Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett reveals he learned to play soccer especially for the movie

Jonathan Bennett had to learn to play football for his role in 'Mean Girls'.

The 43-year-old actor starred as heartthrob Aaron Samuels in the 2004 cult classic - which followed Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert as a group of popular girls in a comedy that serves as a parody of the high school clique system - and admitted upon the film's 21st anniversary on Wednesday (30.04.25) evening that he had never even "kicked a soccer ball" before he arrived on set.

Alongside footage of him learning to play football for the movie, he wrote on Instagram: "Mean Girls came out 21 years ago today. This is footage of me practicing kicking a soccer ball for the scene. I kicked a soccer ball for the first time in my life when filming this. How did I do? Butch?"

The Hallmark star thanked his fans for the "support" they have given him over the years as he signed off by referring to the film's famous word "grool", which is used by the character of Cady Heron (Lohan) as an accidental portmanteau of the worlds "great" and "cool".

He added: "Thanks for all the support over the years to our amazing fans. And thank you for embracing and supporting us in our journeys. Grool."

Last year, Jonathan admitted that his life was "was "changed forever" when he was cast in Tina Fey's comedy, which has since gone on to become a stage musical that was then adapted once again for the screen.

He said: "20 years ago today my life was changed forever. I can't tell you how proud I am to be part of a story that, still to this day, makes so many people happy. It's been one of the biggest gifts of my career and life."

The 'Food Network's Battle of the Decades' host then shared that he was actually at an airport while he reminisced about the film when a fan came up to inform him that her boyfriend was born on the day that it came out and while he was made to feel "old" in that moment, he couldn't resist responding with a line from the movie.

He added: "I'm boarding a flight right now to go shoot a project that I have been producing for the past year, and the gate agent pulled me aside and said, 'it's so funny, my boyfriend was born the day Mean Girls came out.

"I said, 'oh that's fun!' and then realized she meant the ACTUAL DAY. All I could say to her was, 'Grool.'

"Because that means people born on that day are now grown adults, and I've never felt older in my life, But at the same time, I felt proud."