From Justin Timberlake To Lady Gaga, 5 Singers Who Successfully Transitioned As An Actor (Photo Credit – Getty)
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When we talk about certain actors, they are so convincing that we forget they did not start their careers as actors. There are certain names who were top-notch singers, but their transition as an actor is commendable. From Justin Timberlake to Lady Gaga, Koimoi brings you a list of top 5 singers who were musicians first.
Justin Timberlake
With credits like The Social Network and Inside Llewyn Davis to his name, Timberlake’s rise to movie star status is as impressive as it is surprising. Not everyone can go from rocking cornrows in a boyband to co-starring in a movie with Clint Eastwood, but Timberlake did. Sure, Justin Timberlake began his career on the star-generating children’s television series The Mickey Mouse Club, but things didn’t really take off for him as an actor until after his boy band career began to wane.
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He won two Emmys for his guest spots on Saturday Night Live and starred in films including The Social Network, Bad Teacher, Friends With Benefits, Alpha Dog and Inside Llewyn Davis all while maintaining a music career that’s included five studio albums, two compilation albums, and 39 singles (including 18 as a featured artist).
JLo is a unique case because she became a star as both a singer and a dancer pretty much at the same time. That said, there have been a few moments throughout her career where her career as a singer has eclipsed her career as an actress.
Harry Styles
One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles made his big-screen debut in Christopher Nolan’s critically lauded and Academy Award-winning World War II epic Dunkirk in 2017. The transition has already started for Harry, and he will soon be seen in yet another film, Don’t Worry Darling also featuring Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde and Shia LaBeouf. This is a pretty good sign for his acting career.
Lady Gaga
A Star Is Born may be her largest and most important role to date, but it’s not her first time on screen. When she was 15, Germanotta appeared on a 2001 episode of The Sopranos as an (uncredited) classmate of A. Years later; Lady Gaga appeared in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For in 2014 as a waitress named Bertha. Later she turned up in two seasons of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story anthology series, winning a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the Countess in American Horror Story: Hotel.
Will Smith
Will Smith launched a highly successful — and famously curse-free — rap career with Jeff Townes under the moniker DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince when Smith was still a teenager. In 1986, the pair’s first single, ‘Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble,’ was a hit; their 1987 debut album, Rock the House, hit the Billboard Top 200.
In 1991, NBC developed a sitcom around Smith, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, on which he starred for six seasons before breaking onto the Hollywood A-list with films like 1995’s Bad Boys, 1996’s Independence Day, and 1997’s Men in Black. He went on to earn Oscar nominations for 2001’s Ali and 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness.
