We can see that it is not uncommon to see ex-athletes change professions in their later stages of life. Sure, the professional career doesn’t last too long for them. They have roughly 20 years before they are forced into retirement, for a variety of reasons. So, after it is all over, they are forced to reinvent themselves and change to a new career.
We can see that some of them have these preferences during their careers. Some others think about their future when their career is officially over. Without a doubt, there are so many different things they can do. For some reason, we can see that the highest number of NFL players have decided to pursue an acting career.
If you know that most of them will retire when they are 35, you can see why they need to think about what they will do in the future. Most of them choose acting because it doesn’t require too much physical effort when compared to football. If you would like to learn more about the challenges they face in Superbowl, be sure to visit this site. Now, let us take a look at some of the most charismatic NFL players who decided to become actors.
Fred Williamson
Many people don’t know that famous actor, Fred Williamson, was an NFL player in his youth. Mr. Williamson played defensive back during the sixties. During his career, he managed to achieve some solid numbers like 479 yards, and more than 30 interceptions. If you know how hard it is for the defensive back to score a touchdown, you’ll be impressed with the two he managed to score.
During his career, he played for Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Oakland Raiders. During his eight years in the NFL, he participated in more than a hundred games. He even managed to play in playoff games. After he announced his retirement, he decided to pursue an acting career and he made the most out of it. Surely, his memorable role in “From Dusk Till Dawn” made his career what it is today.
Bubba Smith
The next person we would like to talk about was a huge star in the eighties, mainly for his role of Moses Hightower in “Police Academy Franchise”. He appeared in almost all movies in the franchise, except the last one, which was released back in 1994. Before he became an actor, he was a football player, and he had nine seasons in the league.
His career started back in the late sixties, and he played for Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders, and Baltimore Colts. He played more than a hundred games, and he started in more than half of them. He even managed to become a Super Bowl champion, which is something that many professionals failed at. His acting career started in the late seventies and lasted for 30 years. Sadly, he passed away back in 2011.
Jim Brown
Now, we’ve reached a person who is often referred to as one of the best NFL professionals of all time. Later, he managed to have a successful acting career. We are talking about Jim Brown. He was a professional for more than 15 years. During his sports career, he recorded nine Pro Bowl appearances, and he held numerous records for many years. Ultimately, he retired in 1965.
Mr. Brown started pursuing an acting career, and in 1966 he was cast in a movie called “The Dirty Dozen”. The role in this movie made him a superstar. During the following years, he managed to land numerous roles, mainly in the seventies. To this day, he is remembered as one of the iconic faces of the industry. His most recent appearance was in a movie called “Draft Day”, released back in 2014.
Fred Dryer
Fred Dryer is a truly versatile person, who managed to pursue a couple of different careers. He started as a professional athlete in NFL. Later he became an actor. His NFL career started back in the late seventies when he started playing for New York Giants. Before he retired, he some years with Los Angeles Rams. After that, he committed himself to act.
Over the years, he was cast in many popular movies, like “Hunter”, “Bumblebee”, “Stray Bullet”, and “The Independent”. Furthermore, he was cast in many TV shows like “Land’s End”, “Crisis”, “Diagnosis Murder” and many more. It can be said that no matter how successful his NFL career was, his acting career presented his talents to the public in the most positive manner.
Brian Bosworth
Brian Bosworth was considered a wunderkind at the start of his football career. He had an exceptional college football career while he was in Oklahoma. However, he didn’t last too much in NFL, with Seattle Seahawks. After only two years, he injured his shoulder and retired from the sport. In 1989, he was only 24 years old and he needed to seek a new profession.
Thankfully, he found acting and since then he has managed to establish a solid one. He has more than 20 roles, both in movies and TV shows. Some of his most popular movies are “Stone Cold”, “Three Kings”, “The Longest Yard”, “The Reliant”, and “Back in Business”. He is still active to this day and we are sure that we will see him in many blockbusters in the future.
Carl Weathers
Mr. Weathers is best known for his roles where he portrayed professional athletes. In “Happy Gilmore”, he played a golfer, and in the “Rocky” franchise, he played a professional boxer, Apollo Creed. However, it needs to be said that football was his favourite game, and he was a professional for some years. During college, he played for San Diego, and he played for Oakland Raiders.
After leaving Raiders, he spent some time in Canadian Football League. In 1974 he decided that he wants to become an actor. The result of his decision was his appearance in some of the most popular franchises in the world, like “Star Wars”, and “Predator”. Without a doubt, we are talking about one of the most popular faces of his generation. Thankfully, he is still active in 2024.
