FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sean “SJ” Tuohy Jr. has not been blindsided by fame. In fact, he has embraced it.
Tuohy works for University of Arkansas coach Chad Morris, but many remember him because of the character portrayed by Jae Head in the 2009 movie "The Blind Side."
"Everyone wants me to stay as this 11-year-old kid," Tuohy, an assistant director of football operations, told KATV. "Some people think I 'Benjamin Button'-ed it, never aged or went backwards. I think it's disappointing to someone when I say 'That's me.' 'Oh man, I thought you were much smaller and cuter!'"
“The Blind Side” is the story of Michael Oher, an impoverished youth adopted by the well-to-do Tuohy family. Oher went on to a successful career as an offensive lineman at the University of Mississippi and the NFL, most notably with the Baltimore Ravens.
Tuohy continues to have a good relationship with his adopted brother.
"You look back at it and think, I wasn't really like that, that's not how it was. (But) that's what it was like," Tuohy told KATV. “(Michael) excelled in football, he excelled in basketball, everyone socially loved him. He was someone you look at like, 'Man, I hope I can be like that one day.'"
Tuohy shed some light on the film, which starred Sandra Bullock in the role of his mother and Tim McGraw as his father. Quinton Aaron played Oher in the film.
He said Bullock's characterization of his mother, Leigh Anne Tuohy, was accurate, but was only a capsule version.
"She's much worse in real life than Sandra Bullock was in the movie,” Tuohy told KATV. “That was two hours of my mom. Think about that as a 24-hour day, all the time."
Bullock won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Touhy.
Tuohy said the movie sometimes was a curse, adding that he’d often be taunted while playing high school sports.
"'Good job, Sandra,' chants and I remember we were warming up one time playing a school in football and they played the whole 'Blind Side' soundtrack before the game,” Tuohy told KATV. “I can't control any of that stuff and just laugh it off."
Cox Media Group
