Carl Weathers: biography and filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Carl Weathers is an American actor, producer, director and professional football player. He is best known for his role as Apollo Creed in the Rocky film series. He starred in the cult action movie Predator, the comedy Lucky Gilmore and the sitcom Arrested Development. In total, during his career he participated in more than seventy films and TV shows.

Childhood and youth

Carl Weathers was born January 14, 1948 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Coming from a working-class family, thanks to his athletic talents in the eighth grade, he was able to get a place in a prestigious private school.

Throughout high school, Carl played many sports, including boxing, wrestling, judo, soccer, and gymnastics. As a result, after graduation, he was able to receive an athletic scholarship at Long Beach College. Played for the local football team as a defender.

Sports career

A few years later, Carl Weathers transferred to the University of San Diego, where he began to play in a more offensive position. Was not selected in the 1970 annual draftplayers, so he joined the Oakland Raiders as a free agent.

For two seasons in the National Football League, Carl Weathers played only a few matches and soon his contract was terminated. He soon joined the British Columbia Lions and spent several seasons in the Canadian Football League. In 1974, he began studying acting at the University of San Francisco, where he received a bachelor's degree. In the same year, Karl officially ended his sports career.

Most notable roles

In the mid-seventies, the actor appeared in several low-budget films. Carl Weathers also had a small role in the hit series Starsky & Hutch. In 1976, he auditioned for the role of Apollo Creed in the sports drama Rocky.

The film, written by Sylvester Stallone, was a box office hit and won an Oscar in the Best Picture category. Weathers appeared in three more sequels to the picture.

In 1987, another legendary role appeared in the filmography of Carl Weathers. He appeared in the film "Predator" - a genre mixture of action and horror films. The film became a hit at the box office and later became a cult hit, marking the beginning of a series of films.

In 1996, Carl appeared in the comedy Lucky Gilmore starring Adam Sandler. Later appeared in another Sandler film, Nikki the Devil Jr., in a cameo, reprising his role from LuckyGilmour.

Other projects

In 2004, Carl Weathers appeared in the comedy series Arrested Development, playing a fictionalized version of himself, a famous former actor who is a teacher to one of the main characters of the sitcom Tobias, constantly extorting money from him.

In 2006, a new picture about Rocky Balboa was released. The director and screenwriter of the film, Sylvester Stallone, requested permission to use footage from past parts of the series from Weathers, Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren. Carl demanded a full role in the drama despite the fact that Apollo Creed's character died in the fourth installment of the franchise. When Stallone refused, Weathers did not grant the rights to use his likeness in the film.

Carl Weathers continues to be active, appearing in advertising campaigns for world famous brands and appearing in small roles in popular television series and Hollywood films. Since the nineties, he has been trying his hand at directing: Karl has directed many episodes of television series and worked on a feature film, which was not released in wide release and was released directly on home media. Sometimes the actor voices the characters of computer games.

Private life

Carl Weathers has been married three times, currently divorced. From his first marriage to Mary Ann Castle, there are two sons - Jason and Matthew.