Before They Had the Mercenary Build: Check Out the Expendables 2 Cast Before They Were Stars
Countless little boys (and a number of little girls too) grow up dreaming of taking down the bad guys by any means necessary. Even those who don’t start out as typical athlete types can find lucrative ways to make their fantasies work in the real world—from the army to the police force closer to home. But a select few get to live out these ideas well beyond what their imaginations could have comprehended for them as the stars of action hero franchises like Expendables. Do you think these young faces would have believed you if you told them they would grow up to become some of the hottest action stars in Hollywood? By Danielle TurchianoEveryman action hero Bruce Willis may have gotten his start in television (Miami Vice was his first role, but Moonlighting made a much bigger splash), but he has made a name for himself in action films. Though arguably his most recognizable role is John McClane in the Die Hard franchise, Willis capitalized on his ability to be the tough guy in everything from Pulp Fiction to 12 Monkeys to The Fifth Element and Armageddon. In the late ’90s Willis began to mix up his work a bit more, with a quieter turn as a psychiatrist who (spoiler alert!) is also actually dead in The Sixth Sense, as well as a stint on Friends as a secretly sensitive boyfriend to Rachel. His role in the first Expendables as Mr. Church was only intended to be a cameo, but the scene he shared with legendary action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger generated so much buzz that he was brought back for more in the sequel.