Bengals Cornerback Ceyair Wright Lands Starring Role in Teyana Taylor's Dance Film 'Get Lite'
Ceyair Wright, the Cincinnati Bengals cornerback who walked out of training camp last month to chase an acting opportunity, now has the job. The Hollywood Reporter exclusively revealed on 3 September 2026 that Wright has signed on to star in Get Lite, a dance film directed by Teyana Taylor for Paramount Pictures. The film is due to begin shooting in New York later this month and carries a release date of 20 August 2027.
Wright will star opposite Storm Reid. The story centres on a talented but sheltered dance student, played by Wright, who finds inspiration, love and family in the subways of New York City. Reid plays the girl who opens his life to new possibilities. At the film's centre is Litefeet, a high-energy dance style that originated in Harlem.
Taylor, making her directorial debut, is no stranger to dance. She began choreographing dance videos — including one for Beyoncé — while still in her mid-teens, and earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance in One Battle After Another. She also produces the film alongside Courtney "Coco" Gilbert under their banner The Aunties. Reid is credited as a producer as well.
The producing team is deep. Kenya Barris and Anni Weisband produce via Khalabo Ink Society, Robyn Simpson through A Seed & Wings Productions, and Bill Karesh through OFFBRND. Maurice Williams wrote the screenplay based on a spec script by Eric Gross that landed on the Black List — the industry's annual survey of admired unproduced screenplays — in 2020.
Wright's departure from the Bengals was, by his own account, a matter of choosing between two passions. After Cincinnati's first preseason game, he left camp and told reporters he was stepping away to further his acting career, citing the conflict between football and performance (ESPN). He had signed with the Bengals as an undrafted free agent in spring 2026.
Football is only half the résumé. Wright is best known on screen for playing LeBron James's son Darius in Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), with a major recurring role on Freeform's Grown-ish and credits on Training Day, 2 Broke Girls and Instant Mom. On the field, he was a standout cornerback at USC before transferring to the University of Nebraska, where he earned honourable-mention All-Big Ten honours in 2025. He is repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, Fox Rothschild and CESD.
What makes the story unusual is the timeline. An undrafted rookie leaving an NFL camp mid-August is rare enough. Landing a studio lead within weeks of that departure — opposite an Oscar-nominated director and an established co-star — is the kind of pivot that turns a footnote into a headline.
For Paramount, Get Lite adds a title with a clear demographic hook and a creative team rooted in both music and film to its 2027 slate. For Wright, the leap from the Bengals' depth chart to a Paramount marque is complete. Whether he returns to football is a question for another day.
