The pop star to actress pipeline is working overtime these days, with some of the music industry’s biggest stars pivoting to the silver screen… with varying levels of success.
This week, news broke that Billie Eilish was being eyed to star in the adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, joining fellow recent case studies Ariana Grande and Charli xcx in plotting a career beyond the studio and among the Hollywood elite.
Naturally, it got us thinking: which other musicians have swapped the mic for the script? And how successful have these extracirculars been? That’s why we’re ranking some singer-to-actor transitions from award-worthy, to somewhere in the middle, to certifiable flop. We’ve also assembled some TBDs.
Warning: I cannot sing beyond drunken karaoke and I cannot act besides when I chuck a sickie, so I won’t proclaim to be the judge or jury on these matters. I’m going off the general sentiment of fans’ and critics’ reactions to pop stars’ acting ventures.
If I come for your fave, it’s OK — they can always return to the studio.
With that out of the way, let’s dig in, shall we?
Award-worthy
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga feels like the obvious place to start, since her breakout role in A Star Is Born also landed her an Oscar nomination.
It was a rare case of a pop star being almost immediately praised for their acting chops, and she kept the ball rolling with an equally stellar role in House of Gucci. Now, I know what you’re thinking: didn’t Joker: Folie à Deux flop like a pile of wet socks?
Yes, but in a trend that becomes apparent on this list, that was more to do with the quality of the movie than Gaga’s performance. In fact, many critics actually pined for more Gaga screentime in Joker, so here’s hoping Harley Quinn gets her own damn spinoff.
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande had spent most of her career knee-deep in whistle tones and a sky-high ponytail before she waltzed the yellow brick road. Her scene-stealing role as Glinda in Wicked scored her an Oscar nomination, and she’s keeping her sights set on Hollywood.
Post-Wicked, Grande was fan-cast as Audrey Hepburn in the upcoming biopic before Lily Collins nabbed the role, and she’s currently at work on the newest instalment of the Meet The Fockers franchise. She was also on Victorious, so make of that what you will.
Cher
Cher’s line delivery of “Wagon Wheel Watusi” alone is worthy of an EGOT and a Nobel Peace Prize, but her illustrious movie career extends beyond Burlesque. She scored an Oscar nom for Silkwood and later took home the trophy for Moonstruck. She’s also Cher, so there’s not much else to say on the matter.
Barbara Streisand
Speaking of icons who need no introduction, Barbara Streisand. She won an Oscar for Funny Girl back in 1969, but she also played the OG version of the character Gaga later took on in A Star Is Born. A personal fave is her role in Meet The Fockers, because who doesn’t want to see Barbara Streisand do some scrapbooking with her son’s foreskin?
Mandy Moore
Before she may-or-may not have excluded a certain celeb from her mum group, Mandy Moore was a late ‘90s pop princess with the smash hit “Candy”. She followed it up with a role in The Princess Diaries that genuinely made me fear her, before earning breakout status with A Walk To Remember. The TV show This Is Us was also huge!
Britney Spears
Britney Spears was genuinely fantastic in 2002’s bonafide cult classic Crossroads, an impressive feat given it was her debut movie role. She was already at the height of her pop stardom at the time (this was this the “Baby One More Time” era), so she managed the pop star to actress pipeline with impeccable finesse.
There’s an upcoming Britney biopic in the works from Wicked director John Chu, so perhaps we’ll have another entry into this list soon enough.
Somewhere in the middle
Here’s the space for all the singers-turned-actors who’ve either done too few films to truly judge, or who might just need a few more successful films to truly earn a breakout. And where else to begin than with Harry Styles?
Harry Styles
When your first-ever movie is Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, you know things are looking promising. The former One Direction bandmate made his mark in that cast, filled with established stars like Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy, but things went downhill from there.
When they weren’t swallowed by all *that* negative press, critics of Don’t Worry Darling labelled Styles’ performance as wooden. He copped the same criticism for the 2022 romance drama film My Policeman. So it’s safe to say his status as a bonafide movie star is in limbo. Maybe he’ll just be Singing All The Time. Acting, Occasionally.
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez also falls within this somewhere in the middle category. Sure, she’s been lauded for her roles in Selena and Hustlers, but there’s just as many (if not more) duds on her IMDb. Not even Maid in Manhattan can compensate for whatever the hell This Is Me…Now: A Love Story was. A movie star? Sure! An Academy darling? Uncertain.
Rihanna
Rihanna, doing everything other than dropping that damn album, has ventured to the big screen before, but to middling success. Ocean’s 8 and even Battleship were enjoyable (but forgettable), and I fear she’s one of those celebs who can’t quite outrun their own star power. You can’t disappear into a character when you’re literally Rihanna.
Beyoncé
Beyoncé is truly great in some of the few credits she has. She showed off comedic chops in Pink Panther and Austin Powers, and earned critical praise for Dreamgirls. But like everything with the Queen, we simply need more. We’re not including Lemonade in this entry, because it’s a visual album and because it’s a masterpiece that defies any ranking.
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake is a pop star with an acting side-quest, but it’s a decent quest at that. Friends with Benefits is a fun watch, and he holds his own alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield in The Social Network. But his greatest line of dialogue is still “this is going to ruin the tour”.
Flopped
Now we’re entering flop territory, the movie equivalent of music’s Khia asylum. It’s at this point that I reiterate that flop is subjective, lest I incur the wrath of stan Twitter. Here we go…
Mariah Carey
Even Mariah Carey admits she “got in over my head” with her role in Glitter, the 2001 fever dream sold as a musical drama. It has a six per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, which isn’t so much rotten as it is putrified. Speaking the quiet part out loud, Carey said just this week that Glitter was a “disastrous flop”. Her words, and also mine.
The Weeknd
The Weeknd was heavily memed when he took on a leading role in HBO’s The Idol. The fact that the show became engulfed in controversy was simply the nail in the coffin. He failed to redeem himself in Hurry Up Tomorrow, with the only bright spot on his resume being Uncut Gems. He appeared in that film for under 10 minutes, which is saying something.
Taylor Swift
It’s difficult to determine whether Taylor Swift is a bad actress or whether she’s just been dealt truly horrendous roles. She’s great in the not-so-great Valentine’s Day, and she tried her best in the equally panned Amsterdam.
At the risk of re-summoning its evil force, I have to mention Cats. Swift can’t really be blamed for that, since she wasn’t the only star who was either blackmailed or forced against their will to appear in that absolute shambles. But I think everyone, including Swift, has simply pretended that Cats never happened. Which is a good thing.
TBD
Billie Eilish
It remains to be seen whether Eilish can master the pipeline, since she hasn’t even officially been cast in the Plath adaptation. She did appear in the HBO series Swarm, and fans thought she was pretty good. So watch this space.
Charli xcx
Charli xcx is also making moves in Hollywood, and if Letterboxd was a movie role, she’d already have an Oscar. She plays herself in the just-released mockumentary The Moment (which copped mixed reviews), but her upcoming credits seem promising.
The Brat singer was cast alongside Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega in the already buzzy flick The Gallerist, set for release this year, and she’ll also appear opposite Olivia Wilde in the erotic comedy thriller I Want Your Sex.
If that wasn’t enough buzzwords, she was also reportedly eyed for the role of the White Witch in Greta Gerwig’s Narnia adaptation for Netflix. Those plans have since fallen through, but I simply can’t unsee it.
There you have it folks, a (non-exhaustive) list of all the musicians who took on Hollywood. Some slayed. Some flopped. But all gave their best, which from someone whose greatest talent is a ham and cheese toastie, is the only seal of approval they need.
Lead images: Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox and Getty Images
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