalism or whatnot, but it was the first time in a long time that we have been on set together of that magnitude. He went and did his thing, and I was impressed because when I saw it, I was like, “Were you acting nervous,” because the character is supposed to be nervous. He was like, “Yeah, Dad, of course, I was acting nervous. Let me be nervous.” So, I was like, “Whatever. OK. Sure.”
Where’s Solo right now?
He’s in Germany, playing ball. He was at camp in Switzerland, then he went to Germany from Switzerland. He’s training in Europe right now, and then he’ll be back in time to start his senior year of high school.
Do you see him on any NBA teams?
That’s the goal. That’s what we’re working towards. The Euro League might be chomping at him in the second there, but that’s the goal. He has multiple NCAA schools interested, and multiple scholarship opportunities. So, my son will be a pro basketball player somewhere. He can go to the NBA, but, you know, there’s a few things that have to fall in line to be able to make it work.
You also work on music, as well. Do you have any new music coming up?
Yeah, I do. I’m working on a project with veteran West Coast rapper Rock C and producer Day 1. He’s done tracks for a lot of guys, including Kendrick Lamar. So, we’re cooking up right now. We are about three or four songs deep, and I just made a song on a podcast where you make the song live on it, so we did that, which was dope. That was a lot of fun. It’s called “Get Up” with DoBoy from Wild’n Out. That’s on YouTube, already streaming right now. I also got a single that I put out commemorating one of my best friends who passed away, called “Colors.” The music video is out on YouTube, and it’s also streaming on most platforms.
Shamika Sanders-Sykes
