Pro Football Hall of Famer and actor Tony Gonzalez currently stars as Desmond Porter in Spectrum Originals’ drama series Long Slow Exhale. Set in the high-stakes world of women’s basketball, Gonzalez portrays a former professional football player who struggles with a medical condition. Gonzalez is also in production on Nickelodeon and Awesomeness Films’ upcoming feature Fantasy Football, alongside Omari Hardwick, Kelly Rowland and Marsai Martin. In fall 2022, Gonzalez joined Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football as an NFL analyst.
Gonzalez, a unique athlete, and the greatest tight end in NFL history, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019. From 2017 to 2020, Gonzalez served as a Fox Sports studio analyst on FOX NFL Kickoff, Fox’s hour-long NFL pregame show preceding FOX NFL Sunday. Gonzalez also co-hosted Fox’s Thursday NFL pregame show, which received a 2020 Sports Emmy Award nomination for ‘Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly.’
In 2019, CBS News named Gonzalez one of their “Fathers of the Year.” He also launched his podcast Wide Open with Tony Gonzalez, which has been ranked within the top 50 Health & Fitness podcasts on Apple platform. The podcast is an unrestrained and raw look into how to embrace all the revolutionary change taking place in the world of health, mindset, wellness, family and more. Gonzalez takes the audience through a different side of his journey and brings on legendary guests to dive deeper into these topics so you can level up your life physically, mentality, and spiritually, in order to have a more successful and enlightened existence. Notable guests have included Scooter Braun, Jessica Alba, Michael Strahan, Mike Tyson and Deion Sanders. The podcast can be found on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In 2021, Gonzalez and his wife October launched the Tony Gonzalez Poncho capsule collection in partnership with MSX and G-III. Officially licensed by the NFL, the limited-edition Ponchos are sold via HSN and QVC.
Following his retirement after the 2013 NFL season, Gonzalez took his talents to television, appearing as a regular studio analyst on The NFL Today (2014-16), and contributing to other NFL related programming on CBS. An author and entrepreneur, Gonzalez has developed multi-media programs that celebrate and advocate sports for children in an educational format. In April 2015, Play It Forward, a documentary about Gonzalez and his brother, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and aired on Showtime. On television, Gonzalez has starred in multiple episodes of NCIS as the character Special Agent Tony Francis. He made his feature film debut in the 2017 blockbuster xXx: Return of Xander Cage alongside Vin Diesel.
Gonzalez’s career spanned 17 years in the NFL, 12 with Kansas City after being their first-round pick in 1997, and five with Atlanta before his retirement in 2013. He is the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdowns (111) and yards (15,127) by a tight end. He also is the NFL’s all-time leader in consecutive starts (120) and Pro-Bowl appearances (14) by a tight end and ranks second overall among all players in catches with 1,325 on his record. Known for his strength and durability, Gonzalez missed only two games during his 17-year career.
Gonzalez attended University of California, where he played football and basketball and majored in Psychology. During his junior season, he recorded 46 receptions for 699 yards and five touchdowns, earning him first-team All-Pac 10 and first-team All-America honors. That year he also was a starter for the California basketball team averaging 17.1 points and seven rebounds and helped lead them to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship.
Gonzalez’s philanthropic endeavors include a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs; Shadow Buddies, an organization that provides emotional support through education regarding illness, disability, or medical treatments, as well as being named an ambassador for Scholars’ Hope, working with underserved children in Huntington Beach, Calif. Gonzalez has also been involved with Give Power, a non-profit organization that develops clean water and energy systems in communities across the world. He is very active in health, wellness and fitness space. Gonzalez was an investor and trainer in the fitness app FITSTAR, which was acquired by Fitbit in March 2015. In 2021, Gonzalez joined Caldera + Lab as Chief Wellness Ambassador in an effort to inspire men to prioritize their wellness and become the best version of themselves.
The Sporting News named Gonzalez the #1 NFL Good Guy in 2004. Additionally, he won a Presidential Volunteer Award for his work on the “Books and Buddies” project, which sought to promote understanding between teenagers and seniors. Gonzalez and his wife, October, reside in Austin, Texas with their four children.
