Dave Bautista’s Tattoos: Dave Bautista, an actor, and former wrestler, enjoys obtaining tattoos depicting essential things that tell his life narrative, including his Filipino ancestry.
Bautista discussed the meanings behind the numerous tattoos on his body, which he acquired over the years, in a video for GQ Magazine to promote his most recent movie, “Glass Onion.”
“I was always just taught to be proud of my heritage,” said Bautista, who has a Greek mother and a Filipino father. “[I’m] always very proud of my roots, and I display it on my body.”
The former wrestler is depicted with the flags of the Philippines and Greece waving next to each other on his left arm, the three yellow stars and sun of the Philippine flag on his left elbow, and the sun again, this time in black, around an Eye of Providence on his chest.
When he traveled to the Philippines in 2006 for a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) event, Bautista claimed he truly embraced his Filipino roots.
“I’m only half-Filipino, from the United States, but they embraced me like I was 100% Filipino and I was born and raised there,” Bautista recounted. “That experience will never make me feel anything less.”
It’s “simply a fantasy, just so weird,” he continued, “to travel to a country and have them treat you like the Prodigal Son.”
Love For Tattoos
In his brief description of his other tattoos, Bautista mentioned that his wrestling career required him to constantly touch up his back tattoo, which resulted in numerous action figures of himself.
He also appreciated the opportunity to play Drax Destroyer in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which helped launch his cinematic career after quitting wrestling and spending three years attempting to get into the business.
It resulted in his obtaining the “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “Avengers” logos on his thumbs and the fictional organization Spectre’s symbol on his right middle finger as Bautista starred in the 2015 Bond movie with the same name.
He also has the Batman logo, the word “rockstar,” and tattoos of RZA and the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, who helped him break into the film industry.
His three older dogs, two of whom died of cancer and the third of which is now old and lives with an ex-wife, are among the ex-favorite wrestler’s tattoos, which he placed on his right thigh to make room for his three more recent canines.
Speaking of ex-partners, one of Bautista’s ex-wives, Angie, is Filipino. The actor had removed tattoos from the past that he regretted getting, including names of an ex-girlfriend and ex-wife, as well as his very first ink, a cement heart with the words “heart of stone” on his butt, which he got when he was just 18 years old.
Pin-up models on both of his feet and an incomplete Japanese fortress that extended up to the back of his knee rank among the tattoos he considers to be the most painful, while the one on his right elbow that took the longest to heal was a Gracie fighter symbol that had to be whited out and redone, resulting in weeks of swelling.
Other tattoos revealed by Bautista include a less threatening raven on his left hand, the original Winnie-the-Pooh behind his right knee, which he got for his “My Spy” co-star Chloe Coleman, and Thomas Shelby from “Peaky Blinders” surrounded by “gentleman hooligan.”
His most recent tattoos are the distinctive crown of his favorite artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and the silver unicorn origami from “Blade Runner” (he starred in the 2017 follow-up).
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