Adaptive tennis athlete Kevin Iannucci stars in new movie with Woody Harrelson

Whether Kevin Iannucci is on the tennis courts in Raleigh, N.C., or on Hollywood’s big screen, he strives to be a champion. 

Iannucci, an adaptive tennis athlete, is one of 10 actors with intellectual disabilities appearing in a new heartwarming movie, "Champions," which hit theaters on March 10. Directed by Bobby Farrelly ("Dumb and Dumber"), the film stars Academy Award-nominee Woody Harrelson as a former minor-league basketball coach whose life is changed for the better after he is court-ordered to manage a team of basketball players with intellectual disabilities.  

Iannucci plays the role of Johnny, a very friendly and affectionate young man who, like Iannucci himself, has Down’s syndrome. 

“I’ve been told I’m a natural born actor,” Iannucci says, with a big laugh. “I don’t know about that, but I started when I was little and liked it so much that I just kept doing it.” 

Iannucci eventually fell into a theater group and did some stage plays. “The first one we did, I said to the teacher, ‘I could be on the big screen someday!’” he says. “Now, I have accomplished that goal, and I’m so excited.”

Last fall, Iannucci and his mother Anne spent nearly three months in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for filming. 

“The hardest part was probably the long days,” Anne Iannucci said. “His longest day on set was 15-and-a-half hours.”