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Howie Long was pretty good as one of John Travalta’s henchmen in “Broken Arrow.”
Who could forget Bob Uecker as the hapless George in TV’s “Mr. Belvedere”? No, wait, we’re talking about athletes, of which Uecker by his own frequent admission wasn’t. 
English soccer player Vinnie Jones has been in quite a few movies, including some big ones like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and X-Men: The Last Stand.
He’s pretty one-dimensional, and tends to play the same character every time, but he does fine in those roles, IMO. His on-screen persoan is actually pretty much the same as his on-field persona was: enforcer, tough-guy type.
I love watching Vinnie Jones, primarily because, like you say, he’s the real deal. Nice performance in Snatch as well.
“Who does this guy think he is?”
“I’m Keith Hernandez.”
Duplicate.
Minor league pitcher Byron Browne, Jr. took up acting (and producing) after blowing out his arm. His only appearance before the injury was in Major League.
Would pro-wrestling count as “acting”?
“Macho Man” Randy Savage went from the Cardinals farm system to wrestling.
When you are looking for a huge menacing character, you can not go wrong with a wrestler or football player.
Although Randal Tex Cobb did a good job in Raising Arizona.
John Beradino played MLB (not very well) before acting.
Esther Williams was a championship swimmer who was supposed to compete in the 1940 Olympics. When the games were canceled, she turned to show business. Oddly enough, she replaced Eleanor Hom, who won a medal in the 1932 Olympics, but turned to show business after she was suspended from the 1936 team.
What about former heavyweight boxing champ Ken Norton’s foray into “acting” in movies like Mandingo?
Cripes, how could we all overlook Alex “Mongo Just Pawn in Game of Life” Karras, of the Detroit Lions, “Blazin’ Saddles” and “Webster”?
We couldn’t, he was in post number 1.
Damn, I’d better go see the eye doctor again. :smack:
There are a lot of atheletes who go from college or pro sports to pro wrestling.
Lex Luger, Leon “Vader” White, Ron Simmons, the Rock, Steve Austin, and Bill Goldberg all played football.
Kurt Angle was a gold medal winning wrestler. It’s true. It’s true.
Ray Allen did well as Jesus Shuttleworth in “He Got Game”.
Already mentioned.
Ed Marinaro finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1971, and played several years for the Vikings, Jets, and Seahawks. He was cast as a regular in Hill Street Blues and has done a lot of TV work.
Michael Warren, also a regular on Hill Street Blues, was a part of the UCLA basketball team and won two national championships with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He’s also a successful TV actor.
Former Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker was a regular in the Norman Lear comedy All That Glitters.
Heavyweight champion Max Baer went into acting and appeared in around 15 films (his son, Max Baer, Jr., played Jethro Bodine).
Even more successful was boxer “Slapsie Maxie” Rosenbloom, who had a solid career in Hollywood and TV after retiring from the ring.
Bruce Jenner in Can’t Stop the Music.
Shaquille O’Neal in Kazaam
And Victor/Victoria!
Tony Danza was a pro boxer with a 9-3 record(all his fights, both wins and losses ended with KO’s) before he was on Taxi.