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Top 10 Musicians With Failed Acting Careers
10. Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles basically has two types of acting roles; those where she mostly sings
and others where she has to act. One role definitely works better than the other. For
example, she is passable in musicals where she plays in supporting roles like The Fighting
Temptations, Cadillac Records and Dreamgirls. But any of her movies where she has to do
anything beyond sing are pretty bad. For example, Beyoncé’s acting was clunky in the worst
Austin Powers movie. She also starred in the critically panned Obsessed where she was nominated
for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Actress (she lost to Sandra Bullock in All About Steve).
If Beyoncé sticks to singing roles, she may be able to skate on her charm and charisma,
just don't expect to see her accepting an Oscar for acting anytime soon.
9. Vanilla Ice
Born Robert Van Winkle, Vanilla Ice was launched to pop stardom in 1990 after his single “Ice
Ice Baby” put his album on the top of the charts for 16 weeks. To capitalize on his
popularity, merchandise was mass produced and Vanilla Ice even had a musical cameo in
the 1991 hit movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.
Thinking that Vanilla Ice could go from a musical cameo with no speaking lines to a
lead actor in a film, the movie Cool as Ice was developed as a vehicle for the rapper.
In Cool as Ice, which is based on Marlon Brando's film Wild at Heart, Vanilla Ice played a motorcycle-driving
rapper who falls for a smart honor student in a small town. It was a horribly bland idea
and it bombed at the box office, only making $1.1 million on a $6 million budget. For his
horrendous performance, Vanilla Ice won a Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor and Cool
as Ice won for Worst Movie.
Since the disastrous debut, Vanilla Ice has had cameos in other films and starred in an
ultra-low budget parody of The Matrix, but thankfully he never again starred in a film
from a major studio. Currently Vanilla Ice is a star of a reality show where he flips
houses.
8. Kelly Clarkson
The first season of American Idol was a cultural phenomenon, especially amongst 18-49 year
olds. Seeing that money could be made from exploiting this, the people at Fox thought
it would be a good idea to cast the winner and semi-finalist of their reality show singing
competition in a feature length film. Because why not? Because everyone knows that reality
stars and singers must be able to act.
A movie was developed called From Justin to Kelly and it is about a waitress from Texas,
Kelly, (Kelly Clarkson) who meets a student from Pennsylvania, Justin (Justin Guarini),
and they have a complicated relationship. It was released and completely bombed in theaters
because it was a terrible movie. A major problem was that neither Kelly Clarkson nor Justin
Guarini could act. Since they couldn’t act, and the situation was probably a little awkward
because Kelly beat Justin, their on-screen chemistry is some of the worst in the history
of cinema.
The film was awarded nine Golden Raspberries, including Worst Actor and Worst Actress for
Guarini and Clarkson respectively. They also took home Worst Couple. A year later, on the
25th Anniversary of the Golden Raspberry, From Justin to Kelly was named the Worst Musical
of Our First 25 Years. It is also considered one of the worst movies of all time by many
critics. Thankfully, Clarkson and Guarini haven’t been given leads in any movies since
their disastrous big screen debut.
7. Mick Jagger
Throughout the years, Rolling Stone front man Mick Jagger has dabbled a little bit in
acting. He is decent in a few films, like 1970’s Performance where he plays an eccentric
rock star. He is also really good in all the Rolling Stones' concert films. But any time
that Jagger tries to show off his dramatic chops and play something besides a weird musician,
you can see he isn’t nearly as talented on a movie set as he is on a concert stage.
In Jagger’s first movie, Ned Kelly, he played the titular character and it could have been
a decent movie, but Jagger's acting ruins it. However, his most notable failure as an
actor is when he was cast as a villain in the 1992 sci-fi movie Freejack. In the film,
Jagger is the leader of a group of time traveling bounty hunters that are transporting a race
car driver to New York City in 2009, so that his brain could be swapped out for a billionaire’s.
Sadly, Jagger really didn’t have that futuristic tough guy swagger to make him a believable
villain.
After Freejack, Jagger had two supporting roles in two movies, one is Bent which was
released in 1997 and then he appeared in 2001’s The Man from Elysian Fields. Neither film
was major hits with critics or audiences. Since then, Jagger has only made cameos as
himself in films and shows.
6. Bob Dylan
Over the years, people have tried to put Bob Dylan in movies, despite the fact that it
is obvious that he can’t act. He got his first role in a film in 1974, where he starred
in the horrendous Hearts of Fire as a reclusive rock star who takes on a female protégé.
The film was so bad that it only got a limited release and Dylan wrote it off later.
Time went on and Dylan stayed away from acting, but in 2003, he was in the film Masked and
Anonymous. The problem was that a lot of really good actors wanted to work with him, because
after all he is BOB DYLAN. When you put really good, professional actors like Jeff Bridges,
John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Bruce Dern and Ed Harris, in the movie alongside Dylan, his
acting looks even worse. The movie was loathed by critics who called it completely self-indulgent
and that Dylan’s acting was near catatonic. Since then, Dylan has not done any acting.
5. Jessica Simpson
Releasing her debut album in 1999, Jessica Simpson was originally marketed as a “cleaner”
version of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. After two popular, but ultimately forgettable
albums, Simpson married Nick Lachey from 98 Degrees and they starred in one of the earliest
reality shows, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. On the show, Simpson came across as a vapid
airhead, but since she was pretty and was famous, someone thought she belonged in the
movie business. In 2002, she got her first “acting” gig, (and we use that term very
loosely) appearing as Daisy Dukes in the horrendous big screen adaptation of The Dukes of Hazard.
For the film, it appears that all Simpson did to get into character was put on a pair
of short-shorts. Amazingly, this would be her most famous role and the standard for
which other roles would be compared to, because her movies only got worse from there.
Simpson went on to co-star in the atrocious Employee of the Month with Dane Cook. Apparently,
Cook said that one time while on the set for the film, Simpson asked him if they were shooting
a movie. After that bomb, she went on to star in the almost direct-to-video movie Blonde
Ambition (it played in eight theatres). She had a cameo as herself in the notoriously
awful Mike Myers film, The Love Guru, and she appeared on Entourage as herself in 2010.
Since then, she has mercifully stopped acting.
4. Britney Spears
Britney Spears broke onto the worldwide pop scene with her provocative song and video
“... Baby One More Time” in 1997. After a few more hits, there were big expectations
that Britney Spears might be one of those mega-stars who would transcend the musician-acting
barrier. But, anyone who has even heard of the film Crossroads knows that Spears’ acting
was worse than any song she ever put out. The film, which was based on an idea from
Spears herself, went into production in 2001 and it was released in 2002 to horrible reviews.
Spears was awarded the Razzie for Worst Actress, and she also took home another one (figuratively)
for Worst Song.
While the film did bring in over $60 million, it certainly wasn’t the launch pad to movie
stardom that some people were expecting. After Crossroads, Spears made a cameo in Pauly Shore
is Dead and Will and Grace. She also did two guest spots as Abby in How I Met Your Mother
in 2008, but that is it for her acting career.
3. 50 Cent
After the success of 8 Mile, people thought that, for some reason, Eminem’s protégée
Curtis Jackson, better known as his stage name 50 Cent, could pull off the same feat.
The problem was that the only things that 50 Cent and Eminem have in common is that
they are both rappers with interesting life stories. Nevertheless, in 2005, a film based
on the life of 50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which was directed by Academy Award winning
Jim Sheridan, was released to a chorus of bad reviews.
What’s interesting is that Samuel L. Jackson, who is famous for being in so many movies,
turned down a role in Get Rich or Die Tryin’ because he didn’t want to work with such
an inexperienced actor and he spoke publicly about turning down the role. He condemned
the idea that because someone is successful in one art, that they are automatically good
at another one. He hated the idea of putting his name behind that notion and didn’t even
read the script for Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
Despite the setbacks of not being able to act, 50 Cent has had more than his share of
acting gigs. The problem is that almost every movie he’s in is terrible and he’s usually
one of the reasons they are so bad. On Rotten Tomatoes, only two movies that he’s appeared
in are considered “Fresh.” The two films that weren’t completely panned by critics
are Spy, where he makes a cameo as himself, and he plays a very minor character in the
John Cusack and Nicholas Cage serial killer movie Frozen Ground; and Frozen Ground is
Fresh by only a percent.
2. Prince
Ask anyone who’s seen the 1984 Prince vehicle, Purple Rain, what they think of it and they
will tell you the same thing - the music is great, but the rest of it, not so much. Prince
Roger Nelson, who usually just goes by Prince, plays a character called The Kid that is essentially
just a fictionalized version of Prince. The Kid is trying to escape his horrible home
life through the music he plays as the front man of a band called The Revolution. As mentioned
earlier, the music is great, and it is the sixth bestselling soundtrack of all time,
but the rest of the movie feels like a really long music video because Prince’s acting
is so bad.
After Purple Rain, Prince directed and starred in the film Under the Cherry Moon in 1986.
The movie was hated by critics and failed commercially. Prince won two Raspberries for
the film for Worst Director and Worst Actor. Undeterred, Prince made a third film and it
was a semi-sequel to Purple Rain called Graffiti Bridge. Not learning anything from Under the
Cherry Moon, Prince wrote, directed and starred in the film and it again earned Prince a nomination
Raspberry for Worst Actor along with Worst Writer and Worst Director. And even though
Purple Rain was a huge success, the sequel didn’t attract much of the same audience
and it is considered to be one of the worst movies of the 1990s. But again, the soundtrack
was loved, which is perhaps when Prince got the hint that he should just stick with music.
1. Madonna
We’re the first to admit that Madonna has a few good movies, but there is a reason that
Madonna Louise Ciccone is still known for her music and not her acting. Some of her
less than stellar films include Shanghai Surprise, Dangerous Games, Body of Evidence and Who’s
That Girl. But the movie where Madonna’s pathetic acting really shines through is the
notorious 2002 film Swept Away. What’s interesting is that Swept Away is a remake of a 1974 film
and the remake is pretty faithful to the original. What made the remake so offensively bad is
Madonna’s acting. Many critics said that it was so bad that it is a punishing ordeal
for anyone who watches it. The film won five Golden Raspberries, including two for Madonna’s
acting (Worst Actress and Worst On-Screen Couple).
The question then arises; does appearing in a supporting role in A League of Our Own and
starring in Evita justify the rest of Madonna's work? And the answer is, of course not. She
probably knows that too, because Swept Away was the last movie she starred in and she
will hopefully stay in acting retirement.