4 Iconic Musicians Who Became Successful Actors

The worlds of music and Hollywood come together often. This could be due to the music used in films, such as the original score written for A Star is Born, or it could be down to the cast themselves. There have been many examples of iconic musicians who later became successful actors and you may be wondering who they are. Let’s explore some of these. 

Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake is an example of the ‘never say die’ mentality. Justin tried to be famous when he was a child, first appearing on Star Search at 11. Although he didn’t win, it only amplified his ambitions. Justin would go on to join NSYNC to help get his big break.

Justin Timberlake has had a lot of success in his music career, which has helped him take home ten Grammy Awards alongside 39 nominations. So while Justin didn’t need to act, he dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. After a successful start to his solo career, Justin dedicated some time to his acting career to further boost his net worth and his overall career.

Within this time, we saw Justin Timberlake star in hit films such as The Social Network, Friends with Benefits, and In Time. Justin has since returned to writing and creating music, but you will find him in recent films such as Palmer and TV shows such as Candy. His career has been perfectly blended between music and acting so far, which is likely to continue. 

Snoop Dog

Snoop Dog is as well known for his music career as his acting career. It wouldn’t be too crazy to suggest that many younger fans will only know Snoop Dog as an actor rather than as a musician. He has dozens of acting credits to his name, from blockbuster hits to short indie appearances. He even appeared in SpongeBob: Sponge On The Run as the character ‘The Gambler’ in 2020.

Snoop Dog is no stranger to the animated world, recently starring as Bow Wizzle in the children’s hit show Doggyland, to the delight of fans worldwide. He has also featured in iconic shows such as Family Guy, American Dad, The Simpsons, and more. He mainly makes appearances as himself but occasionally appears as a new independent character.

He still makes plenty of appearances in music videos, too. This is still technically an acting credit, which is why he has almost 300 acting credits as of 2022. As you can imagine, this has helped him improve his overall net worth substantially. Snoop Dogg’s net worth is estimated to be around $150 million. While the main source of his wealth is undoubtedly his rap career, there can be no doubt that his acting career is helping bolster this.

Harry Styles

Someone who is quite big in the current music scene is Harry Styles. Harry Styles found fame with One Direction at the start of 2010 and has since enjoyed a successful solo career following the breakup in 2016. Not only is Harry Styles selling out arenas across the world, he is also making time to appear in blockbuster films, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Harry Styles recently starred in the controversial film Don’t Worry Darling. We say controversial as the rumours that came out of the set, including those between the director Olivia Wilde, Shia LaBeouf, and Florence Pugh, are unconfirmed at this time. Harry Styles himself was enjoying a drama-free career until the allegations of spitting at Chris Pine came out, but these were debunked. 

The future in the acting world is looking bright for the young Brit. He already won plaudits amongst critics for his performances in Dunkirk, but we will have to keep a careful eye on his acting future. His net worth is solid enough that he doesn’t need to act. It is his choice. Who knows, maybe he will decide to focus on music in the future.  

David Bowie

If you’re a music fan, then you will be familiar with David Bowie. Bowie was always ahead of his time, as shown by when he accurately predicted that the internet would be a success. Bowie decided to get more involved with acting fairly early into his career, which saw him take to the screen in movies such as Labyrinth. 

David also starred in films where he played himself and made appearances until his untimely death. It’s fair to say that Bowie had a good reputation and could sell out gigs as well as movie theatres. For these reasons, his net worth was quite substantial, and he was quite comfortable. 

This is why he gave a lot to charity, as he wanted to give back. David Bowie starred in serious films such as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, a story about a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II, and more light-hearted films such as The Snowman and Zoolander. He was a man of many talents and could surely do it all.

Conclusion 

There have been many iconic musicians who have made successful careers out of their acting skills. There have also been examples of actors who decided to use their success as a platform for their music careers. Bradley Cooper, Miley Cyrus and Jamie Foxx are all examples of this. Hopefully, this article has satisfied your desire to know what celebrities have dipped their toes into both acting and music. Next time you’re watching a musical, think about if the actor was an actor first or a musician.