# Who are the best/your favorite non-actor actors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [November 16, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325 "2024-11-16T18:23:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/61 "2024-11-18T15:56:12Z")
While we’re on the subject, The Rock’s SNL “commercial” for erectile dysfunction medication is the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. He’s really good in it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/62 "2024-11-18T16:01:59Z")
Also, his SNL bit at the mad-scientist convention’s annual ’evil invention’ competition was terrific. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/63 "2024-11-18T16:04:54Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > The Rock’s SNL “commercial” for erectile dysfunction medication We could probably have an entire thread on non-actor standout performances on SNL like Travis Kelse’s self-defense class for “Do Not Destroy”. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/64 "2024-11-18T16:09:32Z")
Speaking of pro wrestlers there is always Hulk Hogan’s acting career. His movies are cinematic masterpieces… Who I am kidding? Hogan is probably one of worst non-actor actors. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/65 "2024-11-18T16:13:06Z")
Holy macaroni, that was hysterical! Are you trying to keep me busy all day? Because it’s working. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/66 "2024-11-18T16:23:54Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Speaking of pro wrestlers there is always Hulk Hogan’s acting career. Jesse Ventura was pretty decent in _Predator_, too. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/67 "2024-11-18T16:24:12Z")
He played the part of a [passive-aggressive Hawaiian troubadour in SNL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SQKB9rLHkk) that had me in stitches. He’d make a nasty comment to a tourist then float with his brother over to the next table, singing with a fluttery tenor. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/68 "2024-11-18T16:25:43Z")
Come on, credit where credit is due: Hogan’s bit part in **Rocky III** as Thunderlips was pretty good. As far as bad non-actor actors, can we all agree that Madonna couldn’t convey falling if you pushed her off a tall building? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/69 "2024-11-18T16:28:08Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > As far as bad non-actor actors, can we all agree that Madonna couldn’t convey falling if you pushed her off a tall building? A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, though. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/70 "2024-11-18T16:29:09Z")
Damn! There’s always one, isn’t there? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/71 "2024-11-18T16:34:18Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > As far as bad non-actor actors, can we all agree that Madonna couldn’t convey falling if you pushed her off a tall building? As Dorothy Parker might have said, “She runs the gamut of human emotion from A to B.” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/72 "2024-11-18T16:36:49Z")
He’s got the moves and the pipes. Really funny. As is the Dorothy Parker quote; thanks. Did Howie Long do any acting beyond those commercials with Terri Hatcher? Those were so well done that they were parodied by (I think) Mad TV. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/73 "2024-11-18T16:51:43Z")
I think he tried to be an action star. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/74 "2024-11-18T17:48:16Z")
I remember Long was in Broken Arrow and then a movie where he was a smoke jumper. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/T-C4rJM-9QU/maxresdefault.jpg "Broken Arrow | #TBT Trailer | 20th Century FOX") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-C4rJM-9QU) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/75 "2024-11-18T18:47:25Z")
The talk about Hulk Hogan and Rocky reminded me of Mr. T as Clubber Lang, and then in The A-Team. I pity the fool. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/76 "2024-11-18T19:17:37Z")
Mr. T did some excellent voice work in the first Cloudy with Meatballs. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/77 "2024-11-18T19:37:51Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > As far as I know this was a one-shot deal, but I enjoyed director John Sayles’ performance as Ring Lardner in “Eight Men Out”.\* > > \*notably, his singing “I’m Forever Blowing Ball Games” to the Black Sox on the train. Don’t forget his writing partner played by the author Studs Terkel. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/78 "2024-11-18T20:30:59Z")
Would Arnold Schwarzenegger count? I mean he began as a bodybuilder and I don’t think he ever formally studied acting. And if we include him we would have to mention his inspiration for taking up acting–former bodybuilder Steve Reeves. Also fellow bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno was always entertaining/ ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/79 "2024-11-19T03:17:00Z")
I just watched **Big Trouble** tonight and it’s even better than I remembered. Incredible cast. If Farina was any more laid back, he’d ascend, bodily, into Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/80 "2024-11-19T15:50:18Z")
I’m going to quote myself from a previous thread: > [@Things about actors that make you say, 'Wow.'](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-about-actors-that-make-you-say-wow/988086/81): > > At Ponoma College, Kris Kristofferson was a starting defensive end and rugby player as well as a golden gloves boxer, sports editor of the paper, and cadet commander in the ROTC battalion. On top of that, he wrote prize winning essays that were published in _The Atlantic Monthly._ He graduated in 1958 _summa cum laude_ with a BA in literature, elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford and began recording for Top Rank Records. In 1960 he graduated with a B.Phil in English literature. > > He then joined the US Army as a second lieutenant, became a helicopter pilot and completed Ranger school. In 1965 he left the Army and moved to Nashville, working odd jobs while trying to break into the music business. Kristofferson also started flying for Petroleum Helicopters International and landed a helicopter in Johnny Cash’s yard to try to get his attention. Kristofferson released a single in 67 and wrote songs for other artists before finally debuting with a full album in 70. > > Then in the 70s he started acting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325.md?page=5)