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Kenan Thompson Reveals the Film That Almost Ended His Acting Career

Kenan Thompson revealed on Amy Poehler's podcast that he nearly quit acting after the first day of hockey camp for 'D2: The Mighty Ducks.' His mother urged him to continue, and he went on to star in the sequel. Poehler praised his skating skills, recalling his performances outside Rockefeller Center.

By Tertius News AI Desk 2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Sep 2, 2026 Published 2h ago

Near-Quit Moment

Kenan Thompson has revealed that he almost walked away from acting after a particularly difficult day preparing for his first film role. Appearing on Amy Poehler'sGood Hang podcast, the 48-year-old said that despite listing roller skating as a special skill on his resume, he had never considered hockey. "I wanted to learn, but after that first day of hockey camp, which was on my birthday, my 15th birthday, I wanted to quit it all," he said.

Thompson made his film debut in March 1994 inD2: The Mighty Ducks, just one month before he joined Nickelodeon'sAll That Known later forKenan and Kel,Good Burger, andSaturday Night Live, he told Poehler that he told himself, "I don't want to be an actor. I don't want to if this is what it's about."

His mother, however, would not let him give up. "Thank God my mom didn't let me quit," he said. "She was like, 'No, go back tomorrow.'"

Perseverance and Skill

Thompson did return to hockey camp and learned to ice skate over the following months. He went on to reprise his role in the 1996 sequel,D3: The Mighty Ducks Poehler, who joinedSaturday Night Live with Thompson in 2003, praised his skating ability, calling it "incredible" and saying he is "one of my friends that skate the best."

Thompson took pride in that skill, noting that it is not common for someone from the Black community to ice skate. "I pride myself with that, because it's not like a big known thing amongst the Black community to just ice skate like that," he said. "There's only certain people that do it. There's only a few people in the NHL or whatever kind of thing... to get good at it is wild."

A Memorable Performance

Poehler also recalled Thompson's skating talents being showcased after aSaturday Night Live Christmas episode, when the cast would appear outside Rockefeller Center. "We would be on the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, just us, at one o'clock in the morning," she said. "And I go down there and I see Kenan, and Kenan is... you are skating forward, skating backwards, skating sideways, doing a thing, doing 45 million tricks."

The actor's perseverance paid off, and he has since become a mainstay ofSaturday Night Live, where he has been a cast member since 2003.

How each outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

The Hollywood Reporter

Framing: highlights Thompson's revelation about a specific movie that almost made him quit acting — lighthearted and appreciative

as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC

Facts Included:

Kenan Thompson nearly quit acting because of the challenging hockey training for D2: The Mighty Ducks.
He made this revelation while chatting with Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast.
Thompson said he put roller skating on his resume under special skills but never considered hockey.
He wanted to quit after the first day of hockey camp, which was on his 15th birthday.
His mother didn't let him give up, and he kept going back.
He trained for eight weeks total for D2 and 1996's D3: The Mighty Ducks.
Poehler praised his 'incredible' skating skills, saying he's 'one of my friends that skate the best.'
Thompson said he prides himself on that because it's not a big known thing amongst the Black community to ice skate.
Poehler recalled seeing him skating forward, backward, sideways and doing 45 million tricks at the rink outside Rockefeller Center after an SNL Christmas show.

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PerthNow

Framing: The headline emphasizes Kenan Thompson's revelation about almost quitting acting after his first film role. — lighthearted and admiring

as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC

Facts Included:

Kenan Thompson almost "quit" acting after his first ever film role.
The 48-year-old star appeared in hockey movie sequel D2: The Mighty Ducks in March 1994, just one month before his debut in Nickelodeon sketch show All That.
Appearing on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, he said: "Sure, I put it on my resume under special skills that I could roller skate, but you know, I never in a million years considered hockey."
“I wanted to learn, but after that first day of hockey camp, which was on my birthday, my 15th birthday, I wanted to quit it all."
Kenan, who went onto star in the likes of Kenan and Kel, Good Burger and Saturday Night Live, is gratefully his mother stopped him from quitting.
He added: "I was like, ‘I don’t want to be an actor."
“Thank God my mom didn’t let me quit."
Kenan did learn how to ice skate over the next couple of months, and even returned to hockey camp for 1996 sequel D3: The Mighty Ducks.
Podcast host Amy Poehler, who joined SNL with Kenan in 2003, praised his skating skills, describing him as one of the best among her friends.
He quipped: "I pride myself with that, because it’s not like a big known thing amongst the Black community to just ice skate like that."
Meanwhile, Amy recalled how Kenan often showed off his talent as part of SNL's festive send-off at the end of the Christmas episode, when the cast would appeared underneath the iconic Rockefeller Christmas tree to wave to the audience.
She explained: "We would be on the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, just us, at one o’clock in the morning."

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What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimKenan Thompson almost quit acting after his first ever film role, which was in the 1994 movie D2: The Mighty Ducks.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimKenan Thompson made this revelation while chatting with Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimKenan Thompson said he put roller skating on his resume under special skills but never in a million years considered hockey.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimKenan Thompson wanted to quit acting after the first day of hockey camp, which was on his 15th birthday.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimKenan Thompson's mother did not let him quit acting, and he kept going back to hockey camp.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimKenan Thompson trained for eight weeks total for D2: The Mighty Ducks and D3: The Mighty Ducks.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimAmy Poehler praised Kenan Thompson's skating skills, saying he is one of her friends who skate the best.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimKenan Thompson said he prides himself on his skating because it's not a big known thing amongst the Black community to ice skate like that.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC
ClaimAmy Poehler recalled seeing Kenan Thompson skating forward, backwards, sideways, doing a thing, shooting the moon, and doing 45 million tricks at the ice rink outside Rockefeller Center after an SNL Christmas show.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via PerthNow as of Sep 2, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:18 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles consulted: The Hollywood Reporter, PerthNow 9 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-09-02