Dave Bautista Breaks Down His Three Tattoos Dedicated to His Filipino Roots

Dave Bautista’s known for many things. He’s a WWE legend, the best ex-wrestler actor, and a proud Filipino. He’s also seriously tatted up. Batista’s got some of the best ink in the business, and he’s never afraid to flaunt it. And flaunt it he did in his latest magazine cover with GQ.

Bautista let fans get close and personal with his tapestry of tats in a GQ video, where he revealed the covered-up tattoos he got for his exes (#regrets), the most painful ink he’s ever gotten, and the tattoos he got in honor of his roots.

ALSO READ: Rian Johnson Says Dave Bautista Is the Best-Wrestler-Turned-Actor

“I was always taught to be proud of my heritage. My mom’s Greek, my dad’s Filipino. I didn’t really have close ties to my family, but my mom always made me very aware of who I was, what my background was, and to always be proud of that,” shared Bautista. “I always kind of embrace that, being half-Greek and half-Filipino. [I’m] always very proud of my roots and I display it on my body.”

In total, Bautista has three tattoos dedicated to his Filipino heritage: two Filipino flags, one on his arm and another on his elbow, as well as a giant Filipino sun in the center of his chest. You know, just in case you didn’t get the clue that he’s a proud Pinoy.

Photo by GQ.

“I really embraced it when I was older when I got to visit the Philippines and Greece. It was kind of a homecoming feeling, especially when I went to the Philippines for the first time,” said Bautista in his GQ interview. “I’m only half-Filipino from the United States, but they embraced me like I was 100 percent Filipino [like] I was born and raised there. That experience is never going to make me feel anything less in my life. It’s just a dream. It’s so surreal to go to a country and have them treat you like you’re the prodigal son.”

How could we not? Bautista’s a living legend for all the young Filipino kids who grew up watching him kick ass on WWE. And now, he’s inarguably the best wrestler-turned-actor in Hollywood.

Catch Bautista in his latest film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, on Netflix.