Michael Jerome Oher is a retired American football offensive tackle who spent eight seasons with the Baltimore Ravens in the National Football League (NFL). Michael Lewis' 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game chronicles Oher's life from his senior year of high school to his freshman year of college. His story was adapted into the Academy Award-winning 2009 film The Blind Side.
Michael Jerome Williams, Jr. was one of Denise Oher's 12 children, born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 28, 1986. His mother battled alcoholism and crack addiction, while his father, Michael Jerome Williams, spent a lot of time in jail. During his childhood, he received minimal attention and discipline. During his first nine years as a student, he repeated first and second grades and attended eleven different schools. At the age of seven, he was placed in foster care and spent time in numerous foster homes and streets. Denise Oher's brother was a former cellmate of Oher's father, who was murdered in jail when Oher was a senior in high school.
Oher was a football player during his freshman year at a Memphis public high school. On the advice of Tony Henderson, an auto technician with whom he was temporarily living, he sought admission to Briarcrest Christian School. Henderson was enrolling his son in the school to fulfill his grandmother's dying desire, and Oher assumed he would as well. Hugh Freeze, the football coach at the school, forwarded Oher's application to the headmaster, who agreed to accept him if he first completed a home study program. He did not meet the program but was enrolled once the headmaster realized that Oher had been dismissed from the public school system due to his need.
Although a lot has been said about Michael Oher's football career in various books and online content, none of his biographies talk about his personal life. There is no information about his married life or any children.
In 2006, Michael Oher was the subject of Michael Lewis's book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. The book was adapted into a feature film directed by John Lee Hancock. The movie was released in November of 2009. Even though the film was a major box office hit, Michael believes it harmed his career, "I'm not trying to prove anything. People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie. They don't see the skills and the kind of player I am. That's why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field. This stuff, calling me a bust, people saying if I can play or not, has nothing to do with football. It's something else off the field. That's why I don't like that movie.''
| Birth Date: | 28 May, 1986 |
| Age: | 33 yrs |
| Occupations: | American football player |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | Memphis |
| Education: | Briarcrest Christian School |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | American football player |
| Net Worth 2020: | 20 million |
| Net Worth 2021: | 16 million |
