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Tom Lister, Jr.
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Tommy "Tiny" Lister (born
Thomas Lister, Jr. June 24 1958) is an American actor and former professional wrestler, best known for wrestling Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after appearing in Hogan's movie No Holds Barred, as Zeus. Lister is also known for his role as the neighborhood bully Deebo in the series of Friday movies. He is blind in his right eye.
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.
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Encyclopedia
Tommy "Tiny" Lister (born
Thomas Lister, Jr. June 24 1958) is an American actor and former professional wrestler, best known for wrestling Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after appearing in Hogan's movie No Holds Barred, as Zeus. Lister is also known for his role as the neighborhood bully Deebo in the series of Friday movies. He is blind in his right eye.
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 also co-starred in an episode of the courtroom series Matlock as Mr. Matlock's in-prison bodyguard.
Lister also appeared as Sancho in Sublime's song Santeria.
Career
Professional wrestling
Lister first rose to fame 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, an unfazable monster heel who brutally beat his opponents into submission.
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", and used the same "unfazable monster heel" gimmick in his matches – by no selling his opponent's more lethal moves. Zeus' one vulnerable area – which opponents like Hogan eventually figured out – was his eyes. The opponents would poke his eyes and then get the upper hand against Zeus; this was inspired due to Lister's strabismus condition. Zeus also had the notion to yell "Aw Aw" and pound on his chest several times during his interviews and in-ring action.
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 would form an alliance with fellow Hogan rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage to feud with Hogan and his friend, Brutus "The Barber" 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 would be eliminated from the match via disqualification after refusing to break a chokehold on Hogan and shoving the referee away twice. The Hulkamaniacs went on to win the match.
After the Survivor Series, the feud between Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake vs. Randy Savage and Zeus ended with a steel cage match on December 27, 1989. Hogan and Beefcake were once again victorious in what would be Zeus's last match in the WWF, and shortly after made a brief appearance prior to the Royal Rumble. Despite his reputation as an unstoppable monster, Zeus left the company having never won a match (Zeus did not have any preliminary matches in his WWF run).
Lister also spent a short time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Ze Gangsta" (or Z-Gangsta) as part of "The Alliance To End Hulkamania" during the mid-1990s. Lister's WCW career was equally as short-lived as his WWF run.
Lister is 6' 5.5" (197 cm) tall and weighs 300 lbs (136 kg).
Acting
Lister is best known as Deebo in the Ice Cube movie Friday, and reprised his role for its sequel Next Friday. Deebo was the neighborhood bully and antagonist for Cube's character, Craig Jones, but did not appear in the third film of the series, Friday after Next.
Lister was also featured in The Fifth Element in a bit of a turn from his usual thug characters as the cool-headed Galactic President. The Fifth Element also featured Lister's Friday co-star Chris Tucker, although their characters never interact within the film.
Lister was the main police officer in Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" video, and 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.
Lister also portrayed the character "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.
Personal life
He is also sometimes confused with actor Michael Clarke Duncan. Lister, like Duncan, has appeared on The Trinity Broadcasting Network. He is an evangelical born-again Christian. In 1999, he and Darryl Strawberry appeared on evangelist Benny Hinn's T.V. program; giving their testimonies. Afterward, Hinn laid hands on Lister and prophised 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, he's made numerous appearances on faith-based networks and speaks to urban youth and at church functions across the country. .
Filmography
External links
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