‘Game Of Thrones’ Giant Actor Neil Fingleton Was Once An NBA Prospect! Can Former North Carolina Tar Heel Make A Run For The Pros?

"Game of Thrones" has giants. They had gigantic warriors, like Jason Momoa, but they also had real giants-and it's a matter of time before they got a basketball player to play that role.

That time is now. In the episode "The Watchers on the Wall," one of the giants was played by Neil Fingleton. He's not really a newbie in showbiz. His IMDB page has listed appearances on movies like "X-Men:First Class" and "47 Ronin." Quite naturally, he was also in "Jack and The Beanstalk."

What few people recall is that the Englishman actually responded to his natural calling-basketball.

He was the subject of a tug of war among teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). That included powerhouses Duke and North Carolina. From Duke Basketball Report, all the way from 1999:"The nickname we'd use? Well, simple though it is, how about Big Ben? He's apparently
going to decide by Wednesday. Taking no chances, the Wake crowd went to some lengths to impress him. One guy had a bunch of mini-Union Jacks Fedexed in and passed them out, and another guy dug up the words to"God Save The Queen" and they serenaded him with that. One hopes they didn't get the Sex Pistols version."

He eventually ended up with North Carolina, Michael Jordan's alma mater. It didn't turn out well for the 7'8" giant. He got injured, underwent surgery, transferred to Holy Cross and was forgotten. Even NBA teams caught wind of him, but not even his size was enough to take him to the big league.

But he's been alright ever since. He talked to The Daily Mail in 2011: "I always do what I want, some tall people may be restricted as they are constantly stared at or people ask the same questions over and over. This is the only bad thing about being tall - the stupid remarks and questions. Other than that, being tall is great."

"I have been doing acting work since my basketball career finished. I spent 8 years in the USA attending High School and College. I graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 2004 with a degree in History. I have played professionally in Greece, Italy, Spain. Now I am concentrating on acting and trying to move to LA soon to jump in with both feet so to speak."

He speaks of his basketball career as 'finished.' It's not like every tall guy has to play ball. Thanks to the film industry's imagination, there are roles for Neil Fingleton.