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This is a list of action heroes who appear in a number of genres including action films, adventure films, swashbuckler films, Westerns on television, 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 Film 1.3 Television 1.4 Video games 1.5 Literature 2 Female action heroes 2.1 Actresses 2.2 Film 2.3 Television 2.4 Video games 3 Further reading 4 External links

[edit] Male action heroes

[edit] Actors

• Jestoni Alarcon
• Richard Dean Anderson
• Kevin Bacon
• Christian Bale
• Eric Bana
• Antonio Banderas
• Humphrey Bogart
• David Boreanaz
• Charles Bronson
• Pierce Brosnan
• Bernard Bonnin
• Gerard Butler
• Nicolas Cage
• Jackie Chan
• Hayden Christensen
• Sonny Chiba
• George Clooney
• Sean Connery
• Kevin Costner
• Daniel Craig
• Tom Cruise
• Matt Damon
• Mark Dacascos
• Ricky Davao
• Monsour del Rosario
• Vin Diesel
• Michael Dudikoff
• Clint Eastwood
• Gary Estrada
• Jinggoy Estrada
• Joseph Estrada
• Douglas Fairbanks
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
• Sean Faris
• Mark Anthony Fernandez
• Rudy Fernandez
• John Foo
• Harrison Ford
• Errol Flynn
• Brendan Fraser
• Clark Gable
• Eddie Garcia
• Mel Gibson
• Jake Gyllenhaal
• David Hasselhoff
• Charlton Heston
• Hulk Hogan
• Tony Jaa
• Hugh Jackman
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Thomas Jane
• Don Johnson
• Tommy Lee Jones
• Val Kilmer
• Sho Kosugi
• Shin Koyamada
• Lito Lapid
• Tom Laughlin
• Brandon Lee
• Bruce Lee
• Zoren Legaspi
• Jet Li
• Dolph Lundgren
• Jay Manalo
• Edu Manzano
• Steve McQueen
• Cesar Montano
• Toshirō Mifune
• Ralf Moeller
• Liam Neeson
• Paul Newman
• Chuck Norris
• Clive Owen
• Robin Padilla
• George Peppard
• Chris Pine
• Tyrone Power
• Brad Pitt
• Andy Poe
• Fernando Poe Jr.
• César Ramírez
• Basil Rathbone
• Burt Reynolds
• Ryan Reynolds
• Keanu Reeves
• Ramon Revilla Sr.
• Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr.
• Bembol Roco
• Austin St. John
• The Rock
• Kurt Russell
• Phillip Salvador
• Raymart Santiago
• Romnick Sarmenta
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Steven Seagal
• Tom Selleck
• Christian Slater
• Will Smith
• Wesley Snipes
• Kevin Sorbo
• Sylvester Stallone
• Jason Statham
• Clive Standen
• Ray Stevenson
• Kiefer Sutherland
• Patrick Swayze
• Mr. T
• Channing Tatum
• Robert Taylor
• Vic Vargas
• Gardo Versoza
• Jean-Claude Van Damme
• Ace Vergel
• Mark Wahlberg
• Denzel Washington
• John Wayne
• Bruce Willis
• Sam Worthington
• Ramon Zamora
• Zaldy Zshornack
• Chow Yun-Fat

[edit] Film

• Rocky Balboa from the Rocky series
• James Bond from the James Bond series
• Jason Bourne from the Bourne series
• Colonel James Braddock from the Missing in Action trilogy
• Xander Cage from xXx
• Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry series
• James Carter from the Rush Hour series
• Chan Ka-Kui from the Police Story series
• Chen Zhen from Fist of Fury
• Cheng Chao-an from The Big Boss
• John Connor from The Terminator franchise
• James Dalton from Road House
• Samuel Gerard from The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals
• Flash Gordon from Flash Gordon
• Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible series
• Billy Jack from four films between 1967 and 1977
• Indiana Jones from the Indiana Jones franchise
• Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars films
• Paul Kersey from the Death Wish film series
• Lee from Enter the Dragon
• Inspector Lee from the Rush Hour series
• Mani from Brotherhood of the Wolf
• Raizo from Ninja Assassin
• Raj Malhotra from the Khiladi series
• James Marshall from Air Force One
• Frank Martin from The Transporter trilogy
• John McClane from the Die Hard franchise
• Darren McCord from Sudden Death
• Neo from The Matrix franchise
• Rick O'Connell from The Mummy franchise
• Snake Plissken from Escape from New York and Escape from L.A.
• John Rambo from the Rambo series
• Kyle Reese from The Terminator franchise
• Richard B. Riddick from The Chronicles of Riddick series
• Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon series
• Max Rockatansky from the Mad Max franchise
• Jack Ryan from The Sum of All Fears, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October
• Casey Ryback form the Under Siege films
• John Shaft from the Shaft series
• Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars films
• Mr. Smith from Shoot 'Em Up
• Han Solo from the Star Wars films
• Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Carribean series
• Harry Tasker from True Lies
• Terminator from The Terminator franchise
• Will Turner from Pirates of the Carribean series
• Napoleon Wilson from Assault on Precinct 13
• Tequila Yuen from Hard Boiled
• Zorro from Zorro

[edit] Television

• Jack Bauer from 24
• Nash Bridges from Nash Bridges
• James "Sonny" Crockett, Miami Vice
• James "Sawyer" Ford from Lost
• Benton Fraser from Due South
• Heny Garvie from Ultimate Force
• Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and Torchwood
• Hercules from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
• Horatio Hornblower from Hornblower
• Clark Kent from Smallville
• Michael Knight from Knight Rider
• Angus MacGyver from MacGyver
• Hiro Nakamura from Heroes
• Jack O'Neill from Stargate SG-1
• Matt Parkman from Heroes
• Peter Petrelli from Heroes
• Buck Rogers from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• Richard Sharpe from Sharpe
• Jack Shephard from Lost
• Cordell Walker from Walker, Texas Ranger
• Dean Winchester from Supernatural
• Sam Winchester from Supernatural

[edit] Video games

• Niko Bellic from the Grand Theft Auto series
• Christopher Blair from the Wing Commander series
• Toni Cipriani from the Grand Theft Auto series
• Captain Falcon from the F-Zero series
• Sam Fisher from the Splinter Cell series
• Gordon Freeman from the Half-Life series
• Chris Jacobs from the Mercenaries series
• Carl "CJ" Johnson from the Grand Theft Auto series
• Jin Kazama from the Tekken series
• Leon S. Kennedy from the Resident Evil series
• Johnny Klebitz from the Grand Theft Auto series
• Huang Lee from the Grand Theft Auto series
• Link from The Legend of Zelda series
• Luis Lopez from the Grand Theft Auto series
• Master Chief from the Halo series
• Ken Masters from the Street Fighter series
• Mattias Nilsson from the Mercenaries series
• Duke Nukem from the Duke Nukem series
• The Prince from the Prince of Persia series
• Chris Redfield from the Resident Evil series
• Tyson Rios from the Army of Two series
• Ryu from the Street Fighter series
• Elliot Salem from the Army of Two series
• Siegfried Schtauffen from the Soul series
• Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series
• Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series
• Claude Speed from the Grand Theft Auto series
• "Serious" Sam Stone from the Serious Sam series
• Victor Vance from the Grand Theft Auto series
• Tommy Vercetti from the Grand Theft Auto series

[edit] Literature

• 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 in The Three Musketeers
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
• Ben Hur ^{[disambiguation needed]}
• Ivanhoe
• Zorro
• James Bond in James Bond novels (Ian Fleming)
• Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin in Modesty Blaise novels
• Doc Savage
• The Shadow
• The Spider
• Conan the Barbarian
• Tarzan
• Drizzt Do'Urden
• Dirk Pitt
• Harry Dresden
• Horatio Hornblower
• Richard Sharpe (fictional character)

[edit] Female action heroes

[edit] Actresses

• Catherine Mary Stewart
• Jessica Alba
• Gillian Anderson
• Devon Aoki
• Kate Beckinsale
• Halle Berry
• Honor Blackman
• Tia Carrere
• Lynda Carter
• Connie Chan Po-chu
• Priyanka Chopra
• Geena Davis
• Angie Dickinson
• Tamara Dobson
• Eliza Dushku
• Anne Francis
• Jennifer Garner
• Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Summer Glau
• Teresa Graves
• Pam Grier
• Linda Hamilton
• Lena Headey
• Gloria Hendry
• Daryl Hannah
• Kelly Hu
• Sibelle Hu
• Angelina Jolie
• Famke Janssen
• Milla Jovovich
• Keira Knightley
• Cynthia Khan
• Lucy Lawless
• Moon Lee
• Iyari Limon
• Lucy Liu
• Rachel Lobangco
• Cynthia Luster
• Rose McGowan
• Angela Mao
• Nora Miao
• Carrie-Anne Moss
• Nichelle Nichols
• Renee O'Connor
• Bobbie Phillips
• Maggie Q
• Diana Rigg
• Lucia Rijker
• Michelle Rodriguez
• Cynthia Rothrock
• Katee Sackhoff
• Aurora Sevilla
• J.A. Steel
• Amanda Tapping
• Uma Thurman
• Gina Torres
• Lindsay Wagner
• Sigourney Weaver
• Peta Wilson
• Michelle Yeoh
• Zhang Ziyi

[edit] Film

• Alice from the Resident Evil series
• Padmé Amidala from the Star Wars series
• Foxy Brown from Foxy Brown
• Natalie Cook from the Charlie's Angels series
• Sarah Connor from the Terminator series
• Alex Munday from the Charlie's Angels series
• Princess Leia Organa from the Star Wars series
• Ellen Ripley from the Alien series
• Dylan Sanders from the Charlie's Angels series
• Selene from the Underworld series
• Sonja from the Underworld series
• Elizabeth Swann from the Pirates of the Caribbean series
• Trinity from The Matrix series

[edit] Television

• Kate Austen from Lost
• Sydney Bristow from Alias
• Samantha Carter from Stargate
• Sabrina Duncan from Charlie's Angels
• Echo from Dollhouse
• Kelly Garrett from Charlie's Angels
• Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed
• Piper Halliwell from Charmed
• Prue Halliwell from Charmed
• Sun-Hwa Kwon from Lost
• Helen Magnus from Sanctuary
• Paige Matthews from Charmed
• Jill Munroe from Charlie's Angels
• Kris Munroe from Charlie's Angels
• Julie Rogers from Charlie's Angels
• Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica
• Sharon Valerii from Battlestar Galactica
• Tiffany Welles from Charlie's Angels
• Xena from Xena: Warrior Princess

[edit] Video games

• Samus Aran from the Metroid series
• Cammy from the Street Fighter series
• Chel from Portal
• Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series
• Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series
• Jennifer Mui from the Mercenaries series
• Claire Redfield from the Resident Evil series
• Anna Williams from the Tekken series
• Nina Williams from the Tekken series
• Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil series

[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 - The Boston Globe
• The Lost Action Hero - The Washington Post