Many Hollywood stars began their careers in the world of sports before making a name for themselves in the entertainment industry, and they might have found their way into the acting profession either through injuries sustained while playing sports or because of their passion for acting.
These celebrities are people you had no idea were athletic, these are list of famous entertainers that were once sport stars:
Let’s dive in to see what other Hollywood hotshots stood in the sports spotlight.
Avril Lavigne
The music star was once an ice hockey player and she has been familiar with the game since when she was two years old. Lavigne played competitively and was even named most valuable player of her team twice, but she later left the game to pursue a career in music.
Skater Girl
You wouldn’t argue that she still have love for the game as seen in the lyrics of her song “Skater Boi” when she was talking about wearing hockey pads and mask.
Jason Lee
Lee became famous for his role in the Television series My Name Is Earl, and has previously featured in the 1995 comedy film, Mallrats.
He Was A Skater Boy
Before shooting to fame he was a pro skateboarder in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and was with skate company STERIO, joining skating god Tony hawk as the only other dude to have a signature skating shoe produced by Airwalk.
Amy Adams
The actress was talented in track during high school and could have stuck with it to get a university scholarship. However, the actress was determined to pursue a career in dancing and acting which made her work at a local dance company while in high school.
Sticking to her gut
The actress told The Hollywood Reporter that while she was good at track, dance was her true passion. "I didn't go to the university because there weren't options in my family. And I stopped the athletic options. I was supposed to stick with track because I was really quick, and I could run fast, but I told them, 'I want to dance,' she said.
Jason Statham
Before the famous ‘Fast and Furious’ actor embarked on a career in acting, he was a world class diver and was a member of Britain’s National Diving Squad for 12 years .
Diving Hair First
Jason competed in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. He also has a career in modeling and he is well trained in Mixed Martial Arts and also an expert in kickboxing.
Ronda Rousey
Rousey might be known for her acting skills in movies such as The Expendables 3 and Furious 7, but before choosing acting as a career she was one of the biggest names in UFC.
Kicking the Screen’s Butt
The former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion was the very first lady in U.S. to earn a gold medal in Judo for the country. She had a successful career in Judo and her achievements speak for her.
Megan Fox
The steamy and sizzling Meghan Fox is not just a pretty face and a talented actress, she also used to swim competitively.
Competitive Swimmer
In fact, Meghan took the sport pretty seriously and was said to get competitive during her swimming days, she swam competitively from when she was 5 until 14 at State championships.
Ed O’Neill
Before O’Neill stared in popular sitcoms such as Married With Children as Al Bundy and Modern Family as Jay Pritchett, he had played football in college and at high school earning him a football scholarship to Ohio University.
No Putting His Foot In His Mouth
He played at Ohio University and later Youngstown University as a defensive lineman and was later signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 but was cut from the team about two weeks into the training camp. He later got the chance to mix some football and acting in the classic sports film Little Giants.
Kate Hudson
The actress and daughter of Hollywood legend Goldie played soccer in high school and she told in an interview that the love for athletics ran in the family.
Career Ultimatum
She said: “My mom was a dancer, my dad was a baseball player, my brother was a hockey player, and I was a soccer player and a dancer- we grew up very active and we were constantly doing activities like that, and that’s where it started for me, hands down.”
Joel McHale
The Television sitcom Actor is known for his role as host of the wildly popular pop culture show, The Soup. He first played football when he was in high school, at Mercer Island High School, Washington.
Different Strokes For Hopes
McHale was a walk on in University of Washington football team in 1992 playing tight end for two years. He later focused most of his energy on acting, joining the school’s theater program and performing on stage.
Elsa Hosk
Best known as one of the Victoria’s Secret model, the model was a professional basketball player back in the days and even played for the Swedish national team before choosing modeling over playing basketball.
Couldn’t Keep Up
Elsa Hosk explained how it became hard balancing basketball and Modeling: “I had to choose basketball or modeling because I was doing both on top of school, and it was hard coming back from jobs and having my teammates already practicing new skills. I couldn’t keep up.”
Tommy Lee Jones
The Academy Award winning actor has featured in films like Men in Black, The Fugitive and No Country for Old Men, before becoming an actor he played on the offensive line for Harvard Crimson football team in the 1960’s and earned first-team All-Ivy League for an outstanding 1968 season.
Never Defeated
He recalled on his decision to leave football for acting, “I went to meet my Coach, Coach I love football, and I’m interested in acting, and I’ve been offered a part in a play. Do you think I’ve got a chance of starting on this football team? And he replied ‘Well, I don’t know…...but I can tell you that you can act for the rest of your life, but you’ve got four more years to play football. You make up your mind” So I chose theater over football.
Joe Rogan
Joe Rogan is known for his tenure as UFC’s animated commentator, he is also a stand-up comedian and also known as ‘The Fear Factor Guy’, or as Joe Garelli from the 90’s sitcom, NewsRadio.
Evidently Fear Was Never A Factor
Before becoming one of the most wanted comedian, he got himself black belts in no-gi and gi jiu-jitsu as an adult. He grew up training and competing in taekwondo competitions and at 19 years old he won the 1987 taekwondo U.S. Open Championships . By the way, he is also a four-time Massachusetts state champion.
David Duchovny
David Duchovny is widely known for his Golden Globe performances as Fox Mulder on hit The X-Files and Californication’s Hank Moody. He has also starred in plenty of films and television shows.
White Men CAN Jump
Before he ventured into acting, he was plying his trade with JV team at Princeton as a basketball player and he was also the captain of his high school basketball team.
Fun fact: Duchovny wanted to play the character of Billy Hoyle, in White Men Can’t Jump. A part Woody Harrison’s got.
Uzo Aduba
Before becoming popular as an actress, the “Orange is the New Black” television movie star was one of the top sprinters at Boston University running the 55 meters, 100 and 200 meters track race with a 7.07 seconds personal best in the 55-meter race , 0.4 seconds short of the school record.
Outrunning Then Outgunning
Azuba still have passion for the sport as she ran the New York City Marathon in 2013 and the Boston Marathon in 2015.
Tony Danza
Don’t let the unassuming stature and demeanor of Brooklyn’s Tony Danza fool you. America’s beloved star of Taxi and Who’s the Boss? only broke out onto the acting scene after he was discovered …. At a boxing gym. Boxing wasn’t Danza’s hobby, it was his profession.
Don't Let That Smile Fool You
Tony came into limelight as an actor when he stared in films like “Taxi’ and ‘Who’s the Boss’ ,at 5’9” feet tall he holds a 9-3 record as a professional boxer and has two of his wins coming in the first round.
Sheryl Crow
Crow knows a thing or two about tracks. The Grammy Award winner is known for her beautiful voice and she has a number of musical tracks to her name, before choosing music as a career.
She has a talent for running, but she said once in an interview that she loves tennis.
Track Queen
She was an All-state high school track athlete and ran hurdles in her Kennet High school and represented them at the state championships medaling in the 75-meter low hurdles.
She has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and has 9 Grammy awards!
Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell started acting at the age of 11 when he made his debut in an Elvis movie, like his father, Bing Russell who was also an actor and baseball player who also owns a baseball team, Kurt also played baseball and he was already a successful actor by the age of 20, having appeared in 9 movies and numerous TV shows at the time he decided to pursue a career in baseball and he played second base for two California Angels' minor league affiliates from 1971–1972.
Now That's Baller
Kurt ultimately reached the Double-A level before an injury ended his sports career, he spent an early life of his career balancing baseball and acting before going into acting full-time.
Gwen Stefanie
Before Gwen Stefanie became famous in the world of music, she was part of the swim team at Loara High School in Anaheim. She competed for a few years, but after graduating, she found her passion in music with her band, No Doubt.
Swimming Upstream
She might have stopped competitive swimming but she still swims as she says it is part of her regular exercise.
Chuck Norris
With a successful career both in martial arts and acting appearing in many TV series and movies like Texas Ranger, The Delta Force and Walker, Chuck Norris made history in 1990 when he became the first Westerner in the history of Tae Kwando to earn an 8th degree black belt, he has also achieved black belts in judo and brazilian jiu jitsu.
Chuck Norris Invented Martial Arts (Sort Of)
In 1999 he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum’s Hall of Fame. He currently teaches his own style called Chun Kuk Do, combining his complete knowledge in the martial arts.
Jane Lynch
Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning star, Jane Lynch is a great actress known for her role as Coach Sue Sylvester on the Musical TV series Glee.
Gym Teacher
but her original love was once softball and she was on the basketball school team back in her high school, Thornridge Illinois and was recruited simply because she was tall.
Burt Reynolds
An Outstanding High school football career earned Burt Reynolds a scholarship in Florida State University where he played as a Halfback. His football career was however cut short through an unfortunate car crash.
A Twist Of Fate
He later had a pursued a career in acting where he was successful appearing in many television series and feature films including Smokey and the Bandit, Deliverance, Boogie Nights, and The Longest Yard.
Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck is one of the TV’s biggest stars in the 80s and 90s.’s and starred in widely popular shows and movies television series Magnum, P.I. And Three Men and a Baby.
A Man Of Many Talents
Before he became famous as an actor, the Detroit-born Selleck was pursuing a career in basketball and his great skills earned him a scholarship to University of Southern California where he juggled having a degree with acting and modeling.
Jim Gaffigan
Jim Gaffigan is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer, the comedian played football in high school, and later went to Georgetown University where he joined the Hoyas and during his tenure with the Hoyas, the team competed at the DIII level, before moving to DI-AA in 1992. Gaffigan's Georgetown Hoyas finished the 1985 season with a 5-4 record.
Before Cracking Jokes He Was Cracking Opponents
After graduating, he moved to New York to pursue comedy and after a successful stand-up routine on The Late Show with David Letterman, his career took off.
Vinnie Jones
The Englishman has featured in classic movies like Snatch and Lock, Stock, Two Smoking Barrels, and X-men, Before moving into a film career, the English actor was a hard-charging soccer player for nearly a decade, he received 12 red cards during his playing career including the fastest booking in soccer history when he was sent of 3 seconds into a match.
The Right Kind Of Crazy
Vinnie Jones played for the likes of Chelsea, Leeds United, Sheffield United, and Queens Park Rangers. He’s mostly known for his time with Wimbledon and appeared in over 200 games for the club and was part of the “Crazy Gang” era, which included a 1988 FA Cup title.
Carl Weathers
Weathers pursued a career in acting after retiring from football in 1974, and have featured in several films like Predator, Happy Gilmore and as Apollo Creed in the classic Rocky series.
Let's Play Ball
He played football as a linebacker in college and later played professionally for the Oakland Raiders in NFL and the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League.
Lou Ferrigno
The Incredible Hulk series star, Ferrigno is a popular actor known for his body build up features, however, before being famous in acting he had a very successful bodybuilding career.
From Bulk To Hulk
Ferrigno won two IFBB Mr. Universe titles and also an IFBB Mr. America title. He trained alongside fellow famous bodybuilder turned actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Phil Robertson
Long before Phil Robertson became a multi-millionaire and reality TV star on A&E reality show "Duck Dynasty," he was playing quarterback at Louisiana Tech, where he started ahead of Fox’s Terry Bradshaw for two seasons (1966-67).
Now That's Commitment!
Louisiana Tech wasn't all that good while Robertson was there (1965-67), going a combined 8-20. Though he had a strong arm, he finished his career with 2,237 yards, 12 TDs and 34 interceptions. Robertson didn't play his senior season, instead decided to spend his time hunting and fishing.
Forest Whitaker
Academy Award winning actor, Whitaker Debuted in the classic comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High putting his acting and football skills into play. The Oscar winner played football in Palisades Charter high school, Los Angeles as quarterback and went to California State Polytechnic University in Pomona on a football scholarship.
No Holding Back
After sustaining a back injury, Whitaker transferred to the University of Southern California on a music scholarship where he focused on his voice and then continued acting training at the Berkeley branch of the Drama Studio London.
Terry Crews
The Hollywood movie star has featured in movies such as Friday After Next , The Expendables series, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Terry Crews attended Western Michigan University on a full football scholarship where he won a Mac championship , and went on to play for the Los Angeles Rams and was an 11th-round pick of the Rams in the 1991 NFL Draft..
Throwing Touchdowns
He also had stints with the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins as quarterback and runningback before venturing into acting.
Sean Connery
Sean Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables (1987).
What's Bond Without His Guns
Before going into acting, Sean had many different jobs, such as a milkman, lorry driver, a laborer, artist's model for the Edinburgh College of Art, coffin polisher and was a bodybuilder at the age of 18, competing in Mr. universe contest between 1950 and 1953.In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine, and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".
Jason Segel
Actor Segel starred in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, The Muppets, and The Five-Year Engagement.
Dr. Dunk
The huge actor at 6'4" was a basketball player back in high school, when he played for Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles and won back to back state championship in California alongside NBA players Jaron and Jason Collins.
Gina Carano
Gina Carano is an American actress, television personality and former mixed martial artist compiling a competitive record of 12–1–1 in Muay Thai and a 7–1 in women's MMA.
A Real Life Gladiator
She pursued a career in acting after retiring from the competition and made her debut as an actress in "Blood and Bone" with Michael Jai White in 2009. She has since then appeared in Steven Soderbergh's 2011 action film Haywire, Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and Deadpool (2016).
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
One of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson was known in the 90’s as a professional wrestler for the WWE under his ring name “The Rock”.
Bodyslamming Opponents
Before pursuing his wrestling career he was also a championship winning college football player for the University of Miami with the Miami Hurricanes and won the National championship in 1991. An injury eventually hurt his college career and when the NFL didn't come calling, he joined the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League and was cut two months after joining the team.
Mark Harmon
Before starring in movie series like NCIS, Chicago Hope and West Wing, the actor who is the son of 1940 Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon played quarterback for the UCLA Bruins for two years, putting together a 17–5 record.
Making A Difference
While he was later awarded the National Collegiate Football Foundation award for all-around excellence.
Denzel Washington
Award winning Actor, Denzel Washington with films like The Equalizer, Training Day, American Gangster, and Man on Fire to his name, once had a career in football
Shooting Hoops To Shooting Movies
He played guard for the Fordham University basketball team, playing for the Rams’ JV basketball team under future NBA coach P.J. Carlesimo for two seasons (1972-74), boasting an 18-1 record in his second season.
Emma Watson
The Harry Potter star attended the Dragon School and trained as an actress at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts .Watson is known for her role in Beauty and the Beast (2017), The Perks of being a Wallflower (2012) and The Bling Ring (2013).
A-Lister Bringing Her A-Game
While attending Brown University for a bachelor's degree in English literature, Watson played for the university’s field hockey team.
Jon Stewart
Before the longtime host of “The Daily Show” became famous, Jon Stewart had a starting spot as a winger on the William & Mary's men’s varsity soccer team while in college.
How's That For A Memorable Pitch
He even had a game-winning goal that helped the team win the ECAC championship. Stewart later gave up soccer for comedy.
Mahershala Ali
The Academy Award winner played for Saint Mary's College of California on a basketball scholarship. In an interview for the university, he said he didn't enjoy basketball by the time he graduated in 1996.
Resentment of the Sport
"Honestly, I kind of resented basketball by the end of my time there," he said. "I'd seen guys on the team get chewed up, spat out and I was personally threatened with being shipped off to the University of Denver All in the name of wins and productivity.
Ellen DeGeneres
The TV host use to play golf and Tennis when she was young, she told reporters that she's always loved playing sports; she said, "I was very much a tomboy, I loved sports, running around, playing tennis.
Tomboy Ellen
I learned golf in high school because my mother remarried and we moved to a really small town in Texas. I had no friends, so I learned to play golf, because you can do that by yourself."
Channing Tatum
The American actor made his film debut in the drama film Coach Carter and made his breakthrough when he was handed a role in 2006 dance film Step Up. Before pursuing a career in the film industry he was the captain of his high school football team and went to Glenville State College on a football scholarship but ended up dropping out.
Not into the game
"I just got tired of playing," he told ESPN. "I was only playing to keep that scholarship. I was interested in other things and missing home." After moving back to Florida, he got into stripping and dance, and eventually into modeling and acting.
Tina Fey
The actor and comedian is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (1997–2006) and has received nine Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and seven Writers Guild of America Awards, before coming into limelight she was a tennis player in her high school.
Keeping Busy
She was also on the variety tennis team in Upper Danby. She was also involved with a lot of extracurricular activities, including drama club and her school newspaper team.
Matthew Perry
Mathew Perry was known for his iconic role in the sitcom, Friends. The popular actor played tennis competitively when he was young and was known for his hardwork.
Wait For "Hit"
Practicing almost 10 hours a day which earned him to be ranked at No.17 in junior singles and No.3 in junior doubles.
Josh Duhamel
Before making his name as an actor in films like When in Rome, Safe Haven, and the Transformers movie series. . He played for the Beavers for two years, putting up 1,242 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions in 21 games.
Dental School Drop-out
He was also part of the football team as quarterback at Minot State University, but later dropped out of school after failing to get into dental school. He then went on to pursue a career in modeling and then acting.
Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren became famous for his iconic character in films like Soviet boxer and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, he’s also known for his karate skills in movies.
Brains AND Brawn
The actor has a third dan (sandan) black belt in Kyokushin karate and was a 2 times European champion (1980-81) and Australian champion (1982) in Kyokushin karate. Lundgren is highly educated as he has masters in chemical engineering.
Esther Williams
