Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional football player. He is known for his roles as boxer Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky films (1976–1985), Al Dillon in Predator (1987), Action Jackson in Action Jackson (1988), and Chubbs Peterson in Happy Gilmore (1996) and in Little Nicky (2000), and Combat Carl in the Toy Story franchise. He also portrayed Det. Beaudreaux in the television series Street Justice (1991–1993) and a fictionalized version of himself in the comedy series Arrested Development (2004, 2013), and voiced Omnitraxus Prime in Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2017–2019). He has a recurring role as Greef Karga in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian (2019–present).
Weathers played college football at San Diego State University. After going undrafted in the 1970 NFL Draft, he signed with the Oakland Raiders. He signed with the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League after being released by the Raiders.
Early life[edit]
Weathers was born January 14, 1948,[1] in New Orleans, Louisiana.[citation needed] His father was a day laborer. As an eighth-grade student, he earned an athletic scholarship to St. Augustine High School, a private school.[2] He was an all-around athlete, involved in boxing, football, gymnastics, judo, soccer, and wrestling. He played football and graduated from Long Beach Poly high in 1966.
College football career[edit]
Weathers played football as a defensive end in college. He started his college career in 1966 at Long Beach City College,[2] where he did not play in 1966 due to an ankle injury suffered when he tripped over a curb surrounding the running track while warming up for practice with another linebacker. He then transferred and played for San Diego State University, becoming a letterman for the San Diego State Aztecs in 1968 and 1969, helping the Aztecs win the 1969 Pasadena Bowl, finishing with an 11–0 record, and a No. 18 ranking in the Final UPI Poll,[3] playing for head coach Don Coryell. At San Diego, Weathers received a master in theatre arts.[4]
Professional football career[edit]
After he went undrafted, Weathers signed with the Oakland Raiders as a free agent in 1970. Now playing as a linebacker,[2] Weathers played in seven games for the Raiders in 1970, helping them win the AFC West Division title, on their way to the first-ever AFC Championship Game. Weathers only played in one game in 1971, before the Raiders released him.
He then signed with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1971 and played until 1973,[5] playing 18 games in total. During the off-seasons, Weathers attended San Francisco State University and earned a bachelor's degree in drama in 1974.
He retired from football in 1974, and began pursuing an acting career.[6] In his NFL career he appeared in 8 games in two seasons, but didn't record any stats. The only stat he recorded in his CFL career was a single fumble recovery. In later years, Weathers narrated NFL Films' season recap of the 1999, 2000 and 2001 seasons.[7] During the 2017 NFL Draft, he appeared on NFL Network's pre-draft coverage.
