Seven Musicians Who Started Their Careeers as Actors

In weird, funny holiday news, today, September 8, is Actors Day.

For better or worse, there have been many actors who jumped from the big and small screens to the club stage. Who could forget some of the musical trainwrecks, such as Lindsey Lohan and Eddie Murphy, who would have been better off making another movie instead of another album?

But for every failed attempt at a music career, there is another actor that has a legitimate chance in the game. All seven of these actor/musicians have sold at the very least hundreds of thousands of albums a piece!

1.       Jack Black: In 1994, comedian Jack Black and bandmate Kyle Gass formed Tenacious D, a metal band with a tongue-in-cheek lyrical approach. “Tribute,” the band’s biggest and only hit single, found them an audience on MTV and provided them with an opportunity to continue releasing music. To date, Tenacious D has released three studio albums and a movie. It also doesn’t hurt that Black is friends with Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, who’s drumming is featured heavily on all of the band’s releases.

2.       Jennifer Lopez: Lopez seems to bounce between her movie and music careers every couple of years. But every time she comes back to music, she always has a hit on her hands. Between 1999 and 2014, she released eight studio albums, including one in Spanish. She has also won a slew of awards for her music, including American Music Awards and Billboard Awards, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her recording career.

3.       Jared Leto: Though he is most recently known for playing The Joker in ‘Suicide Squad,’ Jared Leto occasionally dons some guyliner and rocks out as the frontman for Thirty Seconds to Mars. The band’s brand of hard rock meets pop rock is very theatrical and, at this point, very popular. Two of the band’s four albums have gone platinum in the United States and have had seven singles reach the top 10 on the US Alternative Rock chart.

4.       Donald Glover: Actor and comedian Donald Glover, who is best known for his roles on ‘Community’ and his most recent show, ‘Atlanta,’ goes by the name Childish Gambino when he is rocking the stage. A thought-provoking hip-hop artist, he has released two very well-received albums so far and is about to release a third later this year.

5.       Miley Cyrus: At this point, Miley Cyrus is better known for her music than her acting career. Starting out on the Disney Channel as ‘Hannah Montana,’ the pop star has all but lost the innocent persona she once had. Despite the overly suggestive outfits and licking of everything, she has actually done well for herself, as four of her five studio albums have gone platinum. Her last album, which was produced by Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, may not have charted, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good, it’s actually pretty grown-up.

6.       Zoey Deschanel: Starting her career in movies and best known for her starring role in ‘New Girl,’ Zoey Deschanel is actually a pretty competent singer. Since 2006, she has been part of She & Him, an indie-pop duo rounded out by musician M. Ward. Together, they released five albums, including a Christmas album and one filled with covers of classic pop hits and standards.

7.       Taylor Momsen: In a complete 180 turn from her days as a stuck-up rich girl on ‘Gossip Girl,’ Taylor Momsen is now the lead singer of hard rock band The Pretty Reckless. The band is actually pretty good and, from seeing her a few years back on Warped Tour, she knows how to dominate a stage. As of late, the band has been getting a lot of attention from more than just the punk community, with their second album, 2014’s ‘Going to Hell,’ peaking at number five on the Mainstream Rock chart.

These seven actors have been able to turn their on-screen careers into solid music careers, something very hard to do. Many actors will try their hand at it, only to experience a flop of an album and a shame walk back to their successful movie or TV career slightly worse for wear.

So here’s to you, actor/musicians. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but to those for which it does, keep making that sweet music, brilliant movies and entertaining TV shows.

You can pick up music from many of these actors musicians right here at Vinyl Bay 777! Come down this weekend to check out our growing selection of titles!