The debut roles of musicians-turned-actors

If you are going to start an acting career as a musician, why not make it a musical? That’s Cabello's track, although she’s also stepping into a pretty iconic role. The musician is the latest person to take on the role of Cinderella in yet another adaptation of that fairytale. We will have to see where she goes from here.

You’re thinking we’re going to be talking about A Star is Born, don’t you? While that was her first significant acting role, it was not her first role. We don’t count her turn in Machete Kills because she’s barely in it and is mostly there as part of a joke. However, she did have a slightly more prominent — if still small — role in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. These roles gave no sense of her acting chops. A Star is Born definitely did.

When he was still at the peak of his powers, the man known by assorted names involving “Diddy” and “Daddy” got his first acting opportunity. He co-stars as Ruiz in Made, Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn’s follow-up to Swingers. Made wasn’t as successful, but both those guys have gone on to great success. Even Combs kept his acting career going to some degree.

It’s funny that a Battleship movie exists. It’s even funnier that Rihanna is in it. With all due respect to the acclaimed musician, her acting is not quite on the same level. Watching her play a weapons specialist fighting aliens in a loose adaptation of a board game boggles the mind.

Yoakam got rave reviews for his work in Sling Blade and was actually part of a cast nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. A few years before that, he had a role as an unnamed Truck Driver in Red Rock West, a Nicolas Cage thriller. We would have considered cheating and going with Sling Blade, but there is also some 1995 film called The Little Death, so that would have been a bridge too far.

Waits brings a strange presence to both movies and music. For all his eccentricity, he has had a legitimately successful acting career. It all began with Paradise Alley, Sylvester Stallone’s big follow-up to Rocky. This time, Sly moves the action from boxing to…pro wrestling. Set in the 1940s, Paradise Alley is largely forgotten, but Waits does make his acting debut as Mumbles.

Spears quickly became one of the biggest stars in the world before she was even 20. It didn’t necessarily go great for her long-term, but naturally, showbiz decided they should turn her into a movie star. Spears was given her own vehicle in Crossroads, a cheesy coming-of-age film that showed Spears was perhaps not an actor. She never really did any serious acting again.

We had to include this one. Clarkson won the first season of American Idol. Guarani finished second. They decided to give them a film to star in. From Justin to Kelly bombed horribly, and American Idol never tried the whole movie thing again.

Elvis was a true star as both a musician and an actor. Was he a good actor? We’d call him passable. He could work within a certain set of parameters, and he did for dozens of films. For a while, his movie career was even eclipsing his music career. His first film is the 1956 Western Love Me Tender, where he plays Clint Reno. The following year, he starred in Jailhouse Rock, and things really took off from there.

Timberlake’s acting debut got him off to a rough start for a guy who has had a legitimately good acting career. Have you heard of the movie Edison ? It’s OK if you haven’t. Timberlake plays the hero, a journalist who uncovers a group of corrupt cops calling themselves “F.R.A.T.” The movie co-stars Morgan Freeman, LL Cool J, and, um, Kevin Spacey. When it debuted at a film festival, it was so hated that the U.S. release was canceled. While it did screen in theaters overseas, it only ever came out on DVD in America.

Perhaps, we will always have a spot in our hearts for Iggy Pop’s turn as Nona F. Mecklenberg’s dad on The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Before that, he had a couple of other acting films. The first that wasn’t a fleeting cameo was Cry-Baby, John Waters’ bizarre satire of Elvis Presley-style films. That’s about as good a place for Pop to show up as any.

Rollins has never been satisfied with just making music. He’s written books, done spoken word tours, and hosted radio shows. Rollins has also done a lot of acting. His first role came in The Chase, starring the totally chill duo of Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson. Rollins has a big role in the movie as a cop and has some music on the soundtrack.

Bowie came out of the gate with some real acting acumen. Of course, who was better to play an alien? The Thin White Duke starred in the moody sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth. His work was so well-received that he won a Saturn Award for Best Actor.

Bowie may have won a Saturn, but Cher won an Oscar. That was for Moonstruck, which came several films into her career. Way back in the day, Cher and Sonny Bono were given their own starring vehicle, a comedic Western called Good Times. Amazingly, this was the directorial debut of William Friedkin, who went on to direct a couple of small films called The French Connection and The Exorcist.

Aguilera made her film debut in a movie that costars Cher. That would be Burlesque, a movie that came out in 2010. Yes, that’s well after her peak of stardom. Unlike Spears, Aguilera never got that film deal to try and bring in a teen audience to theaters. Also, Burlesque is awful.

It is plausible that an entire generation knows Moore better as an actor than a musician. That’s due to her being on the huge hit This Is Us. Way back in the day, Moore played a cheerleader who bullies Anne Hathaway’s character in The Princess Diaries.

We mentioned LL earlier. We also mentioned Pete & Pete earlier, a show that LL Cool J also appeared on. After a couple of appearances as himself, the rapper turned actor played Detective Billy in the Michael J. Fox and James Woods comedy The Hard Way. Eventually, he would play characters who got last names.

Meat Loaf is interesting because his film debut came before his first album came out. However, he’s a musician first, so we still count him. Besides, his first film is all about music anyway. If you are of a certain ilk, you know the movie we are talking about. Meat Loaf plays Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Hot patootie.

Madonna shot a film in 1979 before she rose to fame. It was not released until 1985 to capitalize on how big she had become. That being said, in 1985, she had an actual movie released, so we will be going with that as her debut. The film in question is Desperately Seeking Susan, which is admittedly not a major stretch but does involve actual acting in the titular role.

Made-for-TV movies don’t count, so we won’t be expounding upon the absurdly titled Carman: A Hip Hopera. Instead, we get to talk about the Austin Powers franchise stretching itself too thin. The Spy Who Shagged Me was a huge hit, so they tried again with Goldmember. Beyonce steps into the "Bond Girl” analog role as Foxxy Cleopatra. She’s…not the worst thing about the movie?

Snoop Dogg has put together a lengthy filmography at this point, but it all began with a glorified cameo that is significant enough we decided to count it. Besides, we think Snoop would be happy if we talked about him being in Half Baked. The classic ‘90s stoner comedy features Snoop in the role of the Scavenger Smoker. He shows up, does his thing, and is not half bad.

What could connect Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson? Why, the fact they both make music and act, of course! The country star began his acting career in a milieu that makes sense. The Electric Horseman stars Robert Redford as a former rodeo champ. Nelson is in the cast as Wendell, a decent-sized role, though Redford and costar Jane Fonda dwarf everybody else.

The first Fresh Prince album came out in 1987, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air didn’t debut until 1990, so we will call him a musician first, even if acting has become his calling card. On the movie front, Smith made his debut in 1992 in the ensemble drama Where the Day Takes You. While he’s a few names down the ol’ cast list, his character appears on the poster, so it’s still a noteworthy role.

Love made her acting debut in Sid & Nancy, and given her public persona and general vibe, you might have assumed she played Nancy Spungen. That’s not true, as Chloe Webb plays that role. Instead, Love played Gretchen, a smaller but still notable role. Her acting was well-received, and she probably could have done more acting if her behavior had not been so erratic.

Let’s end with one of the biggest stars of his — or any — era. Sinatra was a massive musician but also a hugely successful actor. Like Cher, he won an Oscar. He did comedy and serious drama. Sinatra’s first film not as himself is 1944’s Step Lively. It’s a remake of the 1938 movie Room Service, which starred the Marx Brothers and Lucille Ball. That group was probably better at serving the farce of the story than ol’ Blue Eyes, but Sinatra would be just fine.