Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. (born June 1958) is an American actor, best known for his role as the neighborhood bully Deebo in the series of Friday movies. Lister also famously wrestled Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after appearing in Hogan's movie No Holds Barred.
Lister has had numerous guest appearances in TV series, including playing Klaang (the first Klingon humans ever meet) in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Lister first rose to fame in the 1989 wrestling movie No Holds Barred, which was financed by the WWF and starred Hulk Hogan. Lister's role was Zeus, an unfazable monster heel who brutally beat his opponents into submission.
"No Holds Barred" inspired a feud in the World Wrestling Federation ring during the latter half of 1989. Lister was billed as Zeus, and used the same "unfazable monster heel" gimmick in his matches – by no selling his opponent's more lethal moves – as he trounced jobbers in matches across the country. Zeus' one vulnerable area – which opponents like Hogan eventually figured out – was his eyes. The opponents would poke his eyes and then get the upper hand against Zeus.
Eventually, Zeus demanded a series of matches against Hogan. Citing jealousy for being billed under Hogan and anger over losing to Hogan in the movie, Zeus now wanted to beat him in "real life". However, Hogan was able to defeat Zeus rather easily in a series of tag-team matches; usually, Zeus' partner was either "Macho Man" Randy Savage or "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, with Hogan teaming with Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake. It wasn't long before Zeus (and Lister as well) departed from the WWF.
Lister also spent a short time in the WCW as "Ze Gangsta" (or Z-Gangsta) as part of "The Alliance To End Hulkamania" during the mid-1990s. Lister's WCW career was equally as short-lived as his WWF run.
Lister would also wrestle Abdullah the butcher in Japan in a match that lasted 10:56 minutes there you could say that Lister showed his strength "for real" as the crowd went wild for his performance.
Lister is best known as Deebo in the Ice Cube movie Friday, and reprised his role for its sequel Next Friday. Deebo was the neighbourhood bully and antagonist for Cube's character but did not appear in the third film of the series, Friday After Next.
Lister was the main police officer in Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" video, and also appeared in the Ice Cube videos for "Friday" (from the Friday soundtrack) and "You Can Do It" (from the Next Friday soundtrack). Lister appeared via both original footage and film clips from the movie.
Lister also portrayed the character "Sancho" in the Sublime music video "Santeria".
