Muscle up: When acting takes a back seat to abs

Women have been cast for their attractive bodies for decades in Hollywood. But it happens to male actors too, especially nowadays, with a glut of superhero and action movies.

Jason Momoa, who stars in the remake of "Conan the Barbarian," already showed off his shape in HBO's "Game of Thrones" and earlier on "Baywatch Hawaii." Here's a look at a few other actors who've recently muscled their way into movies.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Before Hollywood: College football, the Canadian Football League and then, most famously, the WWE, where "The Rock" was born.

The Role: Proved himself a funny “Saturday Night Live” host, so Hollywood naturally cast him as the stern, stoic, side of meat Scorpion King in “The Mummy Returns.” Then he had to do it again in “The Scorpion King.”

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The Aftermath: The Schwarzenegger who can act. He's at his best when he gets to be funny or affect a tongue-in-cheek swagger like in “Fast Five.” Has enough clout to build himself a biopic project about African-American country music pioneer Charley Pride, singing skills to be determined later.

Chris Hemsworth
Before Hollywood: Surfing in Australia. Eventually cast on the Aussie soap “Home and Away,” appearing in over 170 episodes.

The Role: Beat out his own brother for the role of “Thor” and, while the movie emphasized Hemsworth’s physicality, the actor wisely brought an intentionally comic-book-sized, comedic pro-wrestler swagger to the role.

The Aftermath: Well, there’s that little indie film called “The Avengers” coming up.

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Before Hollywood: Breakout bodybuilding star of the 1970s. Famously had his voice dubbed in 1969’s “Hercules In New York” before appearing as a mute hit man in Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye.”

The Role: 1982’s “Conan The Barbarian,” where he proved that speaking intelligible English wasn’t always necessary for film stardom.

The Aftermath: Became one of the biggest movie stars in the world, married a Kennedy and somehow wound up the governor of California. Has maintained a mostly charmed life. Even that Planet Hollywood fiasco and a marriage-destroying affair seem to inspire more talk show jokes than public scorn.

Taylor Lautner
Before Hollywood: Juice boxes — he was born in 1992. Also appeared in a variety of child actor-ready roles, mostly under the radar. Did you see “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3D?” No, you didn’t.

The Role: Jacob in “Twilight.”

The Aftermath: Almost lost the role of Jacob when it was determined he wasn’t enough of a real-life beefy teen wolf. Unlike the other men in this roundup, he was almost fired due to lack of body and had to bulk up, essentially re-auditioning with a new, improved physique in order to save his stardom. Yes, Hollywood is weird.

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Dave White is the movies critic for movies.com.