Spoiler

10 Greatest Sportsmen/women turned actors EVER!

Cruise and Beckham – known to one another a Tom and David

 

The big news from today’s Sun is that Tom Cruise totally thinks that David Beckham should give acting a go, once he’s finally hung up his football slippers, and stuffed his matchday knickers into a bin bag.

With that in mind, after the jump you’ll find ten other sportsmen/women who decided to attempt the professional art of “pretending”… 

Carl Weathers

Most famous for oiling himself up and pretending to punch Sly Stallone in the first few Rocky films, Carl was also absolutely brilliant in Predator, and more recently in the magnificent US sitcom, Arrested Development. But did you know that Carl used to be a professional American Football player for the Oakland Raiders in the early 1970s? Oh, you did. Fair enough.

Jason Lee

These days, Jason Lee is a card carrying Scientologist, and the successful star of My Name is Earl. But, in a former life, Jason presumably didn’t believe that normal people were actually aliens. Plus he was a very successful skateboarder, as proved in the above video.

Eric Cantona

Anyone there to witness Cantona talking nonsense about sardines probably saw his career in make believe coming a mile off. Still predominantly reverred as a once-fine footballer, he did put in a good account of himself playing a character called Eric Cantona in a recent movie. Above is the trailer.

OJ Simpson

Before it all went a bit court casey and weird, O.J Simpson was carving out a pretty decent movie career for himself – with credits in such classics as The Towering Inferno, and The Naked Gun. But, for much of America, he will always be remembered second and not remotely foremost as an NFL star. Above is a short video clip which proves that he was quite the footballer. In the American sense of the word.

Estella Warren 

A former world class synchronised swimmer, Estella Warren was a big deal at the start of the millennium, with the kind of lean athletic body that made even the most macho bearded pipe smoking women flirt with lesbianism – plus her pouting lips were at least three times larger than the average. You might remember her from the abominable remake of Planet of the Apes, alongside whispering Mark Wahlberg. Above is a “sexy tribute”.

Michael Jordan

If Beckham is seriously going to consider this acting lark, he might be wise to look at the career of Michael Jordan – largely considered to be the greatest inventor of sneakers ever to walk the planet. Perhaps realising his own limitations, Jordan has carved out a career simply playing himself. Clever. Very clever.

Vinnie Jones

Of course, Vinnie Jones was the man to blaze the trail for British soccer players looking to make it in Hollywood, and he’s now the go-to cock-er-ney tough guy. To such an extent that, by the looks of his IMDB page, he’s currently churning out around ten films a year. The Spoiler has definitely seen two of them.

Anna Kournikova

Some would argue that since her tennis career ground to a halt, it’s hard to correctly pinpoint exactly what Anna Kournikova does for a living. Well, perhaps this might shed some light on it – she once took a bit part as a “Motel Manager” in the Jim Carrey vehicle Me, Myself and Irene. That’s one mystery solved, then. Above is a short film about Kournikova getting pampered.

David Prowse

You know him better as the man who played Darth Vader – only with the voice of James Earl Jones. But David Prowse was also a weightlifter of some note, having competed at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. He was also the Green Cross Code man for a time. For those too young to remember, that means that he told people how to cross roads.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 

Two of The Spoiler’s favourite ever movies: Fletch and Airplane. They have one thing in common – both star the NBA legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. How he has been so consistently overlooked by The Academy is anyone’s guess.

• Anna Kournikova
• Carl Weathers
• David Beckham
• David Prowse
• Eric Cantona
• Estella Warren
• Jason Lee
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• Michael Jordan
• OJ Simpson
• Sexy
• Tom Cruise