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5 famous footballers who have acted in movies

Which movies did Pele and Zinedine Zidane act in?

So you’ve seen them strut their stuff on the football pitch, but who are the top 5 footballers who have made appearances on the big screen? Let’s take a look. Lights, camera, action!

5) Eric Cantona

Footballers in movies
Eric Cantona

“King” Cantona had wowed the Premier League and the rest of the world too. The end of his glittering career was capped off by the performances he put in for Manchester United. After his abrupt call that he was going to retire, it was widely expected from the Manchester United fans that Cantona would move on to managing, with him being the favourite to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

There would only be disappointment on that front for the Manchester United fans, though. Cantona announced that he would never return to United, even in a managerial capacity, as long as the Glazers were the owners of United. However, Cantona pursued another field after his retirement; namely acting!

Cantona has acted in at least 18 movies since his retirement, even making a cameo appearance in a stage play. Surprisingly, Cantona has managed to score just as well on the silver screen as he did on the pitch.

Cantona acting
Cantona in the film Elizabeth

The highlight of his acting foray was the highly-acclaimed 1998 biographical movie Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur, and starring Cate Blanchette as Queen Elizabeth I of England. Cantona essayed the role of Monsieur de Foix in the movie.

His other notable role was that of himself in the 2009 movie Looking For Eric. The movie was very well received by critics and scored 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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