Most A-list actors are used to playing the hero and saving lives on the big screen, but some can lay genuine claim to have done it in real life too.

Here are seven of Hollywood's biggest names who did the hero thing in the real world...

1. Harrison Ford

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

Seems some of Harrison Ford's big-screen roles must have rubbed off on the septuagenarian as he just can't seem to stop saving lives and generally just being a brilliant guy.

Ford's first brush with heroism came in 2000 when he saved the lives of two hikers (one of whom was suffering from dehydration) who were lost in Wyoming's 11,106-ft Table Mountain. One of the hikers had sounded the alarm and it was Ford who came to the rescue in his Bell 407 helicopter (a part-time resident of Jackson, Wyoming, Ford is on the Sheriff's department's books for rescue missions).

The following year, Ford helped locate a 13-year-old boy scout who'd got lost in Yellowstone National Park. The actor set out, again in his 'copter and found the boy, cold, wet and hungry, five miles from camp. He'd been missing for the entire night.

Then, only last week, Ford was quick to the scene after a woman crashed her car in Ventura, California. He helped the victim to safety and stayed with her until paramedics arrived.

What a star.

2. Clint Eastwood

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

In the big wide world, cheese can sometimes be as lethal as a 44 Magnum. That's what PGA tournament director Steve John found out when he began choking on a piece of the yellow stuff at a volunteer party in 2014.

Luckily for him, the mighty Clint Eastwood was nearby and performed the Heimlich Manoeuvre on the choking host. Quite an amazing feat, seeing as John was 202lbs and Eastwood was, at that time, 84 years old.

3. Jamie Foxx

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

He's played a supervillain on screen (as Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2), but Jamie Foxx is more superhero in real-life, as when, in 2016, an old man crashed his car outside of the Oscar winner's home.

The car had hit a drainage ditch, causing it to roll over and burst into flames. Without a beat, Foxx pulled the guy out of the burning vehicle and dragged him to safety. The victim suffered injuries to his head, chest and neck and was later arrested for driving under the influence.

4. Vin Diesel

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

He's made his name headlining a movie franchise about motors (hell, even his name is car-related), so it was only natural that Vin Diesel's brush with real-life heroism would involve saving someone from a burning vehicle.

In 2001, the man born Mark Sinclair was on his motorbike when he witnessed a horrific crash, causing the car to catch fire. Quick as a flash, Diesel got all the passengers out before the car exploded.

5. Arnold Schwarzenegger

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

Though at the time California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was taking a break from making movies, it seems he couldn't quite resist acting out the hero role in real life.

When on holiday in Hawaii in 2004, the Austrian hunk spotted a swimmer in trouble. It turns out the guy was 100 metres out and was suffering from cramps and unable to swim back to shore, so Arnie dived in and brought the man to safety, no doubt saving his life in the process.

6. Sean Penn

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

Penn reportedly saved a woman and child after the Haiti earthquake of 2010, pulling them from the rubble in Port Au Prince and driving them to safety, then staying with them until they had somewhere to go. A British Red Cross spokesman said: "He is certainly very brave."

7. Kate Winslet

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

In 2011, when Winslet was staying on Richard Branson's private Necker Island, lightning set one of the neighbouring houses on fire. According to reports, Kate helped to carry the building's 90-year-old resident, Branson's mother, to safety.

"She was wondering when a director was going to shout 'Cut!'" said Branson, between LOLs.

From: Digital Spy