12 Singers Who Tried Acting With Very Mixed Results

Being great onstage does not automatically make someone great on screen. Plenty of musicians have crossed into movies and television, sometimes successfully and sometimes with results they would probably rather leave buried in an old DVD bin.

Calling every singer on this list a failed actor would be a stretch. Beyoncé earned a Golden Globe acting nomination. Madonna actually won one. Rihanna appeared in a commercially successful heist movie, and Mariah Carey later earned praise for a dramatic supporting role. The more accurate thread connecting these stars is that their screen careers never came close to matching their success in music, and most had at least one acting detour that landed with a thud.

To assemble this list, 24/7 Tempo reviewed film and television credits, box office records, awards databases, contemporary entertainment coverage, and critical reception for the projects that put these singers in front of the camera.

Beyoncé had very little left to prove as a musician by the time Hollywood came calling. After breaking through with Destiny's Child, she launched a solo career with "Dangerously in Love" in 2003 and went on to become one of the defining recording artists of her generation.

That kind of musical success created an obvious question: Could she do the same thing in movies? Beyoncé took several substantial film roles, although acting ultimately remained a much smaller part of her career than recording and touring.

One of Beyoncé's first major movie roles was Foxxy Cleopatra in 2002's "Austin Powers in Goldmember." Critics were mixed on the movie, but it was hardly a flop. It earned more than $213 million at the domestic box office. More importantly, Beyoncé later starred in 2006's "Dreamgirls" and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. Her acting career never approached the scale of her music career, but writing it off as a failure does not really hold up.

Britney Spears became a pop phenomenon almost immediately. Her debut single, "...Baby One More Time," arrived in 1998 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name followed in 1999 and turned the teenage singer into one of the biggest stars of the era.

Spears had some acting experience before becoming famous, including work on "The Mickey Mouse Club," but Hollywood eventually gave her a chance to carry a feature film of her own.

Spears starred in "Crossroads" in 2002 alongside Zoe Saldaña and Taryn Manning. The road-trip drama, written by Shonda Rhimes, was mauled by critics and sits at 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. Financially, though, it did better than its reputation suggests, earning about $37.2 million domestically. What it did not do was launch Spears into a sustained career as a movie star. Music remained firmly in the driver's seat.

The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, built his career on music with a cinematic streak already baked into it. The Canadian singer first attracted widespread attention with his 2011 mixtape "House of Balloons" before becoming a global pop and R&B star.

That interest in visual storytelling eventually pushed Tesfaye deeper into acting. He appeared as a version of himself in "Uncut Gems," then took a much bigger swing with television and film projects built partly around him.

Tesfaye co-created and starred opposite Lily-Rose Depp in HBO's "The Idol" in 2023. The series generated plenty of attention, much of it negative, and HBO decided not to move forward with a second season. His next major acting project, the 2025 film "Hurry Up Tomorrow," did not reverse the trend. The movie earned a 14% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and only about $5.2 million at the domestic box office. His music career, meanwhile, barely noticed the turbulence.

Christina Aguilera broke through in 1999 with her self-titled debut album and "Genie in a Bottle." The album produced three No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and Aguilera won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2000.

With a voice that big and years of stage experience behind her, a movie musical seemed like a logical way to test whether her talents could carry over to film.

Aguilera made her feature-film starring debut opposite Cher in "Burlesque" in 2010. Critics were not especially impressed with the movie, which holds a 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes, although the site's consensus specifically described Aguilera as better than expected. The film earned about $39.4 million domestically and roughly $89.5 million worldwide. It never turned Aguilera into a full-time movie star, but calling it an unqualified disaster would be overselling the case.

Barbados-born Rihanna became one of the biggest pop stars of the 2000s and 2010s before expanding into fashion and beauty with businesses including Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty. Her most recent studio album, "Anti," arrived in 2016, although she has released music since then.

Rihanna has also taken a surprisingly varied collection of screen roles, ranging from military science fiction to animation and glossy ensemble movies.

Rihanna's early movie career included "Battleship" in 2012, which earned only 33% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. But that is not the whole story. She later played hacker Nine Ball in 2018's "Ocean's 8," which earned a 69% critics' score and nearly $298 million worldwide on a reported $70 million budget. Acting never became Rihanna's main job, but the idea that audiences completely rejected her on screen does not survive much scrutiny.

Jason Derulo broke into the mainstream in 2009 with his debut single, "Whatcha Say," and followed it with hits including "In My Head," "Talk Dirty," and "Wiggle." His combination of pop, R&B, and dance music made him a natural fit for performance-heavy projects.

Unfortunately, one of his biggest movie roles arrived in a film that immediately became famous for almost everything except the reasons its cast would have wanted.

Derulo played Rum Tum Tugger in the 2019 film adaptation of "Cats," joining a cast that included Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Judi Dench, and James Corden. The star power did not save it. "Cats" earned a 19% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and its original theatrical run brought in about $75.6 million worldwide against a reported $95 million production budget. Derulo did not create the movie's problems, but he certainly picked an unfortunate project for one of his most visible acting roles.

Jessica Simpson arrived on the pop scene in 1999 with her debut album, "Sweet Kisses," and the single "I Wanna Love You Forever." Her public profile grew even larger in the early 2000s through the MTV reality series "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica."

Hollywood followed, and Simpson eventually landed one of the most recognizable characters of her acting career: Daisy Duke.

Simpson played Daisy Duke in the 2005 movie adaptation of "The Dukes of Hazzard." Critics hated it, giving the movie a 14% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences still showed up, though. The film earned about $80.3 million domestically, so calling it a commercial failure would be inaccurate. Simpson continued acting in movies including "Employee of the Month" and "Blonde Ambition," but a major long-term film career never materialized.

Kelly Clarkson became the first winner of "American Idol" on September 4, 2002, when she was 20 years old. Her coronation single, "A Moment Like This," went to No. 1, and her debut album, "Thankful," followed in 2003.

Unfortunately for Clarkson and fellow finalist Justin Guarini, their "American Idol" success also came with a movie that became one of the more notorious pop-star vehicles of its era.

"From Justin to Kelly" arrived in theaters in 2003, less than a year after Clarkson won "American Idol." The musical romance had a reported $12 million budget and earned just under $4.93 million domestically. Unlike some movies on this list that merely received bad reviews, this one also struggled badly at the box office.

Clarkson wisely did not spend the next decade trying to convince Hollywood she needed to be a movie star. Her career stayed centered on music before eventually expanding into television, where "The Kelly Clarkson Show" gave her a much better second act on screen.

Ed Sheeran built his reputation with songwriting and an acoustic guitar rather than movie roles. His early releases eventually led to a run of enormous albums and singles, along with collaborations with artists ranging from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift to Eminem and Justin Bieber.

Sheeran has occasionally stepped in front of a camera, usually in cameos that play off the fact that everybody already knows he is Ed Sheeran. One appearance, however, irritated a very loud section of television fandom.

Sheeran appeared as a singing Lannister soldier in "Dragonstone," the Season 7 premiere of "Game of Thrones," in 2017. The cameo drew an unusually loud backlash from viewers who thought seeing one of the world's biggest pop stars suddenly sitting around Westeros was distracting. Sheeran has since acknowledged that the response took some of the fun out of the experience. Still, this was a celebrity cameo, not a serious attempt to reinvent himself as a dramatic actor.

Madonna's "Queen of Pop" nickname did not come out of nowhere. Her 1980s run alone included songs such as "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl," and "Like a Prayer," and her ability to repeatedly reinvent her music and image kept her at the center of pop culture for decades.

She also pursued acting far more seriously than many musicians on this list. Her filmography includes "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Dick Tracy," "A League of Their Own," and "Evita." The results ranged from genuinely successful to spectacularly rough.

Madonna's 2002 romantic comedy "Swept Away," directed by then-husband Guy Ritchie, was a genuine bomb. It holds a 6% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed only about $1 million worldwide against a reported $10 million budget. But that does not erase her stronger work. Madonna won the 1997 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy for "Evita." Her acting career was wildly uneven, not simply unsuccessful.

Carrie Underwood won Season 4 of "American Idol" in 2005 at age 22 and quickly established herself as a country star. Her debut album, "Some Hearts," arrived later that year, while "Before He Cheats" became one of its biggest hits after being released as a single in 2006.

Underwood's music career kept accelerating, but she also tested the acting waters with both film and live television.

Underwood played youth minister Sarah Hill in the 2011 biographical drama "Soul Surfer," the story of surfer Bethany Hamilton. The film received mixed reviews, with a 45% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, although audiences were considerably warmer. Underwood later played Maria von Trapp in NBC's 2013 live production of "The Sound of Music." Acting never developed into anything resembling her country career, but the response was more mixed than the blanket "failed actress" label suggests.

Mariah Carey's recording career began with her self-titled debut album in 1990 and produced a remarkable run of chart-topping singles. Then there is "All I Want for Christmas Is You," her 1994 holiday original that somehow comes roaring back into the conversation every December.

By the beginning of the 2000s, Carey had already conquered pop music. Her first major attempt to do the same thing in a starring movie role went very differently.

Carey's 2001 starring vehicle "Glitter" became one of the most notorious movie flops of its era. It holds a 6% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and earned about $5.27 million worldwide against a reported $22 million budget.

That could have been the end of the story, except Carey later proved she could act. She played social worker Ms. Weiss in Lee Daniels' 2009 drama "Precious," a film that earned overwhelming critical praise. Carey's stripped-down supporting performance was singled out positively in reviews and earned her recognition during awards season. "Glitter" failed. Mariah Carey as an actor is a more complicated story.

Garth Brooks broke through nationally in 1989 and quickly became one of the biggest names country music had ever produced. His style pulled heavily from traditional country while borrowing the scale and stagecraft of arena rock, helping him reach listeners well beyond the genre's usual audience.

In 1999, Brooks introduced one of the strangest side projects of his career: Chris Gaines, a fictional Australian rock star with his own elaborate biography. Brooks released "Garth Brooks in... The Life of Chris Gaines," which was conceived as a pre-soundtrack connected to a planned Paramount movie called "The Lamb."

Brooks was expected to play Gaines in the film, which was described as a mystery built around the fictional singer's death. "The Lamb" was never produced. So Brooks did not actually star in a Chris Gaines movie that bombed at theaters. The stranger truth is that he created the character, recorded the music, promoted the backstory, and never got to the part where the movie itself existed.