Seth Hanlon ’98, Thompson’s roommate at Harvard, described Thompson’s early acting start, illustrious IM days and brief criminal history.

“He always loved sports and always had a knowledge of sports,” Hanlon said.

Thompson, a “psychotic Gator fan” according to Hanlon, grew up in Gainesville, Fla. and followed the Florida football team with a fury.

With the help of his parents, that didn’t change in Cambridge.

“Freshman year,” Hanlon said, “his parents would cut out every article about the Gators from the Gainesville Sun and mail them to him. He spent more time studying those than his Math 21a book.”

Thompson’s passion for football carried over to the IM field, where he was MVP of the 1997 Leverett House A-League IM football champs. He also played JV basketball and JV baseball.

“If you were an animal on the African savannah,” asks Thompson’s online Dream Job bio, “which would you be?”

Thompson’s reply reveals plenty about both his athleticism and wit.

“A gazelle,” he answers. “The two species of gazelle are Grant and Thompson. No s--t.”

In 1998, a bit part in the John Travolta movie A Civil Action persuaded the genial college senior to try acting.

Since then, appearances on “7th Heaven” and “Six Feet Under” have supplemented his brief movie career—which includes the part of the Costa Mesa quarterback in Bring it On and Hunter in The Butterfly Effect.

But Thompson remained evasive about his most embarassing moment.

“Getting arrested. . . er, detained at the Harvard-Yale game,” he writes in his bio.

Hanlon is equally shifty about Thompson’s criminal record.

“Let me phrase this the right way,” he said. “It was for the desecration of the Yale symbol on the football field.”

The votes are in—Grant Thompson may have finished second in “Dream Job,” but he’s probably first in the hearts of Harvardians.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.ed

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn contributed to the reporting of this article.