List of action heroes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.

Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

This is a list of action heroes who appear in a number of genres including action films, adventure films, swashbuckler films, television Westerns, old-time radio, adventure novels, dime novels, pulp magazines, and folklore. These heroes often display exaggerated physical characteristics such as extreme physical stature and/or fitness.

Contents 1 Male action heroes 1.1 Actors 1.2 Cinema 1.3 Literature and pulp fiction 1.4 Radio 1.5 Television 1.6 Games 2 Female action heroes 2.1 Actresses 3 Further reading 4 External links

[edit] Male action heroes

[edit] Actors

• Rajnikanth
• Amitabh Bachchan
• Eric Bana
• Antonio Banderas
• Humphrey Bogart
• Charles Bronson
• Jackie Chan
• Sean Connery
• Kevin Costner
• Tom Cruise
• Matt Damon
• Mark Dacascos
• Ajay Devgan
• Vin Diesel
• Clint Eastwood
• Douglas Fairbanks
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
• Harrison Ford
• Errol Flynn
• Clark Gable
• Mel Gibson
• Tom Laughlin
• Bruce Lee
• Jet Li
• Dolph Lundgren
• Ralf Möller
• Chuck Norris
• Tyrone Power
• Brad Pitt
• Basil Rathbone
• Keanu Reeves
• The Rock
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Steven Seagal
• Will Smith
• Wesley Snipes
• Sylvester Stallone
• Jason Statham
• Robert Taylor
• Jean-Claude Van Damme
• Denzel Washington
• John Wayne
• Bruce Willis
• Chow Yun-Fat
• Toshiro Mifune

[edit] Cinema

• James Bond (film series) - James Bond (character)
• Rocky Balboa (character) in the Rocky (film series)
• Billy Jack (four films between 1967 and 1977)
• Indiana Jones
• The Terminator films - Kyle Reese and Terminator (character)
• John Rambo in the Rambo films
• John McClane from the Die Hard series
• Casey Ryback from the Under Siege films.
• Snake Plissken
• Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars films.
• Paul Kersey from Death Wish (film) and its four sequels
• Zorro
• Mani from Brotherhood of the Wolf
• Napoleon Wilson from Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 film)
• Xander Cage from the XXX (2002 film)
• Jason Bourne from The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum
• Neo from The Matrix trilogy
• Frank Martin from The Transporter and The Transporter 2
• Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible film series
• Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry film series

• Max Rockatansky from the Mad Max film series
• John Shaft from the Shaft series
• Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon series

[edit] Literature and pulp fiction

• Iliad and Odyssey: Odysseus and a number of other characters
• Beowulf (hero) in Beowulf
• King Arthur
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Robin Hood
• D'Artagnan - The Three Musketeers
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
• Ben Hur
• Ivanhoe
• Zorro
• James Bond in James Bond novels (Ian Fleming)
• Doc Savage
• The Shadow
• The Spider
• Conan the Barbarian
• Tarzan
• Drizzt Do'Urden

[edit] Radio

• The Green Hornet
• The Lone Ranger

[edit] Television

• The Doctor from Doctor Who television series
• Jack Bauer from the 24 television series
• Jack Harkness from the Doctor Who and Torchwood television series

[edit] Games

• Link from the Legend of Zelda series
• Gordon Freeman from the Half-Life series
• Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series
• Sam Fisher from the Splinter Cell series
• Master Chief from the Halo series
• Leon S. Kennedy from the Resident Evil series
• Duke Nukem from the Duke Nukem series
• Christopher Blair from the Wing Commander series

[edit] Female action heroes

Main article: List of women warriors in literature and popular culture

[edit] Actresses

• Jessica Alba
• Devon Aoki
• Kate Beckinsale
• Halle Berry
• Honor Blackman
• Neve Campbell
• Tia Carrere
• Lynda Carter
• Connie Chan Po-chu
• Holly Marie Combs
• Geena Davis
• Angie Dickinson
• Tamara Dobson
• Shannen Doherty
• Eliza Dushku
• Vivica A. Fox
• Anne Francis
• Jennifer Garner
• Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Teresa Graves
• Pam Grier
• Linda Hamilton
• Gloria Hendry
• Darryl Hannah
• Angelina Jolie
• Famke Janssen
• Milla Jovovich
• Keira Knightley
• Lucy Lawless
• Iyari Limon
• Lucy Liu
• Angela Mao
• Rose McGowan
• Nora Miao
• Alyssa Milano
• Demi Moore
• Carrie-Anne Moss
• Diana Rigg
• Sharon Stone
• Uma Thurman
• Lindsay Wagner
• Sigourney Weaver
• Peta Wilson
• Michelle Yeoh

[edit] Further reading

• Ho, Sam. "Licensed to Kick Men: The Jane Bond Films." The Restless Breed: Cantonese Stars of the Sixties. Hong Kong: Urban Council of Hong Kong, 1996. ISBN 962-7040-50-9
• Inness, Sherrie A. (ed.) Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
• Kim, L. S. "Making women warriors: a transnational reading of Asian female action heroes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. No. 48, Winter, 2006.
• Magoulick, Mary. "Frustrating Female Heroism: Mixed Messages in Xena, Nikita, and Buffy." The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 39 Issue 5 (October 2006).
• Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.
• Tasker, Yvonne. Action and Adventure Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2004.
• ———.Spectacular Bodies : Gender, Genre, and the Action Cinema. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.

[edit] External links

• Female action heroes photo gallery - Boston Globe
• The Lost Action Hero - Washington Post