Kevin O’Leary Didn’t Prepare for His First Movie Role—What He Did Instead

Kevin O’Leary has revealed he has “no idea” how acting works after landing his first movie role.

The 71-year-old Canadian businessman and TV personality—best known as “Mr. Wonderful,” the blunt-talking investor on the reality competition series Shark Tank, where hopeful entrepreneurs pitch business ideas to a panel of investors.

However, he has ditched the boardroom for the world of table tennis, and landed his movie debut in the upcoming Marty Supreme.

Marty Supreme is a 2025 sports comedy-drama and directed by Josh Safdie. The film follows Marty Mauser played by Timothée Chalamet, an aspiring ping pong champion, who is loosely based on the Marty Reisman, a real-life table tennis player.

O’Leary makes his acting debut in a supporting role as Milton Rockwell, a wealthy businessman married to Kay Stone, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, a socialite who bonds with Mauser.

On December 16, during the New York premiere, when asked how he prepared for his role, O’Leary admitted he was somewhat clueless about the craft of acting. “I didn’t prepare for the debut on the big screen, I mean I don’t know what acting is. I have no idea how it works I just read the room, I read this script, I got into the zoo mode of it all and the next thing you know I was doing my thing and I’m glad. I hope it worked out,” he told PopCrave.

Newsweek reached out to a representative of Kevin O’Leary via email outside of their usual working hours.

The publication described O’Leary’s red-carpet style as “dashing”—featuring a burgundy blazer with quilted embroidery, a black shirt with a faint cheetah-print, and a black bow tie.

O’Leary also spoke candidly about his experience on set, saying that he had a great time and felt immersed in his character, whom he came to see as an extension of himself.

He joked about the energy of filming and even humorously imagined a ping-pong challenge with his former Shark Tank co-stars, playfully predicting only one could match his game—his own character, Mr. Wonderful.

Though he vowed he’d: “kick his a**, and claimed he had the skill to play both sides of the ping pong table simultaneously.

He also said if Marty Mauser approached him with “the hustle of ping pong” on Shark Tank, he’d “definitely be out.”

“There’s nothing I like about that guy,” he said.

O’Leary previously stirred controversy when he suggested in October that films could save “millions” by replacing human extras with AI agents, sparking debate online.

However, he later clarified his position with The Hollywood Reporter, saying: “I don’t want to act with an AI agent—how’s that going to work? I don’t know how you can do it any other way than just have those actors in that moment.

“Or if an extra is in an interaction with the principal, you can never use AI because you’ll never have the cadence. It won’t work next year. It won’t work the year after that.”

Social media reactions to O’Leary’s acting debut, but mainly fashion choices, were mixed.

Some fans praised his presence and style: “Mr. Wonderful always brings the supreme style,” wrote one user, while another added: “Dashing! Not everyone could pull that look off!”

But not all comments were glowing—one user quipped, “He looks like he’s wearing my grandmother’s bed cover!?” while another chimed in more enthusiastically: “Love him and his suit is pretty bada**.”

Marty Supreme is scheduled to be released in U.S. movie theaters on December 25, 2025.