10 Underrated Acting Performances By Athletes In Movies

Airplane is one of the greatest comedy movies of all time and was groundbreaking in its writing for being able to parody other films as well as itself. Due to the hilarious performances by Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack (both of whom had never done comedy acting before) basketball icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's turn goes unnoticed in this cult classic.

Although six time NBA champion Kareem plays himself in the movie, he is posing as an airline pilot named Roger Murdock who gets violently ill from food poisoning. Despite only having a small role in the film, Kareem delivers a memorable performance most notably in the "Rodger, Rodger, vector, Victor" scene which, in terms of comedy, is incredibly fast paced and needed expert comedy timing.

Kareem's effortless acting and pin point delivery showed that he could bring his calmness and suave on the court to the big screen. Except of course when little Joey recognises him for who he truly is and Kareem breaks character to go on a furious rant about how hard he has it as a basketball player.