Usually the attitude towards the actors or actresses who make an attempt to sing is viewed with some suspicion – the actors are supposed to play instead of revealing their doubtful singing talents. However, you will be surprised, but some really good and well known actors are talented singers as well, and some of them even have prominent music career and perform in popular bands.
For instance, there will be hardly anyone to doubt that Jeff Bridges is a wonderful actor. His filmography is so great that it is useless to enumerate all his works here. Yet, he is also a good singer and musician, who have already issued two albums. His second album, “Jeff Bridges” is really something special as Bridges masterly plays the guitar which perfectly matches his deep melodic voice.
Zooye Deschanel who is famous for the roles in romantic comedies mostly and her role in “New Girl” series has succeeded in music career as well. She is a part of the rock band called “She & Him”. Deschanel is also a songwriter and she has released six studio albums together with M. Ward.
Russel Crowe, an intellectual sex-symbol of Hollywood, who has conquered our hearts in “Gladiator” and made us crazy about him in “A Beautiful Mind” sings in a band called “The Ordinary Fear of God” which presents the result of his collaboration with Alan Doyle.
However, there are rare cases when the music career of an actor becomes more known that his acting. It happened, for instance, to Jared Leto, the front man of “30 Seconds to Mars”. Of course, his roles in “Requiem for a Dream” or in “Ms. Nobody” but the first association when we hear his name is nevertheless “A Beautiful Lie” and “Hurricane”. Leto directs his music videos himself, so his knowledge of cinematic industry appears to be of much use for him.
Another story is actors singing in the musicals. They do not have special musical education and, honestly, I am always afraid to get disappointed when they start singing. However, some actors provide the audience with pleasant surprise by revealing really sweet voices and an ear for music as well. The most famous example is the performance of Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor in “Moulin Rouge”. Their duo has become a real gem of the movie. Johnny Depp has also impressed everybody by his singing non-professionally, but passionately in “Seewney Todd”.