The six-time WWE champ, MMA fighter, and film star shares his workout philosophies, Shakespearean training, and what it means to play the ultimate bad guy.
“Things may change for me, but I’ll always stop to take pictures for fans. I’ll go to the mall or go grocery shopping by myself. You see pictures of me in Walmart and Whole Foods all the time!”
CHANNELING THE BARD
“I had a lot of trouble when I started acting because I’m naturally a very shy person. So my acting coach, who is a Shakespearean actor, insisted that we do scenes from Shakespeare, because he said if you can do that, you can do anything,” says Bautista. “Now doing Shakespeare onstage is on my bucket list. Stage acting in itself terrifies me, and Shakespeare’s dialogue is so tricky. To me it would be the ultimate challenge.”
MARTIAL ARTS MASTERY
Bautista has a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and is trained in Muay Thai, Kali (a Filipino martial art), and boxing. “For someone who’s addicted to working out, it’s hard to find something challenging, but with martial arts there’s always something new and fresh,” he says.
GOING FOR IT
“My philosophy is to not be afraid to chase your dreams. So many people are so afraid to fail that they don’t even try—but if you don’t try, you’re just wasting your life.”
DOGGIE DOWNTIME
“When I’m at home I spend most of the day with my dogs. I have two pit bulls and a Catahoula, which is a boar-hunting dog. Their names are Frankie, Janey, and Sadie.”
FOREVER FIT
“I like training. I like being healthy. Resistance training will always be a part of my life. It’s therapy. It’s where I feel like I’m a fish back in water.”
IN HIS MAN CAVE
“I collect vintage lunch boxes as a hobby, and I’m always adding to my collection. I just got a brand new one from 1977 from the show Happy Days, but I recently got outbid for a 1954 Superman lunch box that ended up going for $17,000!”
ULTIMATE BAD GUY
“Bond henchmen are always iconic and memorable,” notes Bautista, who plays the villain Mr. Hinx in the recent Bond flick, Spectre. “We did most of the stunts ourselves. [Daniel Craig] punched me in the nose during a fight scene, and he thought he broke it. My nose was squirting out blood everywhere, and I was like, ‘No man, it’s all right!’ We cleaned it up and kept shooting.”
