Athletes tend to retire at an earlier age than the vast majority of professions and have to find new avenues of work. However, many are simply destined, or yearn, to remain in the spotlight and often find themselves in the world of acting.
From Dwayne Johnson and Arnold Schwarzenegger to Dave Bautista and Vinnie Jones, which ex-athletes are the most successful?
Our experts at Gambling Zone have researched athletes who turned to acting to reveal the answer to that question. We analysed their average film rating, personal acting awards, total film revenue and popularity.
The Best Athletes Turned Actors
1) Arnold Schwarzenegger
Athlete Actor Score: 8.73/10
Coming in first is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who scored 8.73 out of 10. He began weightlifting at just 15 and won the Mr. Olympia title seven times. He even has a bodybuilding event named after him. He ranked in the top three athletes turned actors for the number of acting awards he’s won with 32, and the number of Google searches for his name, at almost 53 million. He also ranked fifth for his total box office revenue, with movies he has appeared in bringing in just under £4.3 billion. He ranked in the top 20 for his average career Metascore of 59. He’s appeared in films such as Predator (1987) and The Terminator films, and he received a Kid’s Choice Award for Favourite Movie Actor for his performance in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991).
2) Kurt Russell
Athlete Actor Score: 8.58/10
Kurt Russell takes second place, scoring 8.58 out of 10. Growing up, he played for his dad’s baseball team, but a torn rotator cuff cut his baseball career short. Luckily, Russell had his acting career to fall back on. He ranked in the top five for total box office revenue, with his movies raking in a total of £5.8 billion, and for his number of acting awards, with a total of eight. For his average Metascore and number of Google searches, he also ranked within the top 20, with 62 for the former and 11.2 million for the latter. Russell has appeared in a myriad of films, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2014), Furious 7 (2015) and Tango & Cash (1989).
3) LeBron James
Athlete Actor Score: 8.24/10
You may not think “actor” when you hear the name LeBron James, but the basketball great has indeed delved into acting and with a score of 8.24 out of 10, he ranks third. He ranked in the top three for his Metascore, with an average of 67 and for the number of Google searches, having been Googled 71.4 million times in the last 12 months. For his awards for acting, he ranked 8th with a total of five awards and came in the top 20 for revenue with £401.7 million earned at the box office. He’s also won a Life Career Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films and a Hollywood Film Award for The Hateful Eight (2015).
Athletes Turned Actors With Highest Average Metascore
1) Esther Williams
Average Acting Career Metascore: 71
Esther Williams comes in first place for the highest average Metascore during her acting career, with 71 out of 100. A professional swimmer, her change to acting resulted from World War 2 since it prevented her from competing in the Olympics. She took on a few smaller roles before being scouted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Every year between 1945 and 1949, she appeared in at least one film that ranked in the 20 highest-grossing films of the year. A few of those films are Neptune’s Daughter (1949), Easy to Wed (1946) and On an Island with You (1948).
2) André the Giant
Average Acting Career Metascore: 70
André René Roussimoff, better known by his stage name André the Giant, comes in second with a Metascore of 70. Roussimoff began as a professional wrestler, well-known for his size caused by his gigantism. He made his USA acting debut playing a sasquatch in a two-part episode on the television series The Six Million Dollar Man (1976). He also appeared in Conan the Destroyer (1984) alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.
3) LeBron James
John David Washington
Michael Jordan
Average Acting Career Metascore: 67
Tied for third place are LeBron James, John David Washington, and Michael Jordan, all with a Metascore of 67. LeBron’s most notable acting appearances are Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)and Trainwreck (2015).
John David Washington, the son of Denzel Washington, initially played American football for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League. During his acting career, he has appeared in BlacKkKlansman (2018), his highest-rated film, having achieved a Metascore of 83.
Michael Jordan is another basketball legend in contention for the greatest of all time. Like LeBron, he also appeared in the Space Jam franchise back in 1996. He also appeared in the miniseries The Captain (2022), which depicts the life and career of former baseball player Derek Jeter.
Athletes Turned Actors With Biggest Box Office Revenue
1) Dwayne Johnson
Total Worldwide Box Office Revenue: £10.9 Billion | $13.8 Billion
The athlete-turned-actor with the highest worldwide box office earnings is former wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has appeared in movies that have brought in a total of £10.9 billion. The Rock has featured in numerous high-grossing films, such as Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious, as Luke Hobbs, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, playing Dr. Smolder Bravestoneand Moana as Maui.
2) Dave Bautista
Total Worldwide box office Revenue: £7.9 Billion | $10.0 Billion
In second place, we have Dave Bautista, another former professional wrestler, with movies that have made a total worldwide box office earnings of £7.9 billion. Bautista may be best known for his involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for his role as Drax the Destroyer. However, he also appeared in the 2021 film Dune and, most recently, the latest Hayao Miyazaki masterpiece, The Boy and the Heron, which has already grossed just under $100 million worldwide.
3) Jason Statham
Total Worldwide box office Revenue: £6.6 Billion | $8.3 Billion
And rounding out the top three, we have Jason Statham, a former professional driver who participated in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. His total film box office earnings are £6.6 million. He’s appeared in quite a few driving roles, such as a handful of the Fast & Furious films and The Transporter films, and he also featured in The Expendables films.
Athletes Turned Actors With Most Acting Awards
1) Burt Reynolds
Number of Acting Awards Won: 35
Burt Reynolds originally intended to be an American football player and was a running back for Florida State until he suffered a knee injury and injuries from a car accident. However, his backup acting career has worked out, as he has won 35 awards for his acting, numerous awards for his performance in Boogie Nights, and multiple People’s Choice Awards.
2) Arnold Schwarzenegger
Number of Acting Awards Won: 32
Arnie comes in second place, with 32 awards won for his acting performances. Among these include an MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance, an Empire Action Hero Award, and a Golden Globe award for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture for his performance in the film Stay Hungry (1976).
3) Dwayne Johnson
Number of Acting Awards Won: 22
The Rock has also had a distinguished acting career, having picked up 22 awards for his performances. Johnson has won six Kid’s Choice Awards, three People’s Choice Awards, and three Teen Choice Awards.
Most Popular Athletes Turned Actors
1) LeBron James
Number of Google Searches: 71.4M
LeBron James comes in first place as the most popular athlete turned actor, having been Googled around 71.4 million times worldwide over the last 12 months. Clearly, much of Lebron’s popularity has formed as a basketball player, and his recent appearance in Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) won’t have hampered that.
2) Arnold Schwarzenegger
Number of Google Searches: 53.0M
Second, we have Arnold Schwarzenegger, a sensation in the bodybuilding world and among film and television lovers. Over the past 12 months, he has been Googled globally around 53 million times.
3) Michael Jordan
Number of Google Searches: 42.8M
Like LeBron and Arnold, Michael Jordan does not get his popularity solely from acting, as he’s well-known as one of the all-time basketball greats. The last 12 months have seen MJ Googled around 42.8 million times across the world.
Methodology
To begin with, we built a list of actors that have previously played sports, using Yardbarker’s “The best athletes turned actors”. Any on this list that were omitted were due to a lack of data on that individual. These were taken on 13/12/2023.
We then used Metacritic to get the average Metascore for each actor's movies and television credits, taking an average of the two scores for the average acting Metascore. These were taken on 13/12/2023.
Using The Numbers, we got the total box office earnings (taken on 13/12/2023) for each actor in USD and converted to GBP using Google Finance (18/12/2023).
Next, using IMDB, we took the number of acting awards each athlete turned actor won as of 13/12/2023.
Then we used Google Keyword Planner to get the worldwide search volume for each athlete turned actor's name between December 2022 and November 2023.
Lastly, we gave each athlete turned actor a normalised score out of ten based on their performance on each individual factor.
