Brazilian footballer legend, Ronaldo De Lima – who recently admitted he would consider coming out of retirement to play for US soccer club Fort Lauderdale Strikers, who he part owns – has set his sights on acting on the big screen in the near future.
When asked in Spanish if he is going to be an actor in movies, he replied in the same language: “Maybe in a bit.” The 38-year-old star – who recently won £30,000 at a poker event – could well be a director’s dream as he admitted he wouldn’t be too fussed who his leading ladies were because he admires all actresses. When asked which actress he would love to star alongside, he told TMZ Sports: “Well, I don’t know. All of them are good.”
The football legend – whose last game came for Brazilian club Corinthians in 2011 – may have already got the ball rolling on his movie career as he was in Hollywood last night and remained coy about why he was in the acting hot-spot. While departing the Ago Restaurant in West Hollywood he was quizzed on whether he was in Los Angeles for business or pleasure, and he replied in Spanish: “A little bit of both.”
Should Ronaldo achieve his dream and become a film actor then it wouldn’t be his first time on-screen in an acting capacity as he appeared in a Nike advert in 1998 alongside fellow Brazilian star players at the time, Roberto Carlos and Denilson. The advert was filmed in Rio de Janeiro airport and saw the players try to avoid security guards while dribbling a ball through a terminal after their plane gets delayed.
Fellow retired footballer Eric Cantona also appears in the advert and the 48-year-old star has since gone on to forge an acting career, appearing in movies such as 2009’s ‘Looking for Eric’ and ‘The Stone Roses: Made of Stone’. Cantona’s fellow countryman and Ronaldo’s 1998 World Cup final opponent Frank Leboeuf has also gone on to fashion a successful acting career since quitting the beautiful game, one of his latest roles came as a doctor in the Stephen Hawking biopic ‘The Theory of Everything’.
