Best Athlete Turned Actors

Thursday, Aug 20, 2020, 6:29 pm

By:Tony Williams

1.Carl Weathers

He played in the NFL for a number of years, but then realized that football was going to be a short career, so looked at moving into acting instead. His biggest role was as Apollo Creed in four of the Rocky movies as well as a number of small parts that have kept him in the public eye for some time.

2.Arnie

When it comes to athletes that have become actors, then it is perhaps fair to say that Arnie is the biggest star of them all. He went from being Mister Universe, to one of the biggest action guys in Hollywood basically overnight and even though you can see an improvement in his acting from his early days he still did pretty well for himself.

3.Mark Harmon

Well this is something that a lot of people are unaware of, but Mark actually played football for UCLA. However, after college he did decide that the world of acting was more suitable for him leading to him cutting his football career short and it certainly seems to have been the correct decision.

4.Jason Lee

Have you managed to forget the fact that this cool and funny actor used to be a professional skateboarder? There are clips of him doing all kinds of cool stuff on a skateboard out there, but he grew bored of it and turned to acting instead.

5.Jim Brown

This guy is still seen as being one of the best running backs to have ever appeared in the NFL, but he has also been quite a good actor as well. He has had roles in the likes of The Running Man, Dream Street and The Dirty Dozen and overall did quite well for himself.

6.Lou Ferrigno

Lou was a champion bodybuilder and of course that set him up perfectly for being the Incredible Hulk in the 70s. You have to admit that with a body like this he was just tailor made for the role and his acting was not too bad either.

7.Vinnie Jones

Vinnie Jones has managed to get into acting by playing the tough London guy, but on the soccer field he was just as intimidating. He was red carded a number of times in his career and was seen as being a player that really did take no nonsense whatsoever, so he is perfect for the different roles.

8.Jason Stratham

This is one that very few people know about, but this Hollywood tough guy was once part of the British diving team. You just cannot imagine him doing all of those flips and turns and trying to enter the pool as gracefully as possible, but he did.

9.Hulk Hogan

Has there ever been a wrestler who was better at marketing himself than Hulk Hogan? When it came to acting he has appeared in several different shows in a guest role, playing himself, as well as several movies where he was the lead and he was not too bad either.

10.Lawrence Taylor

This guy was a linebacker in the NFL and a Superbowl winner, but on the silver screen he has appeared in the likes of Any Given Sunday as well as in the Sopranos. OK so his acting career may not have been as successful as his football one, but he is still seen as being quite good at it.

11.Bubba Smith

Bubba Smith spent a number of years in the NFL, but for most people he is more famous as being Hightower in the Police Academy series. His size was certainly used to great effect even though he basically ended up being pretty much typecast in that role.

12.Dwayne Johnson

A number of wrestlers have tried to turn their hand to acting with some very mixed results, but Dwayne "The rock" Johnson is different. He is now a bona fide movie star with an ability to play the hard man as well as having a funny side to him.

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