Caitlyn Jenner had a completely different identity before we saw her appearing on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. While the show got her some super celeb status as a key figure in Hollywood’s most fascinating family, before this, she was a star athlete.
Beginning her career as a football player, she soon became one of America’s most successful decathlon athletes in the world. The most significant moment in Jenner’s career was the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. She set a world-record-setting victory a down the gold medal in the decathlon.
Mark Harmon
Not only was Mark Harmon a star quarterback for the UCLA Bruins and, later, voted “Sexiest Man Alive,” but he graduated from the university cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in communications as a Second Team Academic All-American. Turning down an NFL career so he could use his brains instead of his brawn, his original career goals focused on advertising or law. But now we know him as Gibbs in NCIS and agent Simon Donovan in The West Wing.
His break-out role as Dr. Caldwell on St. Elsewhere led to People magazine’s assessment of his manliness. His love of sports also found him part-owner of the minor league baseball team, the San Bernardino Spirit. Harmon is also a carpenter by hobby and worked as one prior to his acting career success.
Fred Dryer
The All-Pro player historically picked up two safeties in one game. Not only that, but the incredible football player interestingly almost nabbed one of the most iconic roles in sitcom history as Sam Malone in "Cheers."
While the role ultimately went to full-time actor Ted Danson, Dryer got his spotlight in the '80s cop drama "Hunter." We can totally see how he almost became Sam, though. In fact, a recasting might be in order. Oh well, too late now.
Hugh Jackman
You can't exactly be known for playing Wolverine and not have some sort of athletic background. I mean, he is kind of an animal. Before Hugh Jackman was shredding things up, the now 50-year-old spent his youth on the rugby and soccer field.
As an avid rugby player, Jackman admitted that a lot of Wolverine's behavior came directly from all the rage he used to feel when playing rugby. He said, "I'd be somewhere in a ruck in rugby, get punched in the face, and I'd just go into a white rage."It definitely worked.
Steve Austin
Making a name for himself as one of the top wrestlers in the WWE, Austin's super tough guy, no-nonsense attitude helped him launch a successful career on film and TV. But before he brought the wrestling world his signature movie, The Stone Cold Stunner, he was actually considering a career in football. Attending the University of North Texas on a football scholarship, the wrestler played for the Mean Green.
After his long run on TV, wrestling, Autin felt up to the challenge and starred alongside The Rock, as well as in films The Expendables and The Longest Yard. From 2014 - 2017, he hosted his own show, Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge, a supercharged reality game show in which competing athletes run through a "skull breaking" obstacle course.