An iconic action star who almost dove his way into the Olympics. A live-in housekeeper with
boxing in his past. A movie star's son hits the gridiron to escape his showbiz legacy but then
becomes an actor anyway. These are the stories of famous actors who started out as athletes.
After being drafted in 1991, Terry Crews spent five years as an NFL linebacker in Los Angeles,
Washington, and San Diego before ultimately calling it quits in 1997. He then struggled
to make a living wage, so he swept floors to get by. With a graphic design background,
acting wasn't exactly the logical choice for his next move, but clearly it's worked out for him.
Crews started his film career with very small roles before breaking out in the 2002 comedy
sequel Friday After Next. That led to The Expendables franchise and regular parts on TV
shows like Everybody Hates Chris and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He also has hosting experience,
having emceed Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and America's Got Talent. And of course,
how can we forget his series of over-the-top Old Spice commercials?
"This new Old Spice shaver is so amazing, it'll shave off every hair on your face!
Oh no, I'm a hair!"
On top of all that, Crews is a published author as well. When his memoir Tough came out, he tweeted,
"I wrote this book for anyone who considers themselves 'tough' but feels unfulfilled.
Who struggles with procrastination or self-sabotage. Who is ready to
achieve true, lasting self-mastery and strength."
Jason Lee is surely best known as Earl Hickey, the lead character in the quirky NBC sitcom My
Name is Earl. But before that, he'd established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the
professional skateboarding world. According to the website for Stereo Sound Agency,
which he co-founded in 1992, he rose to prominence in the late 80s and developed a
roster of tricks that got him noticed by those in the know. That led to him starring in the
film Video Days. He also spent time in Texas and focused on his work as a photographer,
and during a good chunk of his career, he was an in-demand Hollywood hotshot.
Lee's first substantial role was in the 1995 Kevin Smith film Mallrats,
which was followed by several more collaborations with the director, including Chasing Amy, Dogma,
and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Proving his versatility, Lee has also shown up as Dave in
the four Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and in Oscar-caliber works such as Almost Famous
and Vanilla Sky. And from 2010 to 2011, he led the TNT dramedy Memphis Beat for two seasons.
Unlike some of the others on this list, Kurt Russell's acting career has eclipsed his
sports career to the point that hardly anybody even remembers the latter even
existed. But once upon a time, he was on a very different path that may have led to the Major
Leagues if not for an injury. As he revealed on Minor League Baseball's official website,
"For my family, baseball was a year-round thing. Acting was a business for me like it
was for my dad. I made money but I wanted to play baseball. That was the pursuit."
Russell actually started as a child actor in 1962,
and while he became a Disney star during that decade, he also continued to play ball.
"I used to play ping-pong with Walt Disney."
In the early 70s, Russell managed to play for a number of minor league organizations. But after
his injury, he turned to acting full-time, and it's gone pretty well for him since then. He has
over 100 credits to his name on IMDb, including action fare like Tango & Cash, Backdraft,
and Executive Decision. He's also starred in everything from comedies like Overboard,
to sports dramas like Miracle, and superhero fare like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Like his father Kurt, Wyatt Russell is both an accomplished actor and
athlete. But unlike his baseball-loving dad, his sport of choice is hockey,
which he's played both domestically and abroad. He tended goal for a variety of junior teams,
including the Brampton Capitals and Langley Hornets in Canada,
as well as the Chicago Steel in the U.S. He also played college hockey at the University
of Alabama in Huntsville, and he even did a one-season stint for a team in The Netherlands.
Like many pro athletes, injuries cut Russell's career short, and after retiring in 2010,
he took after his family and decided to break into showbiz. He showed up in an
episode of the short-lived Law & Order: L.A. and then gained further notice as a flirty
hockey player in the Judd Apatow-directed This Is 40. He followed that up with more
small film roles and TV guest spots before landing a leading role in the
quirky dramedy Lodge 49, which aired on AMC for two seasons from 2018 to 2019.
His career then reached never-before-seen heights in 2021 when he followed his
dad's lead and joined the MCU for the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
"Wow. Captain America is bearded now." "Yeah. Very. Extremely."
It's not terribly surprising that John Cena went from pro wrestler to one of
the biggest action movie stars in the world. But what is surprising is that
he did so with stellar comedic chops. Way back before all that happened,
he was reportedly homeless prior to his grappling career, which began when he became affiliated
with Ultimate Pro Wrestling and then exploded after he made his WWE Smackdown debut in 2002.
Cena's acting career kicked off with WWE-produced films like The Marine, 12 Rounds,
and Legendary. Then his big breakthrough came in, of all things, the 2015 rom-com Trainwreck,
which was followed by the similarly silly Sisters and a cameo in Daddy's Home. He then
ventured back to his action roots with The Wall, but found more success as an overprotective dad
in Blockers. He continued rolling along into the Fast & Furious franchise as well hosting
the 2021 reboot of Wipeout. Also in 2021, he shared some inspiring words when he tweeted,
"When the opportunity for adventure presents itself,
find the line where values aren't compromised and the diem is fully carped."
Footage of Jason Statham diving has been making the rounds on the Internet for years by now, and
yet, many fans still don't know about his athletic past. He competed as a diver at the Commonwealth
Games in 1990, although he failed to medal in any of his three events. He never competed in any
Olympics, though he was reportedly once ranked 12th in the world for diving on the platform.
But, as he revealed to IGN in 2012, diving wasn't exactly lucrative,
so he sold pottery on the streets of London to get by. Nevertheless, he spent a dozen years
on the British national team, and it was during training that he was noticed by a modeling scout.
A French Connection campaign led to a fateful introduction to filmmaker Guy Ritchie,
who then cast Statham in 1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Statham's film career
really blossomed from there, and he now has over 50 acting credits to his name,
including a few other Ritchie films. Like many athletes-turned-actors, he's mostly known for
his action movies, including the Transporter and Crank flicks, as well as a few entries in the
Fast & Furious series. He's also shown his knack for comedy, as was abundantly clear in 2015's Spy.
"I jumped from a high-rise building using
only a raincoat as a parachute. Broke both legs upon landing."
Tony Danza has been lighting up screens for more than four
decades now. So you can be forgiven if you forgot, or never even knew,
that he was previously a collegiate wrestler and that he also spent three years as a professional
boxer before skyrocketing to fame on the sitcom Taxi. A year after that show ended,
he began playing his most iconic character, housekeeper Tony Micelli on ABC's Who's the
Boss? That show ran for eight seasons and earned Danza three Golden Globe nominations.
In addition to those two iconic series, Danza has been a regular on a number of other programs,
including Family Law and, naturally enough, The Tony Danza Show. Additionally,
he hosted a daytime talk show for two years in the 2000s that was also called The Tony Danza
Show. His film appearances include the likes of Angels in the Outfield, Crash, and Don Jon. On
top of all that, he has numerous stage credits, and he's written both a memoir and a cookbook.
It seems like nearly every big-name wrestler has at least dabbled in acting, but only a
handful have actually become giant movie stars. Dave Bautista is one of the lucky few, and his
involvement with the Marvel Cinematic Universe all but ensures that he'll be busy for years,
if not decades, to come. He's appeared as Drax the Destroyer in four films, beginning with
2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, with more already on the calendar for 2022 and 2023.
Before he hit it big with acting, Bautista was huge among wrestling fans,
some of whom had been following his career even before he began in the WWE in 2002,
as he got his start with Ohio Valley Wrestling. In 2010, he left wrestling for acting full-time,
although he's returned to the ring a couple times, and he also had a brief run doing mixed
martial arts in 2012. His breakthrough movie gig was 2012's The Man with the Iron Fists.
He's since shown up in giant box office hits like Spectre, Blade Runner 2049,
and Dune. He's also branched out in smaller fare like Bushwick and comedies like Stuber and My
Spy. He has many upcoming projects on the horizon, including the much-anticipated Knives Out sequel.
When he was a child, John David Washington had
some cameos in a couple of his father Denzel's films.
"I'm Malcolm X!"
But his original career plan was athletics. He took up football at
least partially to distance himself from his famous dad and once told Sports Illustrated,
"When I saw that it was about me and not my father, it was like a drug. I got addicted to
that. To being able to be appreciated, separate, independently of a name."
Washington was good enough to play college ball at Morehouse and was even signed to the
St. Louis Rams at one point, though he never made it off the practice
squad. He also played in the United Football League, and when that ended,
he was hoping for a second shot at the NFL, but alas, an injury prevented that from happening.
Once football was officially off the table, Washington was approached by an old
friend-turned-agent who recruited him for a main role in the sports-centric HBO series Ballers,
which lasted for five seasons. He then made his way to the silver screen, as he broke
out in 2018's biopic BlacKkKlansman, which was directed by his dad's frequent collaborator,
Spike Lee. His other film credits include action flick Tenet, legal drama Monster,
and domestic drama Malcolm & Marie. He's set to make his
Broadway debut in September 2022 in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson.
Though commercial wrestling lacks the prestige of other professional sports,
it lends itself especially well to theatrics. It combines the power,
flexibility, and competitiveness of athletics with the entertainment of Hollywood,
and the result has been lucrative for many wrestlers-turned-actors. But very few of them
have had the success of the exceptionally charming and handsome Dwayne Johnson. A
third-generation wrestler with dashed dreams of being a pro football player,
he debuted in the WWF in 1996, but it wasn't until the following year that he became "The Rock."
Though "The Rock" started off as a villain, Johnson himself has become absolutely beloved
in the decades since. He made his film debut in 2001's The Mummy Returns,
which quickly led to a spin-off focused on his character, The Scorpion King.
He left the WWE in 2004, although he would later return. Nowadays,
he's one of the highest-paid movie stars in the world, he stars in a TV show based on his life,
and he's shown up in massive franchises like Fast & Furious and Jumanji. His other box office hits,
just to name a few, include the likes of Central Intelligence, Skyscraper, and Rampage. To put it
another way, now there's pretty much nobody on the planet who can't smell what The Rock is cooking.
"If you smelllllllllllllllllllllllllllll what The Rock is cooking!"
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