Kevin Garnett
Considered one of the greatest power forwards of all time, Garnett won both the Most Valuable Player and the Defensive Player of the Year awards. Aside from his incredible accomplishments on the court, the athlete has recently created waves on the screen, thanks to the Safdie brothers, the dynamite directing duo of “Uncut Gems.”
His performance in that was surprisingly good and brought tons of intensity to an already cutting-edge film. It stars Adam Sandler too! So far, he has only had one role, but we can expect to see him popping up in the future.
Uzo Aduba
For a whole 45 minutes, Uzo Aduba almost quit acting and settled for the law profession. Next, she got the call back from Orange is the New Black. Needless to say, it was her lucky break. Her talent sparkled so brightly with the part-complicated, part-deranged role, Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren, that Aduba picked up two Emmys and two SAGs for the comedy/drama series.
All that may not have happened if she hadn’t earned a track scholarship to Boston University, where she studied theatre and opera while setting records on the track field. At BU, she still holds a sprinting record. She ran the 100- and 200-meter sprints.
James Dean
The Rebel Without a Cause actor went too soon. The young talent's acting made him a cultural icon for teens in the 50s. However, before he was the poster teen for disillusioned teens and outcast youth, James Dean was known for something else. He was the multi-talented athlete called the "boy in glasses."
Dean played basketball, baseball and ran track, setting school records, winning medals in his senior year. Before the actor went on to shoot hoops in college, he was a basketball star on his high school team, The Fairmount High Quakers, in his hometown in Indiana. It was clear he had a zest for life.
Tony Danza
At first glance, this adorable face donning cheeks that simply beg to be pinched by doting Italian grandmas does not betray its boxing moniker, “Dangerous” Tony Danza. To wit, he was a scrapper! Starting out fighting on the streets of Brooklyn, Danza got a hold of some gloves and went pro. Out of 15 fights, “Tough” Tony won 12, each by knockout. Never mind that he lost the remainder by knockout.
On the side, he graduated from the University of Dubuque in Iowa on a wrestling scholarship and then became an actor. Playing cab driver and boxer Tony Banta on the TV classic Taxi, Danza continued to dream of being a boxing world champ. Instead, his lovable persona on Who’s the Boss? earned him even more adoring “awws” from fans.
Kate Hudson
According to People Magazine, our golden girl Kate Hudson gave up on a soccer dream to pursue acting. In an in-depth interview with Vogue, the actress admitted that she was at one point very serious about pursuing soccer full time and was even about to play in college. The Almost Famous star began to realize that the competitive sport was taking time away from her dancing and had a change of heart.
Hudson then made the move to pursue facing, acting, and singing more seriously. Of course, we all know where that took her. The Bride Wars actress has expressed how much she missed the game and tries to play it with her kids.