Jesse Ventura

Wrestler / Athlete / State Governor

Name at birth: James George Janos

Jesse Ventura was a Navy Seal, a professional wrestler (using the name Jesse "The Body" Ventura), an occasional movie actor and a radio personality before running for governor of Minnesota on the Reform Party ticket in 1998. 6'4" tall, muscular and bald, Ventura did his best to carry his pro wrestling image as a blunt-talking tough guy into the political arena. His surprise victory turned Ventura into a national political figure and ubiquitous celebrity. While governor he made published I Ain't Got Time to Bleed and Do I Stand Alone? (both 2000), opinion pieces with a populist core. (Ventura made waves in 2001 when he agreed to be a TV commentator for the XFL football league while still serving as governor.) He chose not to run for re-election in 2002, and was succeeded the next year by Republican Tim Pawlenty. Ventura has since had a short-lived talk show on MSNBC in 2003 (Jesse Ventura's America and published Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! (2008).

Extra credit: Ventura made his feature film debut in the 1987 action movie Predator, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger... The Reform Party was founded in 1992 by another political outsider, Ross Perot; in 2000, while governor, Ventura left the Reform Party and joined the Independence Party of Minnesota.