For Throwback Thursday, Dave Bautista shocked fans with a look at his 16-year-old self.
And you thought The Rock's throwback pics were epic!
Dave Bautista took to Instagram on Thursday to share a look at his teenage years -- and it's almost hard to believe that the clean-cut young man in the photo is the same person as the jacked MCU star fans know and love. The muscles might be a bit of a giveaway, but still, a pre-tattoo Bautista is nearly unrecognizable!
"Throwing it back to 16-year-old me, beach bod and all. Nice view! #ThrowbackThursday," the 55-year-old actor captioned the pic.
Bautista frequently shares fun throwbacks -- including some from his days as a pro wrestler. Last year, he shared another startling shot from his bodybuilding past in which he sported some epic, flowing locks.
"Long hair, didn’t care," he captioned the post.
Bautista transitioned to acting after 20 years as a pro wrestler, and the last few years has seen his career continue to skyrocket. He said goodbye to his breakout role in the MCU with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, starred in the Dune franchise, and even got to show off some comedy chops in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
But for the actor, it was 2023's Knock at the Cabin that represented a true shift in his repertoire, as he got to play a leading man -- not just a standout member of an ensemble.
Normally seen playing bigger, louder or more menacing characters, Bautista was able to channel a quieter, more vulnerable energy as one of four strangers who invade the cabin of two dads and their daughter while demanding that one of them sacrifices themselves in order to prevent the apocalypse.
"It's just a different performance for me… I've been saying all these years that I wanted to be an actor and not a movie star, I could care less about that," Bautista told ET about stepping it up onscreen in director M. Night Shyamalan's psychological thriller. "And this was kind of my real chance to prove it, you know, in a leading role."
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