Hi, I'm Stephen Curry and I'm going Back to School with Student Edge.
Tell us, what were you like as a teenager?
Oh, trouble?
You know, healthy, fun trouble.
I just liked to make a bit of fun.
School, I wasn't particularly great at, but I had some like-minded friends that liked
to kind-of keep it interesting and keep our teachers on their toes.
Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Oh, probably a bad thing for me getting the most out of school, but it was good for the
enjoyment.
I loved going to school.
I loved it.
I really did love it.
And because I did have these mates who are still my mates today, I finished school in
'93 and we're kind of...
The thing is, we're always childish now as we were when we were at school, so I don't
think much has happened in the development phase of things.
Sure.
I've gotten greyer, but I'm still a child inside.
Well, what were the kind of classes that you did enjoy, and again maybe for the wrong reasons?
Umm, oh look I liked media, media was good because I had a propensity for mooning, right?
And the Media Studies class was awesome because they had these two TVs up in the corner
and you could kind of get a bit of closed circuit going on.
With my propensity for mooning, my mate Staggers said, "Right, what we're gonna do is set up a thing
and I'm gonna get a close up of you mooning, and we're just gonna leave it on freeze frame
for when Mrs. Easedale comes in."
The perfect crime.
Right?
And then she came in and I must've had a propensity, I must have had a name for myself because
all it was was just a bum, and she took one look at it and said, "Stephen Curry, go to
the principal's office."
But no birthmarks, no...
No birthmarks.
Just a bum.
And she kind-of went, "I just know that bum."
She'd seen it before.
So, you were sent to the principal's office?
Sent to the principal's office.
Not expelled, suspended.
I got suspended.
Really?
For indecent exposure.
So, mum was pretty proud.
Very proud.
Dad not so happy.
Dad was the only tuckshop father at Marcellin College.
He had to cop it from all the other tuckshop mums.
He'd retired, you see.
And he liked to wear an apron to the tuckshop, so that became, I think, mainly just for my
embarrassment, not to save his clothes.
He liked to wind me up.
Were you much of a sportsman as a teenager?
Uh, I played a lot of hockey actually.
Really?
Yeah, I played for a while for seven days a week.
I played for Victoria when I was 14 as a goalkeeper and then I discovered girls.
Well, you're not known as a sportsman today.
I'm not.
And in fact, on Wikipedia, you are distinguished as Stephen Curry (Comedian).
Not Stephen Curry (Basketballer).
Exactly.
First of all, how did it feel when one of the most famous sportspeople in the world
came out, and hey, his name is Stephen Curry.
What were the odds that the MVP of the NBA was gonna have a name like Stephen Curry.
Oh, 'Stef-an' but same spelling as my name.
His name's meant to be like LeBron or Shaquille or you know.
But, I tell you what, I have benefited from Stephen Curry.
Yep.
I've lost out and I've benefited.
I tell you how I've benefited.
I got invited to the White House.
Really?
Yep.
I got invited to the White House to meet Barack and Michelle Obama.
And I'm going, "What the hell?
What are they fans of Take Away?
What are you talking about?
Why?"
Then it clicked.
Someone in the States has gone, "Find out who Steph Curry's management is and get him
an invite to the White House.
I want to meet this guy."
So, this person goes (*typing noises*) bang and sends out the invite to my manager.
And there I am with an invite to the White House.
And my smart alec brain kind-of went, "I'm going to RSVP for this.
And I'm going to go over there, I'm going to shoot a documentary about trying to get
into the White House with my RSVP."
I had an RSVP.
I had an invite.
Right?
Yep.
With my name on it.
Check out my licence.
That's it.
I was gonna call it "Meeting Barry" but then I ran out of time.
Now my name has kind-of become a joke.
Sure, well look, I'm sure you're wearing it proudly.
I am, and only our mothers can tell us apart.
We're very similar, very very similar guys.
You bite your mouthguard when you're taking a shot.
I do and a three-pointer: I played basketball in primary school and I think I amassed a
total of three points.
Well, as we said, you are distinguished as the 'comedian'.
Distinguished?
Does that mean I'm getting grey.
You are very distinguished.
No, no, no.
Your words not mine.
Right.
But when you were growing up, did you see yourself as becoming a comedian, or was it
acting?
What was the thing you wanted to be?
Acting.
I wanted to be an actor since I was eight years old.
I can pinpoint the exact moment.
My family all did amateur theatre.
The kids all did amateur theatre.
It was basically a way for our parents to get us out of the house for a couple of days
a week.
I remember the first day, the first performance of this show, was in Man of Steel.
My brother was Superman and all the other siblings were kind-of good townsfolk roles
and I was Happy Villager Number 2 and I had one line which was one word which isn't even
a word, which is 'fantabulous'.
Anyway, did it, performed it, kind-of got the buzz and was hooked.
After I was hooked, that night, mum came and said, "Oh you were wonderful, it was great"
and then dad came and said, "Couldn't hear ya."
So, that was my first experience with critiques.
Constructive.
Constructive criticism and that's kind-of continued as a theme throughout my life.
It's like, I've always said about reviews, if you listen to a five-star review and you
say, "they are right!" then you kind-of have to listen to the no-star review that says
you're the worst thing in the world and you should never have even tried.
Well, how did your parents react when, you know, this hobby became a career?
But also for your brothers as well.
They got into acting too.
Yeah, all my five siblings all have been professional actors at one point.
They just said, "Look, you know, do it, follow your dreams."
Because I think a lot of people don't do that because of the risk.
Right?
And they just said, "Do it.
You should do it, because that's what you want to do.
But be realistic and get something to fall back on."
And that's the best piece of advice I ever got.
Teachers said it and everyone said it, which is just, "Don't rest on your laurels and don't
think you're gonna be the one in a million that can just survive on your one passion."
You know? Find a way to diversify that.
So I kind-of learned how to write, went to uni, learned how to work the other side of things.
Camera operating and sound production and stuff like that.
All in the same industry, because that's all I've ever been interested in.
Anyone who goes, "I'm gonna be a musician.
I'm gonna be an actor.
I'm gonna be an artist.
I'm gonna be whatever."
You know, the percentages are really low and you're more than likely going to live a fairly
long life of poverty.
But you'll be able to do what you want to do.
And that for me is the best thing, because I get to go to work and I'm excited.
I love it.
I've been doing it for, oh hang on, 27 years and it's like, for me, it's still as fun as
it was the day I started it.
I love it.