27 Famous Actors That Have Tried Their Hand At Singing

Entertainers are entertainers. There are singers who can act, and there are actors who can sing. While the world is full of the former crossing over successfully, the latter is less successful, but that doesn't mean they aren't great singers, so here's our list of actors that have tried singing, whether they were hits or not. 

In 1987 Bruce Willis was at the top of his game. A year before everyone's favorite Christmas movie, Die Hard, came out, Willis did a made-for-HBO movie called The Return of Bruno where he played a blues singer. Willis spun that into an album of the same name and his singing career was off. While it's actually a decent album, the two follow-ups were bombs and that was where things pretty much ended for his singing career. 

Jennifer Love Hewitt has been singing as long as she's been performing on screen. As a ten-year-old, Hewitt sang backup on the hit song "Toy Soldiers" by Martika, and at 12 she recorded her first album. She has a great voice, but she's never seen real crossover success. 

Miami Vice was a monster hit in the mid-'80s and Don Johnson spun that into a record deal. He recorded his first album, Heartbeat, in 1986 and it was actually a moderate success, especially in Germany. His follow-up, Let It Roll also sold well in Europe, but didn't chart in the US, so his brief-though-somewhat-successful career as a singer was over. 

Did you know that Jada Pinkett Smith sang in a Nu Metal band in the early aughts? Yep, a band she formed called Wicked Wisdom even toured with Ozzfest and opened for Britney Spears. Pinkett is a solid singer and the band is very good, but it was short-lived, releasing just two albums, the last in 2006. 

Russell Crowe has been playing guitar and singing rock and roll for decades. He continues to occasionally play concerts, usually for charity and every once in a while he'll show up on stage with a big star. Like when he joined fellow Aussie Keith Urban in 2012 to play some Johnny Cash. 

Jamie Foxx is the rare example of an actor having a very successful music career as well. He's got platinum albums, he's won a Grammy, and he'll forever be known for his guest spot in Kanye West's "Gold Digger." 

Burt Reynolds sang in the musical At Long Last Love, and he once did a duet in a movie with the legend herself, Dolly Parton. Before all that though, he attempted to find a hit in the music business when he released a country album called Ask Me What I Am in 1973. I'm the biggest Burt Reynolds fan you'll ever meet and even I can admit it's a pretty rough album. 

When M. Ward first heard Zooey Deschanel sing in Elf, he was amazed. Later he learned she also wrote and played music. That was enough to start the duo She & Him, and Ward and Deschanel have been working on the project off and on for years now. Together they've released several successful albums. Deschanel even met her boyfriend Jonathon Scott while singing on Car Pool Karaoke. 

As if Jeremy Renner's inspiring recovery from a snow plow accident isn't enough, the multitalented star also released some EPs over the last few years. The Avengers star is a multi-instrumentalist and can sing too. There's almost nothing he can't do, it seems. 

It's always been a little hard to tell if William Shatner's music career is serious, or a joke. At times it seems like it could be either. One thing I can say about it is that if you've never heard Shatner's version of Pulp's "Common People", seek it out, it is truly excellent. 

Very early in this career, Eddie Murphy started singing comedy songs on his albums. That inspired him to take a shot a serious music and his first single "Party All The Time" was a hit. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sadly, that would be the high point for the actor's music career.  

You have to appreciate how hard Corey Feldman is trying to make a music career take off. He tours a lot, playing live, and giving it his all in every performance. For it, he takes an endless amount of grief, but that just makes us root a little harder for him. The music isn't for me, but I applaud the effort. 

Emma Roberts is Hollywood royalty who got her first really big break on the Nickelodeon show Unfabulous. For the show, where she played a middle school singer/songwriter, she recorded quite a bit of music and even released an album. In the end, it was her acting that took off and music took a backseat. 

Obviously, Jared Leto has to be on this list. His band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, which he formed with his brother in 1998, is wildly successful. They've sold more than 15 million albums and played sold-out shows around the world. He's by far the most successful musician on this list. 

Alyssa Milano's music career never made much of a wave in the U.S., but in Japan, she was actually really popular. She released four albums on a Japanese record label and one even went platinum. It's a small tidbit of her career that doesn't get talked about much. 

Before Tom Hardy landed the first role of his career in Black Hawk Down in 2001, the British actor took a swing at a rap career. He recorded a mixtape called Tommy No 1 and Eddie Too Tall in 1999, though it didn't see the light of day until well after Hardy became famous, in 2018. It's actually pretty good too. 

Lindsay Lohan has had a lot of ups and downs in her career, and one thing that could fall under both was her brief foray into music. Lohan was at the height of her Disney career, on the verge of the release of her most beloved movie, Mean Girls, when she was signed to Tommy Mottola's Casablanca Records. The two albums she recorded sold okay, but after the second, her career as a singer was over. 

Scarlett Johansson's first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, released in 1998, features members of TV on the Radio, and even David Bowie sings on two tracks. Most of the songs were written or co-written by the great Tom Waits. Unfortunately, it just didn't sell all that well. Her follow-up, Break Up, recorded with Pete Yorn sold a little better, but not enough to sustain more of a career in music. She also released a song in 2015 called "Candy" with a short-lived band, The Singles, with Este Haim.

On Nashville, Hayden Panettiere played a country singer/songwriter living in Nashville, so naturally, she sang a lot on the show. She even recorded and released a few songs from the show. Panettiere was also nominated for a Grammy early in her career for her singing parts in A Bug's Life. In 2008, she branched out with a more pop-oriented sound and while she undoubtedly has some serious singing chops, the song "Wake Up Call" is more famous today for the video starring herself and Sebastian Stan. 

When you think of performers with silky smooth voices, Joe Pesci probably isn't the first name that comes to mind. Still, the Goodfellas star has been singing publicly since the 1960s when he released an album called Little Joe Sure Can Sing! After the huge success of My Cousin Vinny, Pesci released another album sort of in character, called Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You which is part comedy, part serious. It's not all that great, but he's not a bad singer. 

The Bacon Brothers, Micheal and Kevin Bacon have been recording and touring for decades now. It's always been a passion for the Footloose star and it's clear he takes the band as seriously as he takes his acting. 

The whole world for Robert Downey, Jr. changed in 2008 when the first Iron Man was released. Downey had been a star for years, but the role took him to world superstardom. Right before that, he recorded his first album, 2006's The Futurist. The album had disappointing sales, and Downey dedicated his working life to the MCU and never seemed to find time for a follow-up.  

Like most things Steven Seagal does these days, his music career is pretty odd. He's a guitar player and blues singer who has released albums and still plays live occasionally. While the music is not terrible by any means, it's also not all that interesting. 

Brie Larson started in the music business when she was just 16. She was signed by Casablanca Records and recorded an album called Finally Out of P.E. However, the Marvels star eventually moved her focus to her acting career. She still occasionally plays guitar and sings little ditties on her YouTube page. 

Gwyneth Paltrow's singing has mostly been attached to her acting career, with her most famous song, "Country Strong" coming from the soundtrack of the movie of the same name. Paltrow does all the singing herself, and it's actually pretty great. She also flirted with more music-related stuff earlier in her career, including recording a duet with Huey Lewis.  

The 1990s were full of ethereal singers like Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Milla Jovovich's brief foray into music fit very well in that style. Her breathy style was very much of the time. One song that I can certainly recommend is her version of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" from the soundtrack to Million Dollar Hotel.

Florence Pugh started her career as singer called Flossie Rose on a YouTube channel in the early 2010s. Once her acting career took off, her music took a backseat, but many of the videos are still available. There is some interesting stuff there, even if it's pretty simple, as she was just a teenager at the time.