6 Times Great Wrestlers Turned Out to Be Great Screen Actors

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is now apparently an Oscar player. That’s the news coming out the Venice Film Festival, as his movie The Smashing Machine—directed by Benny Safdie and co-staring Emily Blunt—received a 15-minute standing ovation.

While it’s true that The Smashing Machine could put Johnson on a level never before reached by his fellow wrestlers, it’s also true that wrestling is acting, and others who left the squared circle for the screen have put in excellent work. Sure, there are many wrestlers-turned-actors who simply play the same character in another context (see Roddy Piper in They Live or Randy Savage in Spider-Man), and, sure, some find themselves unable to play the dramatic beats necessary for movie or TV show (see Jesse Ventura in Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe or Adam Copeland in Money Plane). But Johnson is just one example of the increasingly common phenomenon in which musclebound men (and, certainly soon, women) use their physicality and charisma to create memorable characters on the big and small screen.

El Santo – Santo vs. The Mummies of Guanajuato (1972)

For some fans, Jerry Lawler’s beef with Andy Kaufman or Hulk Hogan transitioning from Rocky III to No Holds Barred represented the first time a wresting star had crossed over into mainstream entertainment. But south of the border, El Santo became a phenomenon that other grapplers could only hope to emulate.

Born Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, El Santo wrestled for years with his shining mask and cape before making the jump to movies in 1958, first as a character called “El Enmascarado” before appearing in more than 50 additional films as his most famous character. Of those Santo’s pairings with ring rival the Blue Demon (Alejandro Muñoz Moreno) were the most popular, especially 1972’s Santo vs. The Mummies of Guanajuato. Like most of Santo’s films, The Mummies of Guanajuato saw the wrestler—along with Blue Demon and Mil Máscaras (Aarón Rodríguez Arellano) battling monsters, this time the wrapped undead who threatened to capture the titular city. Although Santo remained in his ring persona, the mystical stakes of the film transformed him from just a wrestler into a proper superhero.

André the Giant – The Princess Bride (1987)

As with El Santo, it’s a pretty straight line for André the Giant (André Roussimoff) to play Fezzik the Giant in Rob Reiner’s classic adaptation of the William Goldman novel, The Princess Bride. Also like Santo, André found surprising notes to add to his wrestling identity, revealing qualities not seen in the standard bout.

In particular, André revealed a surprising sweetness and even vulnerability when playing Fezzik. Imposing though he was in stature, Fezzik showed kindness to Wesley (Cary Elwes) and loyalty to his friend Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin). When the small Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) bullies Fezzik, we actually feel as if the larger man cowers before the diminutive one. Of course some credit goes to Reiner and Goldman (who also writes the screenplay) for using the limitations of André to enhance the effect of his character.

Kevin Nash – Magic Mike (2012)

Much of Nash’s screen career asked him to do little more than be big and imposing. Thus he believably smashed pillars as Super Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and convincingly through Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) in The Punisher. At first glance, Nash’s role as Tarzan in Steven Soderbergh‘s male stripper drama Magic Mike seems to be more of the same, just another instance where he is big and strong and nothing else. But like the movie itself, Tarzan is a more complicated and pathos-laden character than he initially seems.

Of the dancers in the troupe with whom would-be businessman Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) performs, Tarzan most keenly feels the limitations of his abilities. We see him taking drugs to keep up with the rigors of the profession, and he openly admits that his days are numbered. Nash convincingly portrays the fears of someone who needs their body to earn money and knows that their body will soon give out, certainly something inspired by stresses in his day job.

John Cena – Peacemaker (2022, 2025)

One need not look far on the internet to find people calling for a legacy sequel in which John Cena portrays the son of Ernest P. Worrell (aka star of the Ernest Goes to… franchise). Amusing as it is to realize that the hulking Cena does actually resemble Jim Varney, the fan-casting makes sense because Cena has proven himself a capable comedic talent.

At first that comedic ability seemed to be the primary reason that James Gunn cast Cena as Z-list hero Peacemaker for his DC debut The Suicide Squad. After all, Peacemaker, aka Chris Smith, is a lunkhead who says without embarrassment that he loves peace so much that he’s willing to kill for it. But in the first season and currently airing second season of HBO’s Peacemaker, Cena has found a different dramatic gear. As Chris tries to deal with the scars of his childhood and eschews his father’s toxic masculinity in order to finally become a good man, Cena plays notes of vulnerability not seen in his previous roles—in and out of the ring.

Dave Bautista – Knock at the Cabin (2023)

In his second movie, Dave Bautista was directed by no less than Werner Herzog, playing a police officer in 2009’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. It took a while for Bautista to differentiate himself from the standard big tough guys that any wrestler could portray, but that early brush with cinematic greatness already indicated that Bautista was something special.

For most that special quality is apparent in his role as Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Yet the most interesting part in Bautista’s filmography remains his lead role in M. Night Shyamalan‘s Knock at the Cabin. While the film acknowledges that the huge, tattooed man can be intimidating, Bautista manages to make his gym teacher turned unwilling executioner feel powerless, gentle, and empathetic. From the opening scene in which he comforts a little girl to his character’s final desperate moments, Bautista isn’t just a big guy who happens to do some good acting. He’s a proper actor, able to use every part of his body to tell complex, compelling stories.

Dwayne Johnson – Moana (2016)

People aren’t shocked about Johnson’s The Smashing Machine accolades because they didn’t think he could do it. They’re shocked because they didn’t think he would do it. After leaping to the screen for a wrestling-themed episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Johnson soon revealed his ability to be a compelling screen presence in movies such as Walking Tall and Southland Tales. However, Johnson just as quickly threw himself into bland, safe projects, making it seem like he was more interested in selling products than telling good stories.

Before The Smashing Machine, a notable exception came in the Disney animated film Moana, in which he played Polynesian demigod Maui. The vocal performance stripped Johnson of the physicality on which he could previously rely and pushed him to develop new skills, singing the Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned earworm, “You’re Welcome.” Maui may be just as likable (and, thanks to Disney, as marketable) as any other character he’s played, but Johnson adds a pathos that we thought he had long shorn from his screen performances.

The Smashing Machine comes to theaters on Oct. 3, 2025.