# Musicians Better Known as Actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542 "2008-09-14T07:04:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/1 "2008-09-14T07:04:32Z")
I’m currently listening to Juliette and the Licks, a band fronted by Juliette Lewis. They remind me a fair bit of Morningwood and I’m surprised that I really quite like them. “Smash & Grab” and “Hot Kiss” especially, though there hasn’t been a song on this album that I’ve outright disliked yet. Anyway, this band being fronted by an actor has me thinking about about music by others in that field, and wondering how many are worth a listen. I know Jamie Foxx released an album in 2005 and Jennifer Lopez is well-known for being successful in both fields, but I’m looking for lesser known projects, and also ones that won’t make me rip my headphones from my ears in pain, so no _Transformed Man_ by William Shatner, either. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/2 "2008-09-14T07:10:07Z")
Jason Schwartzman plays drums for Phantom Planet, a decently well known band (thanks to their work being used as the theme song for the O.C.). I particularly like the song “Do the Panic”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/3 "2008-09-14T07:17:49Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > ones that won’t make me rip my headphones from my ears in pain. I’ll refrain from mentioning Bruce Willis then. And by Bruce Willis, I mean Keanu Reeves. And by Keanu Reeves, I mean Russell Crowe. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/4 "2008-09-14T07:25:22Z")
\*\*Keven Bacon’s \*\*band Bacon Brothers seems to be liked by people who like C&W. I don’t, so I can’t judge the quality. Then there’s Tenacious D, **Jack Black** ’s band. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/5 "2008-09-14T07:56:53Z")
Milla Jovovitch. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/6 "2008-09-14T08:00:37Z")
Johnny Depp has played on a few albums, and was in the band P. Patrick Swayze had a top-ten hit with “She’s Like the Wind,” though it could be argued that this was actually part of his role in Dirty Dancing. Tracey Ullman started her comedy career as a musician (and she still does music in her stand-up routines). Don Johnson had two albums and one top-ten hit with “Heartbeat.” Mark Wahlberg has been much more successful as an actor than as a rapper, though I find so many people know he was “Marky Mark” that I’m not sure one could say he’s better-known as an actor. My favorite “he’s a musician?” guy is Bill Mumy; a child actor who matured into a successful character actor and voice-over actor, who also happens to have released multiple solo albums, was a member of Barnes and Barnes (Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads…), performs with comic-book-professionals in a comic-convention-specific band called Seduction of the Innocent, performed with America, and was in “The Be Five Band,” made up of Babylon 5 actors. Watch a Twilight Zone marathon with someone some day, wait until his debut episode comes on where he plays an evil child with God-like powers to change reality on a whim, terrorizing his neighbors and family. Wait until he’s at his most vicious (maybe when he’s saying “You be dead! You’re dead!”) and tell your viewing partner “Y’know, he went on to record Fish Heads.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/7 "2008-09-14T08:13:35Z")
The night Woody Allen won an Oscar for writing _Annie Hall_, he was playing clarinet with the New Orleans Jazz Band in New York. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/8 "2008-09-14T08:34:20Z")
The Germans love David Hasselhoff. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/9 "2008-09-14T09:50:46Z")
Rilo Kiley with Jenny Lewis Bill Paxton was in the 80s band Martini Ranch Jorja Fox plays drums in the band Honey Pot ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/10 "2008-09-14T10:15:22Z")
Minnie Driver. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/11 "2008-09-14T10:30:26Z")
Oh, and I forgot to add one: Bobby Troup was a jazz musician before he got a role in the TV series _Emergency_. He also wrote that famous song about the highway on which you can get your kicks. His wife, Julie London, also an _Emergency_ actor, had an early career as a blues singer. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/12 "2008-09-14T11:08:35Z")
David Soul? ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/13 "2008-09-14T12:37:44Z")
Harry Shearer. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/14 "2008-09-14T12:38:34Z")
Jamie Foxx - that’s him playing the piano in ‘Ray’. Julie Delphy - again, that’s her playing in ‘Before Sunset’. She released a self-titled album in 2003 Hugh Laurie - that’s him playing piano for various episodes of ‘Jeeves and Wooster’. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/15 "2008-09-14T13:47:09Z")
Well, Jared Leto may be a better musician than actor and he is a pretty good actor. ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/16 "2008-09-14T13:55:50Z")
Zooey Deschanel is the ‘she’ in She & Him ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/17 "2008-09-14T14:05:39Z")
Will Smith is a bit of a toss up as many people know his music…but I think slightly more know him only as an actor. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/18 "2008-09-14T14:47:55Z")
> [@Myglaren](#): > > Milla Jovovitch. I discovered her last year. I like “Bang Your Head” quite a bit. Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. Keep them coming. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/19 "2008-09-14T14:49:26Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Julie Delphy - again, that’s her playing in ‘Before Sunset’. She released a self-titled album in 2003 I saw _American Werewolf in Paris_. I don’t think she qualifies as an “actor”. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542/20 "2008-09-14T14:54:44Z")
Gary Sinise performs in a cover band called the [Lt. Dan Band](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lt._Dan_Band). They often perform at charity events, especially for veterans and Sinise’s charity for Iraqi children. The co-former (?) of the band is a veteran of the Vietnam War. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-better-known-as-actors/463542.md?page=2)