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Tommy Lister Jr.

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"Zeus (wrestler)" redirects here. For the Japanese wrestler, see Shigemasa Kanaya.
Tom Lister Jr.
Tiny Lister, 2011
Born
Thomas Lister Jr.

(1958-06-24) June 24, 1958 (age 66)
Compton, California, U.S.
Other namesTommy "Tiny" Lister
Occupation(s)Actor
Professional wrestler
Years active1984–present (actor)
1989–1996 (wrestler)
Websitewww.tommytinylister.com
Ring name(s)Zeus[1]
Z-Gangsta[1]
Ze Gangsta[1]
Billed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[2]
Billed weight310 lb (140 kg)[1][2]
Billed fromParts Unknown[2]
DebutApril 25, 1989[1]
Retired1996

Tommy "Tiny" Lister (born Thomas Lister Jr.; June 24, 1958) is an American character actor and retired professional wrestler known for his roles as the neighborhood bully Deebo in the film Friday and its first sequel, and as President Lindberg in The Fifth Element. He had a short-lived professional wrestling career, wrestling Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after appearing as Zeus in Hogan's movie No Holds Barred.[1] Lister is blind in his right eye.

Early life

Lister was born on June 24, 1958, and grew up in Compton, California.

Lister was born blind with a detached and deformed retina in his right eye.[3] He avoided the local gang life by developing an interest in films and religion instead. He attended Palomar Junior College before transferring to Long Beach City College for his sophomore year. While at Long Beach, he recorded a 52' shot put throw, which helped to earn him a scholarship to California State University at Los Angeles. In his senior year, he won the National shot put title with a mark of over 61 feet 8 inches (18.8 m).

Lister was the 1982 NCAA Division II National Shot Put Champion, and currently the Cal State LA athletic department sponsors an annual track meet in his name. After college, Lister competed for the Converse Track Club, eventually raising his shot put mark to 64 feet 3 inches (19.58 m), before trying out with the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League. He was cut after two exhibition games, and opted to pursue acting instead.[4]

Career

Acting career

Lister is best known as Deebo from Friday. Deebo was the neighborhood bully and antagonist for Ice Cube's character, Craig Jones. He reprised the role in the film's sequel, Next Friday, but did not appear in the third film of the series, Friday After Next.

Lister has had numerous guest appearances in TV series, including playing Klaang, the first Klingon ever to make contact with humans, in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. He co-starred in a two-part episode of the courtroom series Matlock as Mr. Matlock's in-prison bodyguard.

Film roles include playing a prisoner in both The Dark Knight and Austin Powers in Goldmember. Lister was featured in The Fifth Element as the cool-headed Galactic President, a departure from his usual thug characters. He appeared in the Adam Sandler film Little Nicky as Nicky's older brother Cassius.

Lister was the main police officer in Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" video, and reprised his role as a police officer in Chamillionaire's 2012 single Show Love. He has also appeared in the Ice Cube videos for "Friday" (from the Friday soundtrack) and "You Can Do It" (from the Next Friday soundtrack). Lister appeared via both original footage and film clips from the movie. He was also in the videos for Young Bleed's "How You Do Dat"; French Montana's "I Told 'Em" and 50 Cent's "Many Men".

Lister also portrayed Sancho in the Sublime music video "Santeria".

In the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown, he played bail agent Winston, who "finds people who don't want to be found". He briefly appears in The Dark Knight as an honorable convict caught in one of the Joker's schemes.

As of 2015, Lister is filming Busy Day in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film is produced by Tamas Nadas.[5]

He also appeared in a 2016 commercial for Ball Park Brand beef jerky, advertised as "tough, but tender."[6]

World Wrestling Federation (1989)

Lister appeared in the 1989 wrestling movie No Holds Barred, which was financed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and starred Hulk Hogan. Lister's role was Zeus, a brutal monster heel.

No Holds Barred inspired a feud in the WWF ring during the latter half of 1989. Lister was billed as "Zeus: The Human Wrecking Machine",[2] and used the same "unfazable monster heel" gimmick in his matches – by no selling his opponent's more lethal moves. Zeus also had the notion to yell "Aw Aw" and pound on his chest several times during his interviews and in-ring action, and sometimes would mispronounce wrestler's names, like referring to Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake as "Beefcake Barber".

Eventually, Zeus demanded Hogan face him in the ring. Citing jealousy for being billed under Hogan and anger over losing to Hogan in the movie, Zeus now wanted to beat him in "real life". Zeus formed an alliance with fellow Hogan rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage to feud with Hogan and his friend, Brutus Beefcake. The two teams faced off at the 1989 SummerSlam event in a tag team match which saw Hogan and Beefcake prevail as the victors.

Following SummerSlam, Zeus formed an alliance with "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase leading into the Survivor Series. At the event, the team of The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and Demolition) faced The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, Zeus, and the Powers of Pain). Zeus was eliminated from the match via disqualification after refusing to break a chokehold on Hogan and shoving the referee away.[2] The Hulkamaniacs went on to win the match.

After the Survivor Series, the feud between Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake versus Randy Savage and Zeus ended with a steel cage match on December 27, 1989 at No Holds Barred pay-per-view event. Hogan and Beefcake were once again victorious in what would be Zeus's last match in the WWF, and shortly afterwards he made a brief promotional appearance prior to the Royal Rumble, his last appearance with the WWF.

World Championship Wrestling (1996)

Lister also spent a short time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Ze Gangsta" as part of The Alliance to End Hulkamania during 1996. Lister's WCW career was as short-lived as his WWF run.

Personal life

Religious views

Lister is an evangelical born-again Christian. In 1999, Lister and Darryl Strawberry appeared on evangelist Benny Hinn's TV program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, in which they gave their testimonials. Afterward, Hinn laid hands on Lister and prophesied over him. Hinn said, "God is calling you to reach out to young people and will bless your acting career to do it." Since then, Lister has made numerous appearances on faith-based networks and speaks to urban youth and at church functions across the country. Lister became a member of the Christian church named, The Light of the World.[7]

On August 31, 2012, Lister agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to commit mortgage fraud, in a scheme that led to $3.8 million in losses. He was charged with fraudulently buying homes in order to withdraw $1.1 million in home equity loans.[8]

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.'s Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Zeus' WWE alumni profile". WWE. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  3. ^ http://grantland.com/features/tiny-lister-deebo-friday-career-zeus/
  4. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1994-03-27/news/ci-39198_1_cal-state-l-a
  5. ^ http://www.busydayproductions.us/cast
  6. ^ Ball Park Jerky Vending Machine
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-20. Retrieved 2009-01-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.
  8. ^ Pfeifer, Stuart (August 31, 2012). "Actor Tommy 'Tiny' Lister to plead guilty in mortgage fraud scheme". Orlando Sentinel.
  9. ^ "Stern Works Some Magic for Ratings". LA Times. 1998-07-04. Retrieved 2015-06-25. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ http://whitetmovie.com/#/news
  11. ^ http://www.torgo.us/renegade/Episode-TheChamp.htm
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