Having seen Rick Fox for over 15 years from his days as a college athlete at North Carolina to his NBA years with both the Celtics and the Lakers, and to see him now as a full time actor making strides is such a wonderful thing.

Not many athletes can make that transition to another field and make it work, however.

From Michael Warren of 'Hill Streets Blues' to Ray Allen -- who starred in Spike Lee's 'He Got Game' but is still playing ball -- Fox joins a small field of basketball players who have taken the craft serious enough to be respected by his peers, including his ex-wife, 'Ugly Betty' star Vanessa Williams.

In his biggest role to date, Tyler Perry has given the former 'Oz' star the opportunity to play opposite Angela Bassett in his latest film, 'Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns'.

Fox plays Harry, a mentor to Brenda's son who becomes a love interest to her. In speaking to Fox, he talks about working with the Academy Award nominated actress , deciding to pursue after basketball, and getting support from his ex-wife, Vanessa Williams.

How was it working with Angela?

Rick Fox: I was completely overwhelmed until we got on set and we shared about an hour and a half of getting to know each other and she pulled me out of that fan place and told me that it's just me and her and let's focus on what we're doing and that 'I'm not Angela Bassett right now. I'm Brenda'. She was very open and very gracious in helping me bring Harry to life and helping me understand that I was way beyond my game plan of when I would find the opportunity to work with someone of her caliber and be so blessed to have her be so receptive to work with me.

Did you ever think that being a pro athlete that you would be were you are now?

RF: Four years into my career, it scared me to death out of the rookie transition program. They warn you that the average NBA lifespan is three years. You might three years or you might play ten or twelve if you are fortunate.

The night I was drafted, they asked me what I wanted out of my NBA career and I said I wanted to play twelve years and win three championships. I didn't remember the quote until it was shown to me in year 13. in year 13, I popped a tendon in my foot and I had a lot to think about.

Well, fortunately, after they scared me about the longevity as a rookie, I started thinking about what I need to do to find what my passion would be after basketball, so I took an internship with the NBA, thinking maybe I would work for the league, and I took an internship at Mickey Mantle's in New York City thinking I may want own a sports bar.

As I did all these different things looking what that would be and there was a lockout in the summer of 1994 or 1995 and there was this movie with Whoopi Goldberg called 'Eddie' and they were looking for basketball players. I knew nothing about the process of auditioning. I went to New York and who was the casting director? Reuben Cannon. I auditioned for him and didn't know it. I thought I was there to get the role. As an athlete, I thought they wanted me. I knew how to play basketball. How hard could it be? I left and he told me they would call me and he called me a week later and this time when I showed up there were 7 other NBA players and I thought I was be cheated on. I thought I had it but then realized I had to compete for it.

The whole process was a learning experience. Just because you come from one field doesn't mean you will be handed something in another. From that day forward, what if someone were to walk on the Lakers facility and say they wanted to play basketball? I would be offended. The same applies her to acting. What makes me think I will be handed something without trying. After spending two months in North Carolina shooting the film I realized I loved what I got to share in the movie with those people. A few months later I walked up to Spike Lee at a Knicks game and right before the game started during shoot around, I said to Spike, 'I did this movie and I think I want to pursue this. I don't know if you have an internship where I come watch you, work, or just be a part of something', and he said he would think about it.

Two weeks later, he called me to come audition for a movie he was doing called 'He Got Game'.

From there on, I just kept taking small steps. I knew what I wanted to do and I knew I had to respect it because I had a long way to go. I knew it was a marathon and not a sprint. I just keep trying to get better. Doors keep on opening and I get life lessons from Angela, who I get to be around with. A lot of these guys who are older than me just got on that same path and went full steam with it and I did the same and got better and better. That's all I'm trying to do.

Do you have an acting coach?

RF: I do. Being out here in LA, I started out with Sharon Chatten for two years and when I retired I went to the Howard Fine studio and I did that for two years and then I trained with guy named Jay at Aaron Spizer studio. I keep evolving as an actor and keep studying with my voice coach and learning how important that was and just working on me. So much of acting is knowing your own instrument; not just physically but psychologically and how the choices I've made in my life both good and negatively affect what I could bring to the character.

In the case of Harry, he's made mistakes in his life and he's paralyzed now when it comes to relationships. He's afraid to begin again. It isn't until he meets Brenda where he comes across a mother where she can't see what he has to offer, but Harry sees it when he's least expecting it. Now he has to begin again and attempt to love again because he was terrible at it. The insecurities are going both ways, but she has to raise three kids. That ability to find love again and it can be there for you and lose yourself in someone who is supportive and you can support too.

Vanessa Williams is really a good barometer to bounce things off. Did you speak to her in regards to this film or just the film business in general?

RF: We did. We just worked together on 'Ugly Betty'.

The conversations we have now, because acting is a full time profession for me, are a lot different from when I was playing and she was married and acting herself. Now only am I happy to see her growth and her recent success, I've seen an ex-wife who you wouldn't expect to in other cases, and we have a great relationship.

[She] pulls for me in a supportive way and would hear of a role, like she heard about 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' and how Boris [Kodjoe] was coming in for a month for Terrence Howard and was like, 'You gotta check in on that and see if you see if can get in' and that's the communication we will have.

She also knows that I'm producing now. 'Someone sent me this and tell me what you think' is how we talk to each other. We collaborate in a way that is supportive because we are both fans of each other's work but also we want each other to continue to succeed. I don't know if I could have foreseen that when we went through our divorce but it's coming out on the other in a way where we are great friends. We love raising our daughter together and we're able to still root for each other.

Your character was almost too good to be true in the sense of a man getting involved with a woman who has three kids. What did you think of that?

RF: I did it myself personally. Vanessa was divorced after 12 years of marriage and three kids. I had something to bring to that story because it's exactly what I lived. There was an ex that I had to deal with in the movie and I did the same in real life with Vanessa. There is need for that message to be out there that it can happen. My character Harry may have all this confidence on him but underneath all of that is the insecurity to try again at love after the mistakes he's made. He runs to the place where he feels safe and that is being a high school coach when he gets calls from his buddies who are coaching in the pros and want him to be a scout and ask him why he's doing the high school thing. That's because it's the only place he feels safe and worthy of being at. This is the place Harry was in when he meets Brenda. She runs just enough to make it safe for him to catch up. That's where they fall for each other and maybe that's more of a backstory that's in the movie. That's the stuff that Angela and I talked about and shared.