# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**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 19, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/81 "2024-11-19T16:19:29Z")
No wonder he always seems like a BAMF. ---
**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, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/82 "2024-11-19T16:23:57Z")
Is he the walking definition of a polymath? ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/83 "2024-11-19T17:45:12Z")
Does Bob Newhart count? He was an accountant before he got into comedy. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/84 "2024-11-19T17:47:51Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Is he the walking definition of a polymath? Well, not anymore. Unless he decides to take up being a zombie. ---
**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 19, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/85 "2024-11-19T19:35:36Z")
I mean, resurrecting oneself would be impressive. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/86 "2024-11-19T20:15:08Z")
[Ken Jeong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Jeong) was a doctor before he took up comedy before he took up acting. But it does look like he dabbled in theater classes while still a student, so maybe disqualified? ---
**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 19, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/87 "2024-11-19T23:46:10Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > [Ken Jeong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Jeong) was a doctor before he took up comedy before he took up acting. But it does look like he dabbled in theater classes while still a student, so maybe disqualified? A better example is Haing S. Ngor. He was an OB/GYN in Cambodia before the revolution. He survived by hiding his education and spent a long time in reeducation camps before escaping to Thailand. He never acted in so much as a school play before he was cast in _The Killing Fields._ He’s one of two (the previously mentioned Harold Russell) amateur actors to win the Oscar. Ngor was never able to return to medicine. He did a few other acting gigs before his death but not much. Last I heard Jeong still maintains his board certifications and is a licensed doctor even though he is a full time actor. His wife is also a medical doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/88 "2024-11-20T01:30:32Z")
Frank Sinatra was in several movies. Lady Gaga is another talented singer who has made the transition. ---
**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 20, 2024, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/89 "2024-11-20T01:33:55Z")
Sammy Davis, jr., as well. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/90 "2024-11-20T01:46:22Z")
And Elvis Presley. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/91 "2024-11-20T14:48:19Z")
Debbie Harry. (Which leads to a weak thing for the questions with two different answers thread: What well known singer acted in a 1980 movie concerning milk bottle theft and had .recorded for Chrysalis Records?) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/92 "2024-11-20T16:05:07Z")
> [@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? I’ve seen her live in a stage play. She was fine - not stellar, but decent. Sadly, the play itself was terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/93 "2024-11-23T16:21:57Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > I don’t think he ever formally studied acting. He has taken acting lessons - don’t know if that’s formal enough. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325/94 "2024-11-23T20:56:15Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > 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. Arnold has said that his hero growing up was Reg Park. Park appeared as Hercules in beginning in 1961, and was sort of the same as Reeves in terms of bodybuilder turned actor. > **[Reg Park](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/99512-reg-park?language=en-US)** > > Reg Park is known as an Actor. Some of his work includes Hercules in the Haunted World, Hercules and the Captive Women, Maciste In King Solomon's Mines, Hercules, Prisoner of Evil, Hercules the Avenger, and Raw Iron: The Making of 'Pumping Iron'. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-your-favorite-non-actor-actors/1010325.md?page=4)