Biography
Weathers was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School and then went to San Diego State University.

Early life
At San Diego State University, Carl was a member of the football team. This led to a brief career as a linebacker with the Oakland Raiders, where he played 7 games in 1970 and one game in 1971. He joined the Canadian Football League (British Columbia Lions) in 1971 and played until 1973, 18 games in total. He retired in 1974 to become an actor.

Football career
Weathers had his first parts in two Arthur Marks directed 1970s blaxploitation films: Bucktown and Friday Foster, both in 1975. Weathers also appeared in an episode on the 70's Sitcom "Good Times".
In 1976, he starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky as Apollo Creed, a role he would reprise in the next three Rocky films in 1979, 1982, and 1985. He also starred in a number of action films, both theatrically and on television, including: Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Predator (1987), Action Jackson (1988), and Hurricane Smith (1992), he also had the role of Chubbs in Happy Gilmore. And he is briefly seen as an Army MP in just one of the three released versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. As a member of the cast of Predator, Weathers worked with future California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura.
He also appeared in Michael Jackson's "Liberian Girl" music video, in a McDonald's commercial around 1976, and in an episode of Good Times as an angry husband who suspected his wife of cheating on him with JJ. Ironically, though his character was presumably supposed to be older, Carl is actually one year younger than Jimmie Walker.
During the final season of In the Heat of the Night, his character of Hampton Forbes replaced Bill Gillespie at the chief of the Sparta, Mississippi police. He continued that role in the television movies based on the series. His noted other TV role was on the cop show Street Justice where he played Sgt. Adam Beaudreaux. He also played as MACV-SOG Colonel Brewster in the CBS series Tour of Duty.
In 2004, Weathers received a significant career revival as a comedic actor. Since he had worked primarily as a dramatic actor in action films throughout the first half of his career, he began appearing in many works that were quite different from his past. Beginning in 2004 with appearances in several episodes of the cult hit comedy series Arrested Development as a cheapskate caricature of himself, Weathers began appearing in largely comedic roles. This series of guest spots led to him getting roles in the comedies The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang and The Comebacks. The Comebacks will be his first major role in a film since 1992's Hurricane Smith.
Sylvester Stallone asked Weathers, Mr. T, and Dolph Lundgren for permission to use footage from their appearances in the earlier Rocky movies for Rocky Balboa. Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren gave him their graces, however Weathers wanted an actual part in the movie, even though his character died in Rocky IV. Stallone refused and Weathers decided not to allow Stallone to use his image for Rocky flashbacks from the previous movies. They instead decided to use new footage of a fighter who looks similar to Weathers.
He is currently acting as "Alex Keith" in advertising for Old Spice's sponsorship of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.

Personal life