Robin's Nest from American Humane - Vernon Davis, NFL Star, Actor, and Animal Lover

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

In this episode of Robin’s Nest, American Humane’s Georgia Boyer hosts Vernon Davis, a former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League and Super Bowl Champion in 2015. Since then, he has taken his talents to Hollywood and has appeared in six movies, and four TV series. Moreover, he is a huge fan of animals and American Humane!

Welcome to Robin's Nest. So many of us have a deep connection with the animals around us and want to protect them from the pets in our homes to endangered species in the wild. That's why I joined American Humane. As one of the oldest and most effective animal protection groups, we help billions of animals around the world. Join us as we explore how we can build a more humane world together. Today's episode is hosted by Georgia Boyer, my communications colleague at American Humane, who is a long-time animal lover. Today Georgia talks to Vernon Davis. Vernon is an NFL legend.

He has now taken his talents to Hollywood and has appeared in six movies and four TV series. Moreover, he's a huge fan of animals and American Humane, and we are so happy to have him join us today. Vernon, welcome to Robin's Nest. Thank you so much for joining us. We know you're a huge fan of American Humane. You were recently at the Hero Dog Awards. So we're so happy that you're here huge fan of American Humane. You were recently at the Hero Dog Awards.

So we're so happy that you're here and speaking with us today. Good to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. So let's just get right into it and let's talk about your furry friends in your life. Do you have a dog and what's their name? Yes, I do have a dog, a Victorian Bulldog. Okay.

And her name is Lolo. Lolo. How old is Lolo? Lolo is currently eight months. Oh my gosh. So puppy phase. Yeah. Puppy phase. Is she hyper? She's very lazy. Oh really? Yeah, she's very lazy. And how is Lola with the kids? So I know you have children as well. How is she integrating into the family? Yeah, when she first came in, she was really shy. She didn't want to, she was hesitant when calling her name.

And she was just, you know, getting acclimated with the family and just trying to just figure her way around. And it's been going really well. Oh, good. That's awesome. And so you have three children. That's correct, right? Yes, three children, nine, 12, and 16.

They're always aging. So I have to think about the age. It's like, oh, no, he's not eight anymore. He's nine. I know. They go so fast. It's so crazy. So are they animal lovers themselves?

They are. My son thinks he's one of the best trainers in the world because animals tend to take a liking to him right away. But he's really good with animals. He loves affection. He loves being affectionate with the dog and he just gives them all kinds of love. That's why he, he likes to say he's a trainer. His name's Valon. He's my nine-year-old son, but they, they all love them. They all love the love dogs and animals. So I have an animal family, I should say. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, that's so great. It's so nice to have those furry canines as part of the whole family unit. So that's wonderful. Yeah.

Now, have you taken your children to a zoo or an aquarium? Yes. We've been to several aquariums and zoos around the United States. We even had a chance to go out of the country to Barbados and visit the, I believe, Monkey Park. Oh, cool. In Barbados, we've been there and just all over the place. Mm-hmm. So do you know which child's favorite animal is? Yeah, I'm going to have to say, well, my son, he really loves dogs. Dogs is his favorite. My daughter, her favorite animal would probably be the dolphin. Oh, yeah?

And my oldest child, he loves silverback gorillas. Oh, yeah. Those are awesome. Oh, that's so great. So at American Humane, we work with a producer, Matt Brady. He was on a podcast episode earlier this year. And he has worked very closely with you for your Levi's commercial. So something that our listeners may not know is not only are you an NFL football star, but you've also made the transition into Hollywood. So how was that transition, and how did that come about? So when I was playing in San Francisco, I took an acting class at the Shelter Theater of Art in downtown San Francisco. Oh, cool.

And I fell in love just with the process and creating a character and just the improv behind those classes that we had to just get outside of our element. Yeah. And from there, I wanted to continue to pursue the world of acting and production. So I did. world of acting and production. So I did. After I finished playing with the Washington Commanders, I decided to create a film of my own with a few partners, one partner being Deshaun Hardy, who's a dear friend of mine. And we went on and we had some success with that film. And then after that, I started getting these roles with the likes of Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and so on.

So I really found a passion for the creativity and developing these characters and just being a part of productions. Yeah. And have you worked on any sets with animals? Yes. The first film that I did with Mr. Hardy, we had two dogs on that film. Awesome. We have a program here at American Humane where we certify films and that's at the end of the credits of movies, it'll say no animals were harmed. So that's

something that we do where we make sure that all animals are treated humanely on movie sets. So that's the connection there. So do you have any upcoming big projects that you're working on or anything you'd want to share with our listeners? Yeah, I have a big one coming up where I play a zombie with Destry Spielberg, Steven Spielberg's daughter. She's having her directing debut here coming up pretty soon. I think filming starts on the 28th of this month and it goes to the end of November. So I'm excited about that. That's going to be a fun film

and really fun to work on. So I'm excited. Yeah. So what are the logistics of that? Are they wrapping you in? Are you going to actually get wrapped up to be a mummy? Do you know? Yeah. So I had to go to New York and get my face scanned. Oh, wow. I had to go through that process. That was a great experience because I never had to do that one before. And the cool part is that this guy, he's worked with tons of A-list celebrities, so he had sculptures of their faces around the room. I thought that was pretty awesome, but I'm excited to be able to go through the process of the prosthetics and the makeup and just creating this character, transforming from myself to this actual zombie character. It's going to be pretty cool. Can't wait for y'all to see it.

Yeah, that sounds very exciting. It seems like you have no problem just jumping into new experiences and trying new things. Would you say that's right? I think that is right. I think life is all about exploring and taking chances and trying new things, even if you don't think it's for you. But if you have some passion and drive behind you when it comes to pursuing a particular craft, then I say go for it. Don't look back. Don't be afraid and just take a chance. Yeah. Yeah. And it's worked out well for you. I saw online, there was a clip of you had a dog, I believe Oreo and cookie at one point. I think you were on the 49ers at that time. So you had two dogs at once. Was that a handful or what?

My kids, they loved the dog. They were with the dogs all the time. And I had a lot of friends and family that was always over the house. So it was pretty easy, simple. I just had to make sure that I was there as much as I could be, even though I was playing football. And I was, you know, during the off season was, had a lot of time to really spend with the dogs because dogs need love. They need affection. They want to, they become a part of your family. And it's not until you lose, lose one of your favorite animals. Well, all of the, all of the animals that I've had was my, I would say were my favorites, but when you lose them, you realize that these dogs mean so much to you and it hurts. So it hurts much you know I've lost a few animals in the past and

and it caused me so much pain I mean it was it was awful it was awful for me it was like the it was like the worst day ever yeah yeah it definitely leaves a hole in your life and in your family's life they truly become a family member so it is tough. And that's why at the Hero Dog Awards, we're honoring them. And it's part of honoring the human animal bond that's so important to everyone. So along the lines of heroes, a lot of people would maybe think of you as a hero. What makes a hero to you and who's an impactful person or hero in your life? I think a hero is someone who leads by example. A hero is someone you can always go to for comfort, for inspiration, motivation, and someone who inspires us on a daily basis.

Someone that we look up to, we emulate, and we always want to be around that person all the time. And who's your hero? I would say today my hero would be my grandmother. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Wonderful. When you were growing up and you had those pets, you had all of those reptiles and hamsters, and then you've also watched your children acclimate to having a new puppy in their lives.

What lessons did you learn from being a first-time pet owner? Being a first-time pet owner, I learned that it takes a great deal of responsibility. You have to be accountable. You also have to treat, you understand the essence of treating animals like you treat the same way you would treat a human being, right? Because every life is important. It doesn't matter who it is or what it is, right? You treat it all the same. Anything that's living on planet earth needs to be handled with care. It needs love, needs affection. And I learned that at an early age that I have to take this very serious. This

is a critical matter and moment for me. Not only do I have to be responsible for them, but I also have to protect them. Yeah, and it is a message that we have here at American Humane of making sure that we're taking care of these animals because we share a space with them on Earth. And so it's so important that we take care of them. Now, I know the Hero Dog Awards was not your first award show. So what do you love about award shows? The thing I love about award shows is that there's so much excitement. There's something to look forward to. You know, you have a chance to celebrate people, whether it's myself receiving an award or someone else. You know, it's still, it still, it brings people together. You have all these people

on the one roof in one space. And, um, it's just a lot of excitement and a lot to look forward to. And there's nothing like it. And we're always reminded, we're always reminded when, whenever there's a moment where we can't have these awards and we can't be around people like during COVID. Right. Right. Everyone was in the house and, you know, we were just, we just wanted to get out and be around people. We wanted these events, those events to come back again. So with moments like that, it reminds us how important it is to really embrace the award shows and not neglect them. we get to celebrate others and surround ourselves with other people, it's always a good thing.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's also a nice time to just pause and recognize all the hard work that people have done or the canines have done over the past year. It's a good pause moment to celebrate together. So I like how you said that. That's great. Thank you. Vernon, it was such a pleasure having you on Robin's Nest today. Thank you for participating in the 2023 Hero Dog Awards, which is still available streaming online so everyone can watch and see you at the award show. Thanks for joining us today. You're welcome. I look forward to it. Thank you so much for being with us today and being part of Robin's Nest. Here's some of my Nest members right here with Mr. Darcy. Special thanks to Georgia for hosting these incredible guests today and being part of Robin's Nest. but most of all, we are grateful for you. Thank you for listening

to this episode, and we look forward to providing more information and content on how we can together build a more humane world.