Off-camera, Nate Edwards-Roseney is an athlete and mentor
For Nate Edwards-Roseney ’26, a love of basketball has opened doors. The Clark senior has played collegiately, professionally overseas, and even on the big screen.
Edwards-Roseney portrays a Harlem Globetrotter in “Marty Supreme,” which stars Timothée Chalamet as the real-life Marty Mauser, a 1950s-era table tennis savant who flexed his skills as a halftime act at Globetrotter games. The movie hit screens on Dec. 25, 2025.
Edwards-Roseney landed the opportunity through two of his connections from the basketball circuit, the late Chicago Bulls star Bob Love and former Harlem Globetrotter Kenny Blend. Love told him that to fit the look of a Globetrotter, Edwards-Roseney would have to cut his hair, something he hadn’t done in six or seven years. “It felt worth the risk,” he says.
On set, Edwards-Roseney took on the role of “Nasty Nate,” learning ball-handling tricks from a different era and adapting to the slow, methodical rhythm of filming. He spent weeks practicing vintage Globetrotter moves, sitting through makeup and wardrobe, and working for long stretches that produced only seconds of footage.
“I like to play [basketball] with a lot of freedom and really express myself, so being a Globetrotter in the movie was pretty easy for me,” Edwards-Roseney says. “I got to have fun and goof around a little bit. The anticipation I felt toward acting is very similar to a game — you’re locking in and getting your game face on.”
Some days, Edwards-Roseney shared scenes with Chalamet. Another day, he posed for a team photo staged in Egypt. “Being on film is one of the only times life actually feels like a movie,” he says. “The whole thing was surreal.”
Alongside Edwards-Roseney, NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady and former Boston Celtics player Kemba Walker portray Globetrotters. “We’re sprinkled into a couple of different scenes in the movie,” says Edwards-Roseney. “We’re not super significant, but we do play a role in the story.”
A psychology major with a minor in education, Edwards-Roseney was a guard on Clark’s Men’s Basketball team for two years. Over 20 games, he averaged 2.2 points, 2 rebounds, and 0.5 assists. After stepping away from the Clark team, Edwards-Roseney continued to train, coach, and stay active in basketball communities both locally and beyond.
He joined a professional placement team coached by Ivan Sinjkevic of the International Basketball Federation, designed to give players exposure to agents and contract opportunities. Edwards-Roseney’s goal was not to sign a contract immediately, but to understand where he stood and what he needed to improve before graduating. Through the placement team, he played in front of multiple agents, including the agent of NBA star Nikola Jokić, and received direct feedback to guide his development. The experience helped him put his name on the radar of professional teams overseas.
Edwards-Roseney accepted an opportunity to play professionally in Serbia last year. Once there, he adjusted quickly. The pace was faster and the expectations higher.
“It was really eye-opening. I got to see how I fit in with the talent pool around the world,” he says. “I did great out there.”
Back at Clark, Edwards-Roseney now spends much of his time focused on giving back through the Mosakowski Institute’s MAAX (Maximizing Adolescent Academic eXcellence) social development curriculum. As part of a fellowship with the Institute, he works at Southbridge High School in Southbridge, Massachusetts, helping run a ninth-grade wellness class centered on life skills, self-regulation, and reflection. The program is designed to help students see themselves in college mentors who share similar life experiences.
“I try to stay relatable and down to earth and that approach has helped me foster relationships with some of my high schoolers. I’ve started to see them open up and talk to me about some of their struggles in school. They look to me as a role model,” he says.
A key part of the program was opening a sensory immersion room at Southbridge High. The room, filled with comfy seating, soft lighting, and fidget toys, gives students tools to regulate their emotions and go to class ready to engage.
“It’s about asking what the problem is and how we can solve it,” Edwards-Roseney says. “I come from the inner city of Boston and attended a charter school. I noticed a difference in resource allocation and opportunity in general. When I went to a private middle school, I started to see a huge difference in the worlds that people are living in. My work with the Mosakowski Institute is my way of giving back and helping bridge that gap between the resources.”
Edwards-Roseney coaches a sixth-grade AAU team and trains players of all ages, continuing a cycle that has defined much of his life. “The best way to learn is to teach,” he says, adding that coaching has helped him grow as a player and a mentor.
Across basketball, acting, and education, the common thread is community. Edwards-Roseney speaks often about the power of relationships and the responsibility that comes with opportunity. He traces that outlook back to a conversation he had with his mother as a teenager, when he first talked about wanting to give back to the places and people who invested in him.
“I know that I’m grateful,” he says. “And if I’m going to be grateful, then I want to show it. For me, it’s always about giving back to who gave to me, pouring back into who poured into me.”
