Now sit down, son. You mean to tell me you don't know who Carl Weathers is? For serious? Let me tell you a bit about him.
The man was born on January 14, 1948, in New Orleans, Louisiana. That makes him kind of old now, but he's still the man. And he is one tall mother as well - stands to be about 6'2".
Apollo Creed: Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession. Sports make ya grunt and smell. See, be a thinker, not a stinker.
Ah, irony. So here's the thing. Before he was an actor, Carl was quite the football player. I don't mean the footy, I mean the Americanized kind. He played with San Diego State University, as well as the Oakland Raiders and CFL's B.C. Lions. His first love has always been acting, though, and he did graduate from San Diego with a degree in theatre arts. So in 1973, he retired from playing football and actively sought his career as a thespian.
For a while it was the occasional crumbs that typically start up an acting career: commercials, small roles in movies, etc. Finally, the man hit paydirt by playing the fantastic and endearing Apollo Creed, Rocky Balboa's nemesis-turned-friend, for the first 4 Rocky movies.
Apollo: I want you to promise me you're not gonna stop this fight, no matter what. No matter what!
After his character died in Rocky IV (oh dear did I spoil it for you?), Weathers moved on to other projects, some successful, some not so much. He played a role in Predator alongside not one, but two U.S. state governors. He also was cast the starring role in 1988's Action Jackson, though it received mediocre response from the general public.
(turning a flamethrower on a bad guy)
Action Jackson: How do you like your ribs?
Carl was also known for his role as Chubbs Peterson, Adam Sandler's golf coach in Happy Gilmore. He reprised the role of Peterson for a small bit in another Sandler film, Little Nikki.
Chubbs: It's all in the hips. It's all in the hips. It's all in the hips. It's all in the hips.
For heaven's sake, NO, he is not the dude who played Lando Calrissian in Star Wars. I know that's what you were thinking. Just. Just stop it.
His acting career is still, well...active, as he approaches his golden years; his most recent movie being The Comebacks, a spoof movie about sports. He also had a recurring role in the fantastic comedy, Arrested Development.
Somewhere in all that, he's managed to find himself married three times, his most recent wife being longtime girlfriend Jennifer Peterson. He has two children from previous marriages.
Apollo Creed: You know, Stallion?
Rocky Balboa: What?
Apollo Creed: It's too bad we've got to get old.
Rumor has it, you can also catch glimpses of Carl in Old Spice commercials.
And that, in a nutshell, is what most people know about Carl Weathers.
Oh! One more thing:
<kthejoker> Remember to include the part where Carl Weathers is permanently frozen in time, if the ending of Rocky is accurate.
Resources?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001835/
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/rocky%20star%20weathers%20weds_1028312
http://www.raidersonline.org/carl-weathers.php
wordnerd, who reminded me about Arrested Development