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14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Before playing their first role in a movie, some actors were real champions in the sports world. And some have clearly managed to reinvent themselves very easily in movies.

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1. Jean Claude Van Damme

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Jean Claude Van Damme (Jean Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg)

2. Eric Cantona

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Eric Cantona is often cited as one of the best French soccer players. "King Eric" had a very great career in England playing for Leeds United and Manchester United.

3. Sean Connery

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Before becoming the famous James Bond, Sean Connery competed in bodybuilder competitions.

4. Kurt Russell

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Kurt Russell was a very good baseball player when he was younger. He could have been a professional baseball player, but he was already doing some films at that time. He finally decided to devote himself entirely to acting.

5. Jackie Chan

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Jackie Chan is a black belt in hapkido. He was also trained in karate, judo, taekwondo, and jeet kune do. He does his own stunts for movies all the time.

6. Jason Lee

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Jason Lee is a former professional skateboarder. He is known for playing Earl in the TV show "My Name is Earl"

7. Julio Iglesias

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

He was a goalkeeper at Real Madrid, reached Team B, and was promised a great career, but a serious injury paralyzed him for a year and a half. Because of this accident, he totally devoted himself to music.

8. Dwayne Johnson

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Dwayne Johnson has always been a great athlete. He began his career playing football. Then he became very famous in the wrestling world under the name "The Rock".

9. Jason Statham

Before being a famous actor, Jason Statham was a member of the British national diving team for 12 years. He even participated in the 1990 "Commonwealth Games". He was then noticed by a modeling agency and subsequently had his first roles.

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

10. Terry Crews

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Before acting in the Expendables movies, a few sitcoms, and some very funny commercials, Terry Crews was a football player for 6 years.

11. Chuck Norris

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

He has a black belt in tang soo do and taekwondo. He also used to compete in karate, and he was a 7-time world champion.

12. John Wayne

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

John Wayne was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Southern California. Unfortunately, a body surfing accident forced him to quit football.

13. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a former bodybuilder who was notably "Mr. Universe" in 1969 and "Mr. Olympia" 7 times.

14. Vinnie Jones

Illustration de l'article : 14 celebrities who were great athletes before becoming actors

Vinnie Jones wasn’t known for being a very respectful player on the field. He liked to spend his time constantly teasing other players and being very aggressive on the field, at the time when soccer was still “a man’s sport”. Vinnie Jones is now an actor who plays roles that are very similar to how he was on the field.