When... An athlete switches to acting... Example: Shaquille O'Neal in "Kazaam" or Ray Allen in "He Got Game" An athlete switching to musician... Example: Shaquille O'Neal and "Shaq Diesel" or Chris Webber and "Too Much Drama" An actor switching to musician... Example: Eddie Murphy and "My Girl Wants to Party All the Time" or Bruce Willis and "Return of Bruno" A musician switching to actor... Example: Mariah Carey in "Glitter" or Madonna in "Swept Away" A actor switching to athletics... Example: Percy "Master P" Miller ("Gone in 60 Seconds" Undisputed") playing NBA basketball A musician switching to athletics... Example: R. Kelly playing CBA basketball or Garth Brooks playing with the Padres An athlete switching sports... Example: Manute Bol from basketball to hockey or Michael Jordan from basketball to baseball Which do you think is the worst situation?
They're all pretty bad, however, Ray Allen wasn't bad in <I>He Got Game</I> and Rick Fox hasn't been that bad.
What about athletes who become politicians (like Barkley wants to) or, worse, actors who become politicans (like Reagan), or, worse yet, some hokey wrestler who becomes a politician (like Ventura)?
Dont forget Kobe Bryant tried to drop a rap CD a few years ago. He wasnt too good from what I've heard.
Will Smith was a musician first and he's a great actor. I've always thought Sting was a respectable actor. Barbara Streisand, as much as I dislike her, is a good actor. There are plenty of examples of musicians making the leap to acting and doing fairly well. There are some athletes who have gone to music who I thought did well. Wayman Tisdale is a very well respected bassist. I think the same goes for acting. Ray Allen was good as mentioned. There have been others as well. Moving from sport to sport has precidence at times. Guys like Dion Sanders could do it and there have been plenty of basketball players or football players or baseball players who played all three even in college. Charlie Ward is another great example. Even Gabrielle Reece is taking a shot at the womens golf circuit and it looks like she will make it and may even be very, very good. IMO, the worst, is an any musician/actor turned athlete. It is almost always a disaster. Being talented as an actor or musician - especially being PASSABLE as one or the other if not Oscar material - is something that can be learned. The greatest have natural ability, but you can get by with training. It is MUCH harder to train to be a legitimate athlete. It requires skill at the sport, athleticism, intellegence, etc. I just think that is the hardest jump to make.
BTW Master P was a muscian before he was an Actor So Actor to Athlete. . . .I'd say a bette r Example Is Jason Peastley .. . . if you can call Race Car Driving Athletic Rocket river
Wow, hard to pick which was the worst, as we can all think of plenty of horrible examples. The actor <--> musician switches aren't always as bad, as those who are classically trained in theater might have had some background doing musicals and would be able to sing. Also, "artists" (actors, musicians, visual artists, etc.) all like to express themselves and find different ways to do it. Athletes are often (but not always) personalities on the opposite end of the scale. When they try to cross over, they don't know how. Musicians and actors turning athletes - like Jeff said, they're not going to make it. Or they shouldn't. When we have to put up with them, it's as a publicity gimmick. The good news is that they don't last long in athletics. Unless they pick some weird obscure sport that not many people play, or they have been practicing whatever-it-is seriously all their lives, they will never have a chance. Even if they do, there are lots of athletes that train and concentrate on it all their lives and never make it to any level where they would get national attention. Why should someone else get that good, that fast? On the other hand, theoretically you can teach an athlete to be an actor or musician. They may well be lacking in natural artistic ability. Usually the acting jobs are gimmicky things in which they play a version of themselves. In that case, there's at least a limit to how bad their acting can get. That's why I picked athlete to musician as my worst switch. Just because their name will sell records, they're allowed to put them out. And occasionally you might get one who really knows what he's doing. Every once in a while. I liked some of the ideas about including other switches, like politics. We also need a category for "models" (i.e. model to actress, model to musician - people who look good and the rest of their career is charted from there). And one for "random celebrities" who became famous for 15 minutes by accident, by association, or by "reality television". These people often decide, after getting enough attention, that they're fit for top-level acting jobs or to release a CD (assuming they didn't become famous for that talent specifically, like in American Idol).
Classic My vote goes to Actors to Musician. Who could forget Don Johnson trying to sing. Or Michelle Pfiefer and Maxwell Caufield's out of tune singing in Grease 2. EWWWW!!!
Seriously, the best is Chuck Connors, "The Rifle Man", one of my favorite Western Television Programs. The guy played for the Celtics, and the Dodgers.
I'll take offense to the crack on Reagan. Ventura and Barkley I'll give you though. Wahlberg and Will Smith have been great crossovers. Shaq sucks at everything.
