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Becoming a sports<\/a> star is no easy feat, and neither is making it as a Hollywood actor. But these men and women have proven they can do both! Here are the football players, wrestlers, and more athletes who proved they had skills on *and* off the big screen:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 1.<\/span><\/p>\n To start, John Cena<\/a> is a 17-time WWE world champion and had his first major acting role in 2006’s The Marine<\/i>. He’s since gone on to appear in Trainwreck<\/i>, Blockers<\/i>, and HBO Max<\/a>‘s Peacemaker<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 2.<\/span><\/p>\n Terry Crews<\/a> is a former pro football player and made the shift to acting by landing a role in 2000’s The 6th Day<\/i>. He’s also been seen in Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/i><\/a>, Are We There Yet?<\/i>, and Everybody Hates Chris<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 3.<\/span><\/p>\n Dave Bautista<\/a> is a former WWE wrestler and started his acting career with minor roles in Smallville<\/i><\/a> and Chuck<\/i>. He’s now become a leading man with appearances in the Guardians of the Galaxy<\/i> franchise, the Dune<\/i> franchise, and Knock at the Cabin<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 4.<\/span><\/p>\n Dwayne Johnson made a name for himself in the WWE as The Rock, and had his first acting job on That ’70s Show<\/i> in 1999. Since then, he landed role after role with credits in The Fast and the Furious<\/i> franchise, the Jumanji<\/i> franchise, and the Moana<\/i> franchise. (He’ll star in the forthcoming The Smashing Machine<\/i>, directed by Benny Safdie.)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 5.<\/span><\/p>\n You might remember Marshawn Lynch as “Beast Mode” during his days in the NFL, or you might know him for his acting roles in Bottoms<\/i>, Westworld<\/i>, or Freaky Tales<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 6.<\/span><\/p>\n Former bodybuilder and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his acting career in 1970. Some of his most famous roles include The Terminator<\/i> franchise, Conan the Barbarian<\/i> franchise, and Batman & Robin<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 7.<\/span><\/p>\n Martial artist Jackie Chan broke into the acting scene in the ’60s. Some of his biggest roles include the Rush Hour<\/i> franchise, the Kung Fu Panda<\/i> franchise, and the Shanghai<\/i> franchise.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 8.<\/span><\/p>\n LeBron James is still playing pro ball for the Los Angeles Lakers, but has also had acting roles in Trainwreck<\/i>, Space Jam: A New Legacy<\/i>, and House Party<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 9.<\/span><\/p>\n Jim Brown left the NFL to pursue his acting dreams with roles in The Dirty Dozen<\/i>, Mars Attacks!<\/i>, and Any Given Sunday<\/i>. He passed away in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 10.<\/span><\/p>\n Martial artist Chuck Norris is best known for his roles in Walker, Texas Ranger<\/i>, The Expendables 2<\/i>, and The Way of the Dragon<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 11.<\/span><\/p>\n Former pro basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar began his acting career in the ’70s. Some of his most notable roles include Airplane!<\/i>, Glass Onion<\/i>, and Troop Beverly Hills<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 12.<\/span><\/p>\n Before his passing in 2024, Carl Weathers was a pro football player and actor with roles in the Rocky<\/i> franchise, Predator<\/i>, and The Mandalorian<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 13.<\/span><\/p>\n Former pro skateboarder Jason Lee shifted his focus to acting in the early ’90s with iconic roles in My Name Is Earl<\/i>, Almost Famous<\/i>, and Vanilla Sky<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 14.<\/span><\/p>\n Ronda Rousey is best known for her time in the UFC and WWE, but has also been featured in The Expendables 3<\/i>, Furious 7<\/i>, and Entourage<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 15.<\/span><\/p>\n Rick Fox went from a pro basketball player to an actor with roles in One Tree Hill<\/i>, Greenleaf<\/i>, and Highest 2 Lowest<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 16.<\/span><\/p>\n Shaquille O’Neal had an impressive NBA career, but also made a name for himself as an actor with roles in Kazaam<\/i>, Uncle Drew<\/i>, and Hustle<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 17.<\/span><\/p>\n Serena Williams is a tennis great, danced with Kendrick Lamar at the 2025 Super Bowl, and had acting roles in Glass Onion<\/i>, Ocean’s Eight<\/i>, and Pixels<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 18.<\/span><\/p>\n Pro boxer Kali Reis wowed audiences with her leading role as Evangeline Navarro in True Detective<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 19.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, Michael Jordan made headlines for his athleticism in basketball and baseball, but also earned acting credits with roles in Space Jam<\/i> and He Got Game<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Who’s your favorite sports star turned actor? Share your pick in the comments!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.buzzfeed.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 19 Athletes Who Became Successful Hollywood Actors Becoming a sports star is no easy feat, and neither is making it as a Hollywood actor. But these men and women have proven they can do both! Here are the football players, wrestlers, and more athletes who proved they had skills on *and* off the big screen: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2043926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[239358,91165,21912,21913,22077],"class_list":["post-2043925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-dib-celebs","tag-evergreen","tag-movies","tag-tv","tag-tv-shows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/19-Athletes-Who-Became-Successful-Hollywood-Actors.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2043925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2043926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2043925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2043925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2043925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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