Cornell Young IV plays a college football star in Netflix's new A Different World, and that part of Shaquille Johnson's life is familiar to him. Young was a wide receiver at McKendree University while also taking part in theater. In a new interview with Netflix, he compared his schedule to the basketball-and-musicals split in High School Musical.
I was real-life Troy Bolton.
It is a funny comparison, but his point is practical. He would leave football practice for rehearsals, and teammates came to watch him perform. Young says he had loved movies and appeared in plays when he was younger, but football looked like the more obvious path. At college, theater gave him something he enjoyed outside his marketing courses. That mix of sports and acting eventually helped him recognize Shaquille as a part he wanted.
Why did Shaquille feel familiar?
Young told Netflix he understood how the character moved and spoke as soon as he read the audition material. Shaquille arrives at Hillman College as a high-profile football player, but his story is not only about winning games. He is dealing with the death of his mother, pressure from his father and complicated feelings for fellow student Deborah Wayne. Young wanted the football side to look believable because he had lived that routine himself.
The actor grew up in St. Louis as one of seven children. Before this series, he appeared in Netflix's Forever, his first booked TV role. He says that job helped him feel more comfortable on a set. The new A Different World makes him a series regular, with more time to show what Shaquille is like around his teammates, friends and family.
Shaquille and Deborah
Deborah, played by Maleah Joi Moon, is the daughter of original A Different World characters Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert-Wayne. She and Shaquille have a history before their first year at Hillman. Young says they care about each other, but both have trouble saying what they mean. He describes Shaquille as someone who keeps a lot inside, especially when he is hurt. That gives the character more to do than be the charming athlete everyone notices on campus.
Young also said his father character Ron acts as Shaquille's manager. That makes ordinary father-son conversations harder. He would like viewers to notice how an honest talk could change Shaquille's relationship with Deborah, rather than treating every argument as proof the couple should or should not be together. We are leaving the season's later reveals out of this introduction.
A Different World is streaming on Netflix now. The 2026 series brings new students to Hillman while several actors from the original show return. Young's college story is a good introduction to why he wanted this role: he knows the football field, but he also knows what it takes to walk from practice into a rehearsal room.
