Few things embody the American Dream more than turning a struggle job of popping your cakes in the shadows for someone else into your own A-list career.
After playing the background, these 11 former backup dancers turned stars managed to pull the ultimate power play by leveling up and launching their own careers.
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Photo: Warner Bros. Screen Capture
Rosie Perez
Before she was an Academy Award nominated actress, Rosie Perez was in charge of The Fly Girls on In Living Color and the woman who opened Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing with a mean dance routine featuring some boxing gloves.
Wesley Snipes
Can you be hardbody with an ‘80s fro, a hoop earring, and an apple jack hat? If you’re Wesley Snipes making a scene stealing cameo in a Martin Scorsese-directed video for Michael Jackson, you can.
Jennifer Lopez
Now that she’s sitting on a multi-million dollar acting and recording career, it’s hard to imagine J-Lo as that backup dancer/aspiring actress from Janet Jackson’s crew in the “That’s The Way Love Goes” video.
Tupac
The man who became one of the most successful recording artists ever used to clown around when he hung around with Digital Underground. As a D.U. roadie, ‘Pac danced, rapped and handled Humpty Hump’s light work before becoming a star himself.
photo: WENN
Madonna
Back in the ‘70s,“The Material Girl” was a backup dancer for a French Disco artist named Patrick Hernandez. Of course, she also played the drums and guitar, so she was clearly destined for bigger things.
photo: WENN
Michael K. Williams
If you have a really good eye and the ability to quickly capture a few frames, you can catch Michael K. Williams in Crystal Waters’ “100% Pure Love” video as a backup dancer. Before ascending to stardom as Omar Little on The Wire, Williams served in a similar capacity for Madonna and Tupac.
photo: Brian To/WENN.com
Vin Diesel
Biggie might have put the proverbial nail in Kwame’s rapping career by clowning his polka dots on “Unbelievable,” but Fast & Furious actor Vin Diesel was probably too busy cashing those backup dancer checks to care.
Heather Morris
You can catch former Glee actress Heather Morris as the lone Becky doing an admirable job of keeping up with Beyoncé as a backup dancer for live performances of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
photo: FayesVision/WENN.com
Carrie Ann Inaba
For those of you keeping score at home, Carrie Ann Inaba is the third In Living Color Fly Girl on this list to launch a profitable dance career after gracing the stage on Keenen Ivory Wayans’ sketch comedy show.
Kevin Federline
Never has a backup dancer ascended to such heights as K-Fed. He went from Shar Jackson’s baby daddy to Britney Spears’ backup dancer, to regularly piping Britney Spears based on his vertical (and presumably horizontal) moves…pause.
photo: WENN
Columbus Short
He didn’t enjoy the fringe benefits that K-Fed did, but former Scandal actor Columbus short was also a backup dancer for Britney Spears.
