Professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and Hollywood actor Dave “The Animal” Bautista has an estimated net worth of $10 million.
David Michael Bautista Jr. was born to David Michael Bautista (born to Filipino immigrants) and Donna Rae Mullins (of Greek heritage) on January 18, 1969, in Washington D.C. After his parents divorced, the family burden fell on his paternal granddad. To avoid poverty and a life of crime, Bautista left home at 17 to work as a bouncer at clubs, but was arrested for seriously injuring two patrons. After a year’s probation and work as a lifeguard, he took up bodybuilding, which lifted him onto the professional wrestling platform.
How did he make his millions?
Bautista trained at the Wild Samoan Training Center with Afa Anoa’i and competed in Anoa’i’s World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) promotion. He then won the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) Heavyweight Championship debuting as Leviathan in 2000, but soon joined World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002, with the ring name Deacon Batista.
From 2000-2010, Bautista won four WWE World Heavyweight Championships and two WWE Championships. He is the longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion (282 days, from April 3, 2005)—the Championship was the main event of WrestleMania 21 and one of wrestling’s top five pay-per-view events. Bautista also won Royal Rumble (2005 and 2014).
The magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) branded him Wrestler of the Year and was ranked number one in the PWI 500 for best singles wrestlers (2005). Bautista was inducted into the WXW Hall of Fame in 2013.
After quitting WWE in June 2010, Bautista evinced interest in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Bautista is a trained martial artist adept at Muay Thai, Eskrima and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
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Signing up in August 2012 for his first MMA fight, Bautista beat Vince Lucero by TKO that October. He returned to WWE in 2013, but quit in 2014.
Bautista’s acting career began with an appearance in the film Relative Strangers (2006) followed by a guest appearance in the TV series Smallville (2006).
He has also starred in the films Wrong Side of Town (2010), House of the Rising Sun (2011), L.A. Slasher (2015), Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016, reboot of the 1989 film) and Bushwick (2017) and appeared in The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012), The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), Riddick (2013), Spectre (2015), Heist (2015), Marauders (2016) and The Warriors Gate (2016).
His TV appearances include: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2007), Family Feud (2007), Head Case (2009), Neighbours (2009) and Chuck (2010).
Bautista has appeared on the covers of the magazines Flex (April 2005) and Muscle & Fitness (September 2008) and also many commercials.
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His autobiography, Batista Unleashed, was released in 2007 and his biographical DVD, Batista: I Walk Alone, in 2009.
Bautista’s major breakthrough came as Drax in Marvel’s $773.3 million grossing blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), alongside Kurt Russell, Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana. He is reprising Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5, 2017 release).
His forthcoming films include: Final Score (2017), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018).
