Football Mustafa played
basketball and ran track at Santa Clara High School in
Oxnard, California. He did not play
high school football, but he tried out for Moorpark College's football team hoping for an
athletic scholarship; he became a
free safety, and later became a wide receiver. After a season on the
Oakland Raiders and
Cleveland Browns' practice squads in 1999, Mustafa attended the
Seattle Seahawks'
training camp in 2000.
Acting After the Seahawks, Mustafa pursued an acting career, playing small roles on various television series, including
Ugly Betty and
Days of Our Lives. In 2010, he signed a talent deal with
NBC and appeared as a supporting role in the comedy film
Horrible Bosses. Mustafa hosted the
TBS special
Funniest Commercials of the Year in both 2010 and 2011. In 2011, Mustafa guest-starred in two episodes of
ABC's action drama series ''
Charlie's Angels'', portraying Detective Ray Goodson, an ex-boyfriend of one of the Angels. The following year, he guest-starred in two episodes of
The CW's spy drama series
Nikita, playing the role of Cyrus, a former agent for Division and a member of the "Dirty Thirty". In April 2013, Mustafa appeared in a commercial for the Israeli beer
Maccabee. The following year, he starred in the pilot episode of the
USA Network comedy series
Sirens as a police officer named Danny. In May 2015, it was announced that Mustafa would portray the werewolf
Luke Garroway on the
Freeform fantasy series
Shadowhunters, based on
The Mortal Instruments series of novels by
Cassandra Clare. In 2019, Mustafa played the adult Mike Hanlon (
Chosen Jacobs in his younger version) in
It Chapter Two, the sequel to the 2017 horror film
It. In 2022, Mustafa played an educated Civil War veteran traveling through the mining town of Yellowstone City, Montana who is unjustly accused of murder after a local miner who just struck gold is found dead, in
Murder at Yellowstone City. Old Spice In February 2010, he gained sudden fame for his main role in the popular "
The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" advertising campaign for
Old Spice, which featured his monologues. Mustafa's first commercial in the series was directed by
Tom Kuntz. Subsequently, a three-day session created a series of humorous, personalized
YouTube videos, with Mustafa reprising the character from the original Old Spice commercial. These were directed at members of the public and celebrities who had asked him questions on websites such as
Reddit,
Facebook and
Twitter. On July 26, 2011, Old Spice launched a new campaign on YouTube featuring a challenge between Mustafa and
Fabio entitled
Mano a Mano in el Baño. Mustafa said he wasn't worried, even though Fabio has been "the epitome of the sex symbol as a pitchman". Mustafa ultimately emerged as the winner. He resumed his work for Old Spice with a series of advertisements released in January 2014. The campaign featured several webpages selling false products directed at men, which were interrupted with Mustafa suggesting that men buy Old Spice instead. In August 2015, Mustafa once again appeared in Old Spice commercials, this time alongside
Terry Crews. ==Personal life==