Coming Soon
20 Athletes Turned Actors
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- Category: Blogs
- Published: Friday, 15 August 2014 14:20
UFC Champ Ronda Rousey and boxing welterweight champ Victor Ortiz are the latest athletes to make the switch into movies and their debuting their new talents in Sylvester Stallone’s THE EXPENDABLES 3. Past and present Expendables like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris Randy Couture and Terry Crews also come from the sports world, but these six are not the first. Here are 20 athletes who made the leap to the big and small screen.
1. Chuck Norris – Martial Arts Master
The Delta Force, Missing in Action, The Way of the Dragon and Firewalker, The Expendables 2 and a series regular on CBS’Walker, Texas Ranger,
2. Bubba Smith – NFL Baltimore Colts
Police Academy, The Silence of the Hams and more.
3. Lawrence Taylor – NFL NY Giants
Any Given Sunday, In Hell, The Sopranos, The Waterboy
4. Bob Ueker – MLB Catcher
Major League trilogy, Futurama
5. Fred Williamson – NFL
Julia, Tough Guys, Three the Hard Way, That Man Bolt, Starsky and Hutch, Inglorious Bastards
6. Terry Bradshaw – NFL Pittsburgh Steelers
Hooper, The Cannonball Run, Failure to Launch
7. Lou Ferrigno – Bodybuilding
The Incredible Hulk, appeared in The Kings of Queens, Trauma Center and Supernatural
8. Esther Williams – Swimmer
Million Dollar Mermaid, Neptune’s Daughter, Jupiter’s Darling
9. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson - Canadian Football League’s Calagry Stampeders & WWE
The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, The Tooth Fairy, The Game Plan and Hercules.
10. Jim Brown – NFL Cleveland Browns
The Dirty Dozen, The Running Man
11. Carl Weathers – NFL Oakland Raiders & Canadian Football League’s BC Lions
Rocky films, Predator, Happy Gilmore
12. Jason Lee – Professional Skateboarder
NBC’s Up All Night, My Name is Earl, TNT’s Memphis Beat, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Almost Famous and more!
13. Gina Carano – Muay Thai Fighter
American Gladiators, Haywire, Fight Girls TV Series
14. Ed Marinaro – NFL Minnesota Vikings, NY Jets & Seahawks
Circus Island, ABCS’s Laverne & Shirley, NBC’s Sisters, NBC’s Hill Street Blues, Spike’s Blue Mountain
15. Shaquille O’Neal – NBA LA Lakers & Boston Celtics
Kazaam, Blue Chips, Scary Movie 4, Jack and Jill
16. Michael Jordan – NBA Chicago Bulls & Washington Wizards
Space Jam, Almost Live!, Kenny Rogers Classic Weekend
17. Bruce Jenner – U.S. Track and Field
CHiPs
18. Arnold Schwarzenegger – Bodybuilding
Hercules in New York, Conan the Barbarian, Terminator, The Expendables 2 and The Expendables 3
19. Victor Ortiz – Boxing
The Expendables 3
20. Ronda Rousey – UFC/MMA
Fast & Furious 7, The Expendables 3