22 Actors Turned Musicians
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How much acting is involved in reality television? Ask Don Benjamin. He’s furthering his rap career now, but he rose to fame as a cast member of America’s Next Top Model.
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Tristan Wilds is only one of the many actors from The Wire to try his hand at music. Before transitioning to Mack Wilds, the Staten Island, New York native had starring roles as Michael Lee on The Wire and Dixon Wilson on 90210.
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Nick Cannon ruled the kid-friendly airwaves as a teen actor and comedian. That probably didn’t prepare him for the harsh world of being a full-time musician, as 2003’s self-titled album didn’t make much of a dent. However, Cannon is still making moves in television and movies.
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The music bug runs through both generations of the iconic Beverly Hills 90210 franchise. Before becoming Mr. Megan Fox, Brian Austin Green turned his role as David Silver into a brief rapping career with a Pharcyde cosign.
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Bud Bundy’s turn as rapper Grandmaster B wasn’t much of a stretch. In real life, David Faustino dropped the 1992 single “I Told Ya,” which was a bit of a departure from his Married With Children character but still failed to chart.
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Ice-T’s rapping and acting careers began almost simultaneously. Ice-T played a rapper in the classic movie Breakin’ and officially began his major label emceeing career a few years later with the release of Rhyme Pays in 1987.
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From Yasiin Bey to Mos Def to Dante Beze, Mos Def’s been showcasing his acting chops for a while. He got an early start on The Cosby Mysteries before rising to success as a bona fide Hip-Hop artist and resuming his acting career.
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King Driis/DJ Driis has both held down the turntables and guested on tracks with 9th Wonder. Would you expect anything less from the man who starred on The Wire as Stringer Bell?
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Take Whitley Gilbert from A Different World and apply that same fly girl, ‘90s Southern belle charm and you get the R&B artist Jasmine Guy. Her 1990 self-titled album produced two charting singles, including “Just Want To Hold You,” which peaked at the number 34 spot on Billboard magazine’s “Hot 100.”
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There’s a reason Tisha Campbell’s characters have been showcasing singing skills on shows like Martin and My Wife And Kids. After rising to fame with the House Party franchise, Tisha Campbell briefly changed course and cut the album, Tisha in 1992.
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As the character Q in Juice, Omar Epps pulled off the part of a turntablist almost flawlessly. Away from the set, the actor has flexed some skills alongside Saigon and Papoose on the track “Sinner’s Prayer.”
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Will Smith wasn’t the only person from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air to attempt balancing acting and music. Tatyana M. Ali dropped the middle initial and an album in 1998 on Michael Jackson’s MJJ imprint.
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Before hitting the charts with Kanye, T-Pain and others, Jamie Foxx landed roles in the movie Toys and on the Fox sitcom Roc. He’d go on to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles while dropping albums such as 1994’s Peep This and 2005’s Unpredictable.
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Thankfully, Hustle & Flow would not influence Terrence Howard to try his hand at something similar to D Jay’s “Whoop That Trick.” But a flirtation with a music career led Howard to drop the acoustic single “Sanctuary” in 2008.
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Jennifer Lopez rose to prominence as an In Living Color Fly Girl and with roles in U-Turn, Selena and Out Of Sight, but she turned her attention to music in with the release of her debut album On The 6.
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Eddie Murphy was already a dual threat on the stand up comedy circuit and in the acting world. He tried his hand at acting with an infamous assist from Rick James and repeated the feat again in 2013 with Snoop Dogg on the track “Red Light.”
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Don’t let the ties to 2Pac and her husband Will Smith fool you. Jada Pinkett-Smith doesn’t rap, she rocs as a member of the Nu Metal band Wicked Wisdom.
