Dateline Movies Countdown: Singers Are Good Actors Too

Today on Dateline Movies, we will be counting down the list of people who does not only possess good singing voices but was also endowed with good acting abilities.   Some of them might have completely turned their career towards the big screen and left their singing talents behind them, while others return to singing and made movie appearances just once in a while, and still others does the singing and acting at the same time.  Now, on with our countdown.

David Bowie


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Considered as one of the world's most best-selling music artist, David Bowie appeared in a number of films.  He first appeared in the science fiction drama in the 1976 movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth which was directed by Nicolas Roeg and written by Paul Mayersberg and was based on the 1963 novel by Walter Tevis bearing the same title. For his performance as Thomas Jerome Newton in the movie, David Bowie won the Saturn Award for Best Actor.  His other noteworthy films include Just a Gigolo; Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence; Into the Night; and Zoolander


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His other memorable movie is the 1986 adventure musical fantasy film The Labyrith alongside Jennifer Connelly and was directed by master puppeteer, Jim Henson and executive produced by Star Wars creator George Lucas.  

Ricky Gervais


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Ricky Gervais started out as a singer of a new wave pop band in the 1980s called Seona Dancing.  After being a singer, he started appearing in the late night British television comedy show, The 11 O'Clock Show, followed by a talk show, Meet Ricky Gervais.  He become popular when he appeared in the television series The Office and Extras.  His popular film appearances include Night at the Museum as Dr. McPhee and in its two sequels, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb; The Muppets as well as The Muppets Most Wanted; Stardust; Ghostown;and The Invention of Lying, among others.  He was seen most recently in the film, Special Correspondents which he also directed, written and produced. 



Eddie Murphy 


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Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is a very busy young man way back in the early 1980s.  He started out as a comedian, being a regular cast member of SNL (Saturday Night Live).  He was also a  musician, providing background vocals to a group known as The Busboys. As a solo artist, he was also doing well having some hits like Party All The Time and How Could It Be in 1985 from his album, How Could It Be.   He made several studio music and compilation albums and has released a number of singles.  He was seen in a 9-minute music video for the promotion of Michael Jackson's single, Remember The Time.  He also did some songs for the movie Shrek, where he is also the voice of Donkey.



His first movie was in 1982, appearing with Nick Nolte in the action-comedy film 48 Hours. His next film was another comedy with Dan Aykroyd titled Trading Places in 1983, his first collaboration with director John Landis. In 1984, Eddie Murphy appeared in 2 films, Best Defense with Dudley Moore and Beverly Hills Cop, where he received his second nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the first time being in the movie Trading Places. He had one movie in 1986, The Golden Child. In 1987, the sequel Beverly Hills Cop 2 was released, as well as his stand-up comedy film, Eddie Murphy Raw. In 1988 he appeared in his second movie with director John Landis, Coming to America. In 1989, he appeared in his first directorial debut film , Harlem Nights, which he also wrote and produced under his own company Eddie Murphy Productions. By 1990, the sequel to his debut film with Nick Nolte was released, Another 48 Hours. In 1992, Eddie Murphy has 2 films, Boomerang and The Distinguished Gentleman. In 1994, Axel Foley returns and Eddie Murphy was reunited for the third time with director John Landis in Beverly Hills Cop 3. In 1995, he appeared in a movie directed by the Master of Horror Wes Craven, Vampire In Brooklyn. Besides being the main actor, Eddie Murphy also portrayed smaller roles such as the alcoholic preacher named Preacher Pauly as well as the Italian gangster named Guido. In 1996, he appeared in a remake of the 1963 film by Jerry Lewis, The Nutty Professor, performing 7 character roles in the movie - university Professor Sherman Klump and Buddy Love, Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump, Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump and Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr. He received his third nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in this movie. 


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In 1997, he made Metro. In 1998, Eddie Murphy made 3 movies, Dr. Dolittle, Holy Man and Disney's 36th animated feature movie Mulan, where he did the voice of a small dragon named Mushu. in 1999, he had 2 movies, one with Martin Lawrence titled Life and the other, Bowfinger, a satirical comedy with Steve Martin and directed by Frank Oz (who did the voice of Yoda in Star Wars). In 2000, he made the sequel for the Nutty Professor, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, where he also did a number of other characters. In 2001, he made Shrek, giving voice to Donkey, and would spun a number of sequels, Shrek 2 in 2004, Shrek The Third in 2007 and Shrek Forever After in 2010. Also in 2001, Dr. John Doolittle returns in Dr. Doolittle 2. In 2002, he teams up with Robert De Niro for another police action comedy movie Showtime and he also teams up with Owen Wilson in the spy comedy movie I-Spy. Another movie in 2002 is the science fiction comedy The Adventure of Pluto Nash. In 2003, we saw Eddie Murphy appearing in Daddy Day Care and in Disney's The Hunted Mansion. He appeared in Norbit in 2007 with his older brother, Charlie Murphy. In 2008 we saw him as a human-like spaceship controlled by hundreds of tiny humanoid aliens from the planet Nil - Meet Dave. In 2009, Eddie Murphy appears in Imagine That. Tower Heist in 2011 comes next in his list of films, appearing as a petty crook known as Slide. In 2012 he appeared in A Thousand Words, his third film collaboration with director Brian Robbins, the other movie being Meet Dave and Norbit.   


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Perhaps one of the best films of Eddie Murphy was Dreamgirls in 2006.  It earned for him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 79th Academy Awards.  He was also nominated for Best Actor at the BET Awards and nominations for Best Supporting Actor at the Black Reel Awards, Chicago Film Critics Circle, NAACP Image Awards and Online Film Critics Society Awards.  He won  Best Supporting Actor award at the following award giving bodies - African-American Film Critics Association Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Golden Globe Awards, New York Film Critics Society and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.   

Madonna

Madonna Louise Ciccone or more popularly known as Madonna, the Queen of Pop, is designated by the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling female recording artist of all time.  But her illustrious career is not limited to just being a singing sensation.  


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She also appeared in a number of films.  Her first film is the 1985 drama movie A Certain Sacrifice.  Her first appearance in a major motion picture was a cameo in the movie Vision Quest, playing the part of a singer in a local bar singing her hit song Crazy for You and Gambler.  She also appeared in Dick Tracy as Breathless Mahoney with Warren Beatty, Shanghai Surprise opposite Sean Penn,  Desperately Seeking Susan with Rosanna Arquette, Who's That Girl opposite Griffin Dune. She appeared in 2 documentaries about her life as a singer Madonna: Truth or Dare in  1991 and another one in 2005 I'm Going To Tell You A Secret.  She starred in a black-and-white comedy thriller that is written and directed by Woody Allen in 1991 Shadows and Fog.  In 1993, she appeared opposite Willem Dafoe in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence which was produced by Dino De Laurentiis.  Also in 1993, she appeared with Harvey Kietel in a drama movie Dangerous Game.  In the year 1995, she was seen in a comedy movie directed by Paul Aster and Wayne Wang Blue in the Face which incidentally reunited her with Harvey Keitel.  Her other movies include Four Rooms in 1995, Girl 6 in 1996 which is directed by Spike Lee and The Next Best Thing in the year 2000.  In 2002 she appeared in a movie directed by her then husband Guy Richie - Swept Away.  Also in the same year, she had a cameo role in the James Bond movie of Pierce Brosnan - Die Another Day. Her last movie was the animated/live action feature film Arthur and the Invisibles in 2006, where she did the voice of Princess Selenia, the daughter of Emperor Sifrat of the Minimoys.


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Perhaps her two most memorable roles are in the movies - A League of Their Own in 1992 which was directed by the sister of Garry Marshall, Penny Marshall and Evita in 1996 which was written, produced and directed by Alan Parker and based on the musical by Sir Lloyd Andrew Webber and Tim Rice.  She plays the role of Evita Peron, which won for Madonna the award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the 54th Golden Globe Awards. 

Mark Wahlberg


Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg or Mark Wahlberg started out being a frontman for a hip-hop rap group known as Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch way back in 1991.  The band was successful, having a song that reached No. 1 in Billboards Hot 100 in 1991.  When his band disbanded in 1993, he teamed up with Dominican-born American reggae musician named Prince Ital Joe.  They made two albums together.  

After being a musician for sometime, he transitioned into acting starting out in the movie Renaissance Man with Danny Vito as the lead actor in 1994.  He was cast as Private Tommy Lee Haywood (King Claudius) in the movie.  He had a small role in his next movie with lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio, The Basketball Diaries in 1995. 

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His first major role in a movie was in 1996 in the psychological thriller movie Fear which also stars Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Alyssa Milano and Amy Brenneman and directed by James Foley and produced by Brian Grazer. For his portrayal as  David McCall in the film, Mark Wahlberg was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain at the MTV Movie Award in 1997.   He appeared in two movies in 1997, The Traveller with Bill Paxton and Boogie Nights where he portrayed the role of a pornstar named Eddie Adams also known as Dirk Diggler.  For his role in Boogie Nights, he was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama at the 2nd Golden Satellite Awards.  His other notable movies include The Big Hit in 1998, The Corruptor in 1999,Three Kings also in 1999, The Yards in 2000, The Perfect Storm also in 2000 together with George Clooney in their 2nd movie together after Three Kings, Planet of the Apes in 2001, Rock Star also in 2001 which was produced by George Clooney, The Truth About Charlie in 2002, The Italian Job in 2003, his second movie together with Charlize Theron after The Yards, I Heart Huckabees in 2004, Four Brothers in 2005, and the Invincible in 2006.


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His crime-drama movie in 2006, The Departed, his second movie with Leonardo DiCaprio after Basketball Diaries,  which was produced by Brad Pitt and directed by Martin Scorsese, won numerous awards including Best Director for Martin Scorsese both at the 64th Golden Globe Awards on January 15, 2007 as well as the 79th Academy Awards. Mark Wahlberg was nominated for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture at the Golden Globes as well as Best Supporting Actor in the Academy Awards.  In 2007, he appeared in 2 movies namely Shooter and We Own The Night, and another 2 movies in 2008 - The Happening and Max Payne.  In 2009, he was seen in a movie that is written, produced and directed by Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones. By 2010, Mark Wahlberg appeared in 3 films, a small role in Date Night, an action movie with Will Farell - The Other Guys, and the critically acclaimed movie - The Fighter.


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The Fighter, is the third collaboration of Mark Wahlberg with director David O. Russell, the other two being Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees.  It also stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Jack McGee.  It is a biographical drama about the life of light welterweight champion "Irish" Micky Ward played by Mark Wahlberg and his half-brother Dicky Eklund played by Christian Bale.  It earned seven nominations at the 83rd  Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, winning the awards for Best Supporting Actor for Christian Bale as well as the Best Supporting Actress for Melissa Leo. His other films include Contraband and Ted in 2012, Broken CityPain & Gain2 Guns and Lone Survivor in 2013, Transformers: Age of Extinction and The Gambler in 2014, and in 2015, MojaveTed 2Daddy's Home - his second team-up movie with Will Farell and a cameo in the Entourage, which he produced.  

Who's your favorite singer turned actor?  Watch out for more countdowns here at Dateline Movies.  In our next countdown, we will be counting down those actors and actresses who possesses good singing voices.  Goodbye for now!

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