There was a time when musicians didn’t act, at least not so much, but it’s always been a treat to watch a musician give an outstanding performance as an actor. Something tells me that within the last two to three decades however, perhaps longer, musicians have seen this as the next logical step in their evolution as a performer. Perhaps even moving onto being a director would seem like the logical course of progression. Whatever the case there have been some musicians that have tried it and flopped horribly, while others have put in such a great performance that they’ve stuck around Hollywood for a while and decided to make a serious go of it. Others have gone back and forth but a good number of them have stayed since their music career didn’t yield as much as their acting career did.
Everybody’s got to find their own path sooner or later.
5. Mark Wahlberg-Shooter
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch was going nowhere fast before it faded out completely. Without a career in acting Mark Walhberg might not have had anywhere else to go. As it sits now he’s got a few good movies under his belt and he’s going to be moving on to directing some time this year. How that will go is anyone’s guess at this point but it should be interesting to watch.
4. Ice Cube-Boyz N The Hood
Ice Cube has come a long way since his N.W.A. days and at this point is a family-friendly kind of actor that can still perform as an action star as well. But back in the day when he was still as hardcore as he wanted to be the role of Doughboy was something you kind of expected of him largely because he was the all-attitude, no respect, always-wearing-a-gun kind of guy.
3. David Bowie-The Prestige
It was awesome to see Bowie onscreen since he had such poise that it made you wonder why he hadn’t gone that way sooner. Obviously his music career was something that didn’t need to be messed with since he’d become an icon at this point and a legend to his fans. But seeing him so toned down and refined was simply amazing since he’s always been a larger than life personality.
2. Will Smith-The Pursuit of Happyness
Will Smith was never a hardcore rapper in the same sense as guys like Ice Cube or Dr. Dre, but he was good at spitting rhymes and getting people to party. He’s had his hits and misses in his acting career but in this film you could really see the emotions he brought to each scene and by extension could tell that the real Chris Gardner’s life was anything but easy.
1. Dwight Yoakam-Slingblade
Dwight Yoakam seems like such an easygoing, laid back guy when you look at him, but in this film he was absolutely horrible. I don’t mean that his acting was bad, that was on point, but his character was just a true sleazeball. I don’t normally cheer for the killer in a movie but this time Doyle just seemed to have it coming. Besides that, Carl really didn’t seem happy on the outside.
It’s amazing how quickly some musicians can turn into good, even great, actors.
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