You can’t exactly be known for playing Wolverine and not have some sort of athletic background. I mean, he is kind of an animal. Before Hugh Jackman was shredding things up, the now 50-year-old spent his youth on the rugby and soccer field.
As an avid rugby player, Jackman admitted that a lot of Wolverine’s behavior came directly from all the rage he used to feel when playing rugby. He said, “I’d be somewhere in a ruck in rugby, get punched in the face, and I’d just go into a white rage.”It definitely worked.
Fred Dryer
The All-Pro player historically picked up two safeties in one game. Not only that, but the incredible football player interestingly almost nabbed one of the most iconic roles in sitcom history as Sam Malone in "Cheers."
While the role ultimately went to full-time actor Ted Danson, Dryer got his spotlight in the '80s cop drama "Hunter." We can totally see how he almost became Sam, though. In fact, a recasting might be in order. Oh well, too late now.
Caitlyn Jenner
Caitlyn Jenner had a completely different identity before we saw her appearing on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. While the show got her some super celeb status as a key figure in Hollywood's most fascinating family, before this, she was a star athlete.
Beginning her career as a football player, she soon became one of America's most successful decathlon athletes in the world. The most significant moment in Jenner's career was the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. She set a world-record-setting victory a down the gold medal in the decathlon.
Steve Austin
Making a name for himself as one of the top wrestlers in the WWE, Austin's super tough guy, no-nonsense attitude helped him launch a successful career on film and TV. But before he brought the wrestling world his signature movie, The Stone Cold Stunner, he was actually considering a career in football. Attending the University of North Texas on a football scholarship, the wrestler played for the Mean Green.
After his long run on TV, wrestling, Autin felt up to the challenge and starred alongside The Rock, as well as in films The Expendables and The Longest Yard. From 2014 - 2017, he hosted his own show, Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge, a supercharged reality game show in which competing athletes run through a "skull breaking" obstacle course.
Sheryl Crow
In high school, Sheryl Crow was an all-state track athlete with medals in the 75-meter hurdles. At the University of Missouri, she dove into music with a degree in music composition and performance and played in a local band. Crow’s still an athlete. As a sports lover, her favorite is tennis. In the music industry, she’s a world champion winning nine Grammy Awards, 32 nominations, and selling 50 million albums worldwide.
She’s performed with everyone from the Dixie Chicks to Sting, from Luciano Pavarotti to B.B. King. In the 1990s, she dated Eric Clapton and was nearly married to cycling pro Lance Armstrong in 2005. Crow’s radio hits, “All I Wanna Do” and “If It Makes You Happy,” dominated the airwaves. She also composed the theme song for the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies.