Trivia

Career got started by actor/director Jimmy Bridges (older brother of actor Todd Bridges) when Jimmy introduced Tiny to his father, Jim Bridges, who was a talent agent in Hollywood after which Tiny worked in three movies his first year in the business.

He has commonly been listed as 6' 7", even though he is 6' 5".

Had played Klaang in the first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001). Klaang was the first Klingon (even though this was in a prequel) that Starfleet ever encountered.

Attended Palomar Junior College before transferring to Long Beach City College for his sophomore year. Was the 1982 NCAA Division II Shot Put Champion while attending California State University, Los Angeles.

Had appeared in two films starring Sir Michael Caine as a primary supporting character: Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) and The Dark Knight (2008).

A movie buff, he enjoyed the films of Frank Capra and Burt Lancaster, and had even been a guest host on TCM's "The Essentials".

Weighed 300 lbs at the time of Universal Soldier (1992).

He also had a brief stint in WCW World Championship Wrestling. He was known as Z-Gangsta.

He was blind in his right eye which droops, and the look in movies is a product created by film crews.

During his brief stint in the World Wrestling Federation in 1989, Lister was promoted as frustrated with being billed below Hulk Hogan in that year's No Holds Barred (1989), and thus wanting to get his revenge in a real-life wrestling confrontation (in the movie, Hogan's character defeats Zeus at the end). The "feud" parlayed into a series of tag-team matches, pitting Lister -- who wrestled as his movie character Zeus -- and his partners (usually Randy Savage [aka "Macho Man"] and Ted DiBiase [aka "Million Dollar Man"]) vs. Hogan and Ed Leslie (aka "Brutus Beefcake"); when not wrestling, he sometimes came down as a menacing second for either DiBiase or Savage in their matches against Hogan or Beefcake, interfering at every opportunity. During his WWF matches, Zeus "no sold" his opponents' wrestling moves (that is, pretended like an opponent's moves didn't hurt the wrestler in the least) to generate fan heat and create the impression Zeus was invincible. His in-ring finisher was the neck-wrencher, which he ostensibly used to "break" opponents' necks and set them up for an easy pin fall loss. Lister's wrestling career only lasted for about six months.

Had one son, Thomas Duane Lister III.

Listed #500 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500 wrestlers in the world (1991).

Was friends with Morris Chestnut.