“I was f**king desperate”: Before His $16M Fortune, Dave Bautista Was “Ashamed” of What He Did When He Ran Out of Money to Buy Christmas Gifts for His Daughters

20 years ago, Dave Bautista was no more recognizable than a random man on the street. At 55, he is a legend with one foot in the world of WWE and another in Hollywood. The wrestler-turned-actor’s path to greatness was one of extreme hardship filled with decades’ worth of literal blood, sweat, and tears.

As a result, Bautista’s humility isn’t just a product of forced media training but the accumulated experience of 40+ years spent in neglect and relative obscurity.

Now a force to be reckoned with, the self-made movie star’s rise to global domination was not an easy task. Marked with sacrifice, uncertainty, self-doubt, financial ruin, and no guarantee of a future (let alone a glamorous one), Dave Bautista carved out a hefty chunk of respectability in an industry that is as fickle as it is superficial.

A Rare Christmas Memory Haunts Dave Bautista

It is not every day that a father of two runs out of money to buy gifts on Christmas for his two daughters. But Dave Bautista was once faced with that exact predicament long before he was a recognizable face in WWE or Hollywood. Working as a bouncer in clubs around D.C. for well over 13 years, the would-be celebrity finally realized he needed a radical career change when he ran out of money on Christmas Eve in the late 1990s.

In his 2023 GQ cover interview, he relived that fateful memory, revealing:

I had to go to a guy I worked for at a club and ask him if I could borrow money. I was so ashamed of myself that I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I gotta find something.’ I didn’t know what the f**k to do. I had no education. I had nothing to fall back on. And I was f**king desperate.

That desperation then drove him to the world of professional wrestling where he accrued enough wealth, confidence, and fame to then segue into Hollywood. The father who once couldn’t afford presents for his daughters on Christmas now sits on a net fortune of $16 million (Celebrity Net Worth).

Dave Bautista: Out of Obscurity & Into the Spotlight

One of the innate dictums that drives Dave Bautista to pursue greatness is his dedication to “the Job,” whatever it may be. As a bouncer on the club circuit, his service was to the patrons. As a professional wrestler at WWE, his service was to the fans and the audience. As a global movie star, he serves himself. In just 20 years, Bautista achieved what many have only dared to dream.

However, while the actor may present a façade of SmackDown-worthy confidence and a globally celebrated A-lister, Dave Bautista started out as nothing more than a quivering man trying to earn a few bucks for himself. That was in the late ’90s and not much has changed since then.

I’m afraid of things. I’m nervous about things. But I can force myself to do things that make me uncomfortable, because I know I’m not gonna get anywhere if I don’t. I may cringe after the fact, but I’m not going to let that fear hold me back.

Overcoming that fear eventually led him to win his first world championship in 2005. By 2009, Batista (his WWE calling card) was headlining the sport alongside John Cena. A year later, he quit to pursue a career in Hollywood. The voluntary sacrifice of the safety net that WWE provided was proof enough of Bautista’s hunger for achieving something more out of life. Over the next decade, the film industry proved that it had what he wanted.

As of Fall 2024, Dave Bautista stands out as one of the most in-demand actors in the industry. Formidable directors ranging from Denis Villeneuve to Rian Johnson to Sam Mendes including figureheads of cult cinema like Zack Snyder, James Gunn, and M. Night Shyamalan line up to work with the actor.

And despite his cookie-cutter image manufactured for the blockbuster action scene, Bautista has carefully crafted a tastefully artistic filmography containing films like Blade Runner 2049, Dune, The Boy and the Heron, Glass Onion, and Spectre.

His upcoming film The Last Showgirl directed by Gia Coppola and starring Pamela Anderson, Jaime Lee Curtis, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd, and Kiernan Shipka will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024.