Featured Image Credit: Alamy/AFF/Instagram/@marlonwayans
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Katherine Sidnell
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Marlon Wayans has revealed he is a massive sneakerhead, with his favourite pair being worth a cool $70,000 (£57.1K).
The White Chicks star also revealed that his passion began in childhood while growing up in the poverty-stricken projects of New York.
However, Wayans has since come full circle, as he now stars alongside Matt Damon in a biopic about Nike.
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Air follows Sonny Vaccaro (played by Damon) as he tries to salvage the struggling sneaker brand, in the early eighties.
Having spotted a promising basketball player called Michael Jordan, Vaccaro believes that this young man will help Nike outpace the competition as the new face of the brand.
As other companies also try to court Jordan, Nike must enlist the help of his former coach George Raveling (played by Wayans).
With Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman and Viola Davis also starring, the film is a must-see for all sneaker-heads as it tells the story of how Air Jordans became a Nike icon now worth over $4 billion (£3.2b).
Such a sum would have seemed a dream for Wayans as a child, who grew up in the projects alongside his nine siblings and very religious parents.
Despite having nothing to his name, the comedian developed a love for sneakers from an early age and even took a job in Footlocker just to be around them.
He explained this to UNILAD, saying: “Well, I've been a sneakerhead since I can't remember. I grew up in the projects and I couldn't afford sneakers, so I used to work in sneaker stores, just to be around sneakers, US athletics, and Athlete's Foot, Footlocker.”
Having yet to make it big in Hollywood, Wayans made a promise to himself that he would one day have his own sneaker store.
And it definitely looks like he's achieved that dream.
While you can’t buy anything from Wayans’ collection, it is certainly shop-front worthy as he has 1,500 pairs - all of which are individually boxed and lovingly labelled.
"I said to myself, when I get money, I'm going to have my own sneaker store and that's what I do. In one of my bedrooms in my house, I have 1,500 pairs of sneakers together with pictures on the outside,” he revealed.
Adding: “I've always been a sneaker-head and some people get money and they want to buy jewellery or buy cars. I just wanted to buy sneakers."
And it was this passion for trainers that made it a no-brainer when he was asked to star in Air with Affleck and Damon.
Wayans said: “When I got the call to be in Air knowing that Matt and Ben was in the movie, I was like I'm in Let's go.”
However, the 50-year-old did admit that there was one pair that stood out among the rest.
“[If the house was on fire] I gotta grab my Air Jordan Ones, but I'm gonna go with the Virgil Abloh off-white collabs - my Chicago's. Those were at 50, now they are worth $70,000. So I'm gonna grab those, and I'm out,” he said.
Air hits cinemas in the UK and Ireland on April 5.