10 Olympian Actors
Athletes have a long history of appearing in film. Sometimes they will star in a lead role, either as themself or a character, and they will often appear in a cameo capacity. This remains true for the top athletes, Olympians, and here are 10 Olympians who made appeared in films.
Muhammad Ali- The 1960 light-heavyweight gold medalist is perhaps the most famous athlete of all-time. His extreme relevance in pop culture led to appearances in a handful of shows and movies, including 1981’s ‘Body and Soul.’
Kurt Angle- At the 1996 Atlanta games, Angle won the freestyle wrestling gold medal in the 100 kg division with a broken freaking neck. More known for his, professional wrestling career in WWE & TNA, Angle also has had an acting career in films like ‘Warrior,’ ‘Pain & Gain,’ & ‘Sharknado 2: The Second One.’
Nadia Comăneci- The former greatest gymnast of all-time, Comăneci is an 9x Olympic medalist who received the first perfect 10.0 at the Olympics at age 14, and she also dubbed Betty White’s role of Grammy Norma in ‘The Lorax’ in her native Romanian. How random.
Bart Conner- 2x gold medal winning gymnast and husband of Nadia Comăneci, Bart Conner played the character Bart Taylor in ‘Rad,’ a 1986 film about a BMX racer and he also appeared as himself in ‘Stick It.’
Lisa Leslie- I am not including NBA players on this list because there are enough of them to make their own. But WNBA players are fair game, so the OG WNBA GOAT had to make this list. A 2x WNBA Champ, 2x Finals MVP, 3x MVP, & 8x All-Star, Leslie is also a 4x Olympic gold medalist, appearing on the US team in the ‘96, ‘00, ‘04, & ‘08 Olympics. She appeared in the film ‘Uncle Drew’ where she played Betty Lou.
Carl Lewis- One of the greatest Olympians ever, Lewis is a 10x Olympic medalist, 9 of which are golds. He one of only six athletes to win gold in the same event (long jump) at 4 straight games. Lewis made appearances as himself in ‘Speed Zone,’ ‘Alien Hunter,’ & ‘Material Girls,’ & played Stu in ‘Atomic Twister.’
Aly Raisman- The third most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history, Raisman has 6 Olympic medals, with 3 golds. She made a cameo appearance in 2019’s ‘Charlie’s Angels’ as a possible recruit for the Angels.
Ronda Rousey- Because of her dominance in both UFC & WWE, I genuinely forgot Ronda Rousey is also an Olympic bronze medal winner in judo at the 2008 Olympics and she also qualified for and competed in the 2004 games at only 17. Like the entry before, Rousey had a cameo in ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ but she has also been in the films ‘The Expendables 3,’ ‘Furious 7,’ ‘Entourage,’ & ‘Mile 22.’
Johnny Weissmuller- Romanian-born American Johnny Weissmuller won 5 golds between the 1924 Paris & 1928 Amsterdam games in swimming. He also competed on the US Water Polo team in the 1924 games and won a bronze medal. Between 1932-1948 Weissmuller played Tarzan in 12 feature length films and then went on to star in 16 ‘Jungle Jim’ movies as the titular character.
Shaun White- Shaun White is the speaker of perhaps my favorite quote of all-time ‘I’m talkin bout Mountain Dews baby!’ The most Olympic golds by a snowboarder, White won gold on the halfpipe at the ‘06, ‘10, & ‘18 Winter Olympics. And man I wish skateboarding would’ve been added earlier because White won 5 medals at the X-Games for skating to go with his 18 Winter X-Games medals for snowboarding. He has played himself in films ‘Friends with Benefits’ & ‘Good Burgers 2,’ as well as playing Clueless Smurf in ‘The Smurfs 2.’
