Best Acting Athletes

by The Man No One Came To See

in Uncategorized

06 Aug 2009

The wide world of entertainment is very intermingled these days with athletes acting and rapping, while actors wanted to play professional sports, and so on. Athletes have always seen movies and music as another revenue stream and a way to gain exposure to a wider audience. There is no doubt that some athletes crave the attention of Hollywood and movies satisfy their insatiable appetite for attention. But not all are successful. There have been many athlete flops in the box office and many times critics rip them to shreds. But those that do well and do not blow it get remembered, so here are my favorite six athletes turned actors:

6. Bob Golic- Bob served as the father-figure for the cast as they escaped the all seeing eye of Mr. Belding and moved onto to college. Bob, older brother of Mike Golic, added a dose of testosterone to the show to make up for Dustin Diamond. Bob was a three time pro-bowler and continues a career in entertainment as a radio host.

5. Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock)- The Rock has had one of the most successful careers in entertainment over the last 15 years. But before all the acting roles, he was busy acting in a very different realm, World Wrestling Federation. The Rock was a central player in the WWF for almost a decade before his jump into featured films. Dwayne attended college at The University of Miami to play football and played a little professionally in Canada before turning to movies. The Rock earned the highest salary ever for a debut role with $5.5 million to do The Scorpion King. He also stars in The Rundown, Be Cool, Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang, The Game Plan, and Get Smart.

4. Jason Lee- Before jumping into the movie scene, Jason was a revolutionary skateboarder in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. In fact, Jason and Tony Hawk were the first two skateboarders to have their own shoes with AirWalk. Jason’s first real jumo into movies came in the Cult Classic Mallrats. He proceeded to star in many movies eventually being the lead in Heartbreaker, Stealing Harvard, and A Guy Thing. Jason also had a big role in the Cameron Crowe classic Almost Famous. After his movie success Jason jumped into television with the hit show My Name is Earl. Jason is a scientologist

3. Carl Weathers- Most known for his role as Apollo Creed in the Rocky series, Carl was also a standout football player. Weathers graduated from San Diego State University where he started at linebacker. After college he played briefly for the Oakland Raiders and in Canada before retiring. Carl’s first big role was as Apollo Creed in Rocky and then he stared along side politicians Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. Although his acting roles diminished, he still remained a part of Happy Gilmore as mentor Chubbs Peterson and a few episodes of Arrested Development.

2. Michael Jordan- An introduction for Michael Jordan is quite hard because he has done everything and he is the greatest basketball player to ever live. He also was a baseball player for a stint between his two three-peats. Jordan’s jump into to features made a splash with Space Jam. Space Jam extended Jordan’s legacy to a whole generation that never got to see him really play, The Wizards do not count. The movie was awesome with all the Looney Tunes and i still enjoy watching this movie.

1. Shaquille O’Neal- Shaq-zilla is not timid about the entertainment industry. Shaq’s basketball career ranks him the top 50 players of all time but his entertainment career surpasses that (alright, maybe not). A 15 time all star and a 4 time NBA champion, Shaq has been nominated for awards for his acting as well. He earned a Razzie nomination, for Worst Actor, in his role in the movie Steel. Shaq got his start as a high school recruit in the Nick Nolte movie, Blue Chips. He then spread his wings and flew all over Hollywood in Kazaam, Good Burger, Freddie Got Fingered, Scary Movie 4 just to name a few. His antics are ridiculous, his style is unquestionable, and his acting career is straight dynamite, you decide whether that is good or bad.