Montgomery: Act II
Former UConn star, WNBA veteran pursuing acting career
UNCASVILLE — While many of her peers in the WNBA played overseas during the offseason, Renee Montgomery stayed home. With her 11th season just around the corner, she decided to finally get a jump on her second career.
“I did 10 years overseas, 10 years in the WNBA,” Montgomery said last week following a preseason game with the Atlanta Dream at Mohegan Sun Arena. “I took care of my money because I knew this was coming. I was really frugal with my money so that I could have a whole offseason. If I don’t make money, OK. If I do, great. I’m making an investment in myself by not going overseas.”
Montgomery picked up acting, taking classes regularly at Nick Conti’s Professional Actors Studio in Atlanta.
“I’m making an investment now,” she continued. “I’m trying to get my feet wet, get my foot in the door, so that when I’m done playing it’s a smooth transition.”
The former UConn star is now 32. She played — and started in — 34 games last year, averaging 27.5 minutes, but doesn’t feel a day over her age. Retirement isn’t on her mind.
Basketball will remain a part of Montgomery’s future, right alongside that other passion of hers — acting. She’s already appeared in one film, starring in a 16-minute production over the holidays called ‘Not My Favorite Christmas,’ and was even offered a role on the set of ‘Big Brother.’ While the timing didn’t work out for the popular reality show, Montgomery hopes another opportunity will arise in the future.
“It’s interesting because you might audition 100 times and get one role. That’s actually a blessing if you do,” she said. “With acting, it’s a numbers game. You just audition, audition. You might not ever hear anything back from somebody. You just keep going.
“If they don’t like your look, you could do great, but they don’t like the way you look. You can’t really take offense to anything.”
Montgomery is a lively, outgoing and unassuming personality who considers herself “best friends” with Samuel L. Jackson. The two met on the red carpet of the ‘Captain Marvel’ premiere last year in Los Angeles, and Montgomery has since asked if she could shadow him at some point. Jackson, Montgomery said, is open to the idea.
“At a certain point,” she said, “hopefully I can watch him either prepare or watch him deliver his lines on set or something.”
Any partnership however, would likely have to wait at least a few months. Atlanta is scheduled to tip off its season Friday, meaning Montgomery’s focus is strictly on basketball for the time being. The Dream will rely heavily on the playmaking 5-foot-7 guard — who averaged 10.3 points and 3.7 assists in 2018 — in their bid to return to the conference finals.
Montgomery’s already won two championships in the WNBA with Minnesota (2015 and 2017) and captured a national title in
2009 at UConn alongside Tiffany Hayes. The two are now teammates with the Dream.
“She’s the life of the party when she wants to be,” Hayes said. “I don’t know how to explain it. Her personality is just so enthusiastic. She brings a lot of energy most of the time, especially when it’s needed in the room.”
Montgomery has carried that same energy into the acting studio, even though she’s far less comfortable in that setting. She finds acting to be far more intimidating than basketball, partly because it’s new to her.
“You’re putting yourself out there in a different form,” she said. “It’s like you’re an artist now. People get to judge you on how you do things. So, in that aspect, it’s different.
“The whole acting world is interesting because it’s not like sports where if you play well, that’s cut and dry. You might think you had a great performance and someone’s like, ‘Oh, she sucked.’ It’s interesting. It’s opinion-based.”
Still, Montgomery isn’t afraid to try.