I was thinking about sports movies,and wondered what the best permormance by a professional athlete might have been. Often they can be god aweful, as athletes are not known for their sensative emotional side, or their comic timing. Here are some that came to mind, not necissarily good permormances, just starring turns by sports stars. Michael Jordan -space Jam: not my favorate. stilted and fairly flat, he might as well have been selling razors, or batteries, or underwear or......... wilt chamberlin -conan the destroyer: he was alright in the role, but definately nothing special. He did have a unique physical presence. hulk hogan - rocky 3: pretty damn entertaining. Wrestlers in general make decent actors as its a basic part of what they do anyway. They are charismatic, funny and athletically gifted. from andre the giant in princess bride, triple H in X-men, to anything the Rock is in nowadays. They are pretty effective. These are all strong efforts. bubba smith -police academy movies: ok, but not that special. Mostly just physically imposing, but with a gentle soul. Im sure Im forgetting many memorable ones -good or bad. Any suggestions?
If you're going to include wrestlers, my favorite athlete performance is of Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride. The best pro-wrestler/actor is probably Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who hasn't yet gotten his break-out role. On that point, if you count body-builders as actors, "Ahh-nuld" is probably the most successful athlete actor. A recent athlete in a movie is Darious (spelling?) Miles in The Perfect Score. An awful performance in an awful movie from this NBA player. --LEVI
Bosworth brought a tear to my eye in Stone Cold. I'll never know why the Academy snubbed him that year.
brett was fun to see in somting about mary, but i dont think those kinds of appearences constitue acting. Its on par with: lance armstrong showing up in dodgeball it is fun to think of all these kinds of cameos, however. the athletes are more just props walking on camera to get a laugh, or cause an emotional responce of some kind. Not really a permormance per say especially when compared to dennis rodman's fine work in double impact!!
I thought Favre did a terrible job playing himself. (He's supposedly a charismatic guy and came across as a block of wood with little apparent feelings for his "ex".) Jason Statham (Snatch, Lock Stock..., The Transporter) is an ex-Olympic diver. Does that count?
I think denzel washington used to be a college footbal star, so he might be best actor to come from a almost pro athletic background.
Former professsional athletes that became pretty good actors are Victor McLaglen, Chuck Connors and Woody Strode.
maybe that was burt reynolds im thinking of. I thought I rememebr Denzel being an athlete, but maybe not.
Vinnie Jones. Andre The Giant in Princess Bride is my favorite. For a start, it's one of the most perfect films ever made, which really helps. But his performance as Fezzik is one of the highlights of the film.
Wouldn't the entire cast of Miracle qualify? All the hockey players in the movie were hockey players, not actors.
I don't think this is accurate. The kid who played the goalie was Tag from Friends and all of his "stunt/skating" shots were doubled by ex-Oilers star, Bill Ranford. I know a couple others were just actors as well but I can't think of their names right now. My favourite sports guy to actor has to be Bruins great, Cam Neely who has had a part in most if not all of the Farelly Brothers Movies. "Kick his ass Seabass!"
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Airplane! I don't remember his performance that well, but I don't think it was horrendous or anything.
Burt Reynolds played football at Florida State. I seem to recall O.J. Simpson appeared in at least one. An airline pilot in Airplane? Also Alex Karras. A number of TV shows as well as the one alongside Jeff Bridges, James Woods, an Aussie chick (The Thornbirds?)centered around pro football. Another tremendous athlete on the big screen was Carl Weathers. Apollo Creed in Rocky. Weathers played some pro football. Terry Bradshaw as well.
