The 20 Best Movie and Television Cameos by Athletes

Sometimes the best actors in television and films are not actually actors. Sometimes sports stars can be the best actors on screen and a lot of the time, when they are used correctly, they are hilarious to watch.

Cameos in movies and television shows by athletes happens all the time so it can be hard to sort through the large list of appearances. These are what I consider to be the top 20 movie and television cameos by sports stars.

20. Ken Griffey Jr: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Starting off at number 20, we have Ken Griffey Jr.'s appearance on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Will Smith.

It's definitely funny to see Smith get beaten with words by Griffey as this cameo sneaks onto the list.

19. The Rock: The Mummy Returns

I find this one to be so ridiculous that it just had to make the list. 

Before Dwayne Johnson was a movie star, he was the Rock and was the most electrifying man in sports entertainment. His career as a wrestler in the WWE gave him this opportunity as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns.

Just because he had the upper half of his body put onto the top of a scorpion with CGI, the Rock makes this list of cameos.

18. LeBron James: Entourage

At the end of season 6 of Entourage, Matt Damon plays himself in a very funny guest appearance role where he hounds the main character, Vince, for a sizable amount of money to give to charity.

When Vince gives a small amount, Damon brings in LeBron James to persuade Vince to give more. It was great to see James give Vince such a disapproving look and it always seems to make me laugh.

17. Goldberg, Steve Austin, Great Kahli and Kevin Nash: The Longest Yard

When Adam Sandler recreated The Longest Yard, he must have decided it was a good idea to have the whole WWE play the roles of the various football players.

Steve Austin plays the tough guy, Kevin Nash plays the player on steroids who has his pills swapped for estrogen pills, Goldberg plays a guy with extra large junk and Great Khali plays a crazed inmate who had apparently gotten the electric chair on several occasions already.

They all do a great job in their respective roles as they add to the hilarity of the film.

16. Paul O'Neill: Seinfeld

"I promised him that you would hit him two home runs."

You can always depend on Kramer for some quality moments and this time he added Paul O'Neill to the mix.

15. Joe Namath: The Simpsons

This is a shout out to any and all sports-star cameos in animated films and shows.

Joe Namath represents all of these cameos when he gives his words of wisdom to Bart Simpson.

14. Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams: Seinfeld

Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams also made their appearance on Seinfeld and watched as George was hitting home run after home run at Yankee Stadium.

"It's simple physics."

13. Mike Ditka: Kicking and Screaming

Mike Ditka's appearance in Kicking and Screaming with Will Farrell was hilarious and this scene just about says it all.

Just the idea of Ditka coaching little kids makes me laugh.

12. Tom Brady: Entourage

Entourage is a very funny show by itself, but watching Johnny Drama destroy Tom Brady's driver is just ridiculous.

This was a great episode, and it is definitely worth watching all 30 minutes.

11. Shaquille O'Neal: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Shaq didn't have to say very much in this role, but the way he sold the injury and Larry David's reaction made this moment an instant classic.

For those of you who watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, you'll know that Larry David is always causing problems.

10. Lawrence Taylor: The Waterboy

At the halfway point of this list, we have Mr. Lawrence Taylor.

All I'm going to say is "Don't smoke crack."

9. A-Rod, Mark Teixeira, Michael Strahan and Amare Stoudemire: Entourage

Entourage went looking for a lot of New York sports stars in their final season and had these four make guest appearances in one episode.

Stoudemire's expletive cracks me up, and Teixeira actually showed us that he can act a little.

8. Mike Tyson: The Hangover Part 2

No video for this one, but Mike Tyson's surprise showing at the end of The Hangover Part II was fantastic.

Everyone loves a musical Mike Tyson! 

More from Tyson later.

7. Lance Armstrong: Dodgeball

"I've been watching the dodgeball tournament on the Ocho."

Lance Armstrong gives a hilarious lesson on quitting to Vince Vaughn in this one.

6. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Airplane

That's one big airplane pilot!

Huh?

5. Dan Marino: Ace Ventura

Ace Ventura needed some help from Dan Marino in order to find Captain Winky!

This one is great and it only makes number five on this list.

4. Bill Buckner: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Part of me will always hate Bill Buckner for the 1986 World Series. But after his performance in a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode this season, I have a little more respect for the guy.

In any case, why would you throw the ball to him?

3. John McEnroe: Mr. Deeds

I'm not sure where he learned how to do it, but that jump over the car earns Johnny McEnroe an immediate spot in the top five of this list.

2. Mike Tyson: The Hangover

He's back!

Tyson's appearance in the first Hangover will always be one of the classic moments in film history. Seeing him sing "In the Air Tonight" followed with a big right hook to Zach Galifianakis' face is hilarious, but there will always be one cameo which will be number one on my list.

1. Lee Trevino: Happy Gilmore

Lee Trevino is used perfectly in Happy Gilmore.

He always seems to come out of nowhere in this Adam Sandler classic, including the scene above.

But his best moments in the movie will always be when he is shown shaking his head on the sidelines.

All hail Lee, the best cameo by a sports star in film and television!