Ronaldo goes Hollywood: Vinnie Jones, Pele and the best footballer turned actors

Martin Macdonald

• 16 Dec 2025 08:01 CST
• 5 min read

Nieuws

There's a long line of footballers who have turned their talents to acting and yes, to varying degrees of success.

Footballers can be, at their heart, entertainers, so it's no surprise to see some of the more charismatic stars appear in Hollywood productions.

And now, it seems one of the biggest stars of all could be treading that same path after Vin Diesel confirmed that a part has been written for Cristiano Ronaldo in the next Fast and Furious movie which is apparently titled Fast Forever.

There have been 10 movies produced in the main 'Fast' series so far and it has proved to be a moneymaking behemoth. It is the eighth highest-grossing movie series of all time as the 10 movies produced in the main series, plus the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, have earned a cool $7 billion at the box office so far.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, is apparently planning for life after football and is keen to expand his empire and image in the United States, perhaps with a venture into acting.

He met Diesel recently, who posted on Instagram:

"Everyone asked, would he be in the Fast mythology… I gotta tell you he is a real one. We wrote a role for him @cristiano."

Let's look at some other footballers who traded the pitch for the movie set.

Vinnie Jones

Undoubtedly the most notable footballer-turned-actor, Vinnie Jones was the hardman's hardman in the Premier League in the 1980s and into the 1990s. As part of Wimbledon's infamous 'Crazy Gang' he was a force to be reckoned with on the pitch and even helped the club to an unlikely FA Cup victory in 1987.

His persona attracted the attention of one Guy Ritchie, who cast him as Big Chris, a mob enforcer, in legendary British gangster flick Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He won the Empire Award for Best Newcomer for his performance.

He would thereafter be cast as villains or other hardman-type characters and he would return to work with Ritchie again for Snatch.

For American productions, he branched out beyond the hardman persona a few times and even played supervillain Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand.

In more recent years, he hasn't been able to land the calibre of roles he enjoyed earlier in his career and in 2021 appeared in the Australian version of The Masked Singer.

Pele, Ossie Ardiles and Bobby Moore

Perhaps the most famous football movie of all time is Escape To Victory which tells the story of a group of allied prisoners who attempt to plan an escape from a German prison camp during a match between themselves and the prison guards.

There are high-profile actors like Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine in notable roles, but there are also plenty of footballers on-hand for added realism.

Pele, Ossie Ardiles, Bobby Moore, Mike Summerbee, Kazimierz Deyna, Paul Van Himst, Hallvar Thoresen and Werner Roth all feature.

The Brazilian legend has played himself in numerous movies, including Mike Basett: England Manager, though he has acted as other characters in some Brazilian films like Solidão, Uma Linda História de Amor.

Ally McCoist

One of the best Scottish strikers of all time, Ally McCoist was a legendary figure at Rangers before his career started to wind down at the turn of the century.

In 2000, before his retirement at Kilmarnock, he starred in A Shot at Glory alongside Hollywood royalty in Robert Duvall and Michael Keaton.

He played striker Jackie McQuillan who was, funnily enough in the movie, an ex-Celtic striker. McCoist allegedly wore a Rangers kit under his Celtic one at all times.

In the movie he signs for fictional Kilnockie FC, who reach their first ever Scottish Cup final despite being in the Second Division.

Eric Cantona

For many Manchester United fans, Eric Cantona is and will always be their favourite footballer. In his career he shone bright but not for very long as he made the decision to retire at the age of 30 before surprisingly embarking on an acting career.

Cantona took his new craft seriously and even eventually became a stage actor.

He has mostly acted in French productions, but he will be known to UK audiences for portraying a version of himself in Looking for Eric. That told the story of a Man Utd fan who sees hallucinations of Cantona while going through a crisis.

David Beckham

Not many footballers are famous enough to have a movie named after him, but David Beckham is.

Bend it Like Beckham became a huge hit due to its feel-good story and the man himself does appear in a cameo.

He has also had cameos in GOAL and Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Neymar

Ronaldo is hooking up with Vin Diesel for Fast and Furious XI but Neymar has also had dealings with the Hollywood star as he previously had a cameo in xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

He also played a monk in Netflix show Money Heist.

Frank Leboeuf

Perhaps nobody on this list has taken to acting as seriously as former Chelsea star Frank Leboeuf.

Following his retirement from football, he spent two years living in Los Angeles while playing for amateur side Hollywood United where he featured alongside famous team-mates - including the aforementioned Vinnie Jones.

While in LA, he studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute in West Hollywood.

He has largely stuck to theatre work, but acted in Academy Award winning movie, The Theory of Everything.

In the Stephen Hawking biopic, he played a French doctor.

The Goal contingent

Several superstars made cameos in the movie GOAL including Alan Shearer, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Kieron Dyer and Raul.

Best of the Rest

Other footballers who have acted in movies or TV are Gary Lineker, Tony Cottee, Iker Casiillas, Ronaldinho, Andres Iniesta, Carlos Valderrama, Omar Sivori, John Carew, George Best, Zico, Sergio Ramos, Diego Maradona, Laszlo Kubala, Paul Breitner, Alfredo Di Stefano, Fitz Hall, Ian Wright, Olivier Giroud, Stan Collymore and Zlatan Ibramimovic.