After hearing the news that popular rapper Common had been cast in the upcoming 4th Terminator movie, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, I started to think about all the other successful rappers that have tried their hand at acting. It became evident that some are pretty good at doing both. So here is my Top 10 List of the Best Rappers Turned Actors.
Marshall Mathers is a Grammy and Academy Award-winning rapper, record producer and actor. Having sold over seventy million albums worldwide, Eminem is one of the highest-selling rappers of all time. Turning to acting in 2002′s 8 Mile, Eminem hasn’t resurfaced since. His debut was loosely based on his own life, so that probably helped his critically praised performance. Can he hold his own in other projects? I’d like to find out.
Hit Songs: Forget about Dre, The Real Slim Shady
Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. is an rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, philanthropist and co-CEO of Grand Hustle Records. With his 2006 performance in ATL and more recently his supporting role in American Gangster, T.I. holds his own on screen. Now if he can just stay out of trouble we might get to see more of him.
Hit Song: Be Easy
Chris Bridges is a Grammy Award-winning rapper. He is also the highest-selling Southern hip hop artist of all time with over 11 million records sold in the United States. Though not very seasoned in the acting profession, Ludacris was surprisingly well regarded in his supporting role in Crash and Hustle & Flow and also his guest role in an 2007 episode of Law & Order. As such, I’ll give him a pass for being involved in Fred Claus. He is cast in the upcoming movies Max Payne and RocknRolla.
Hit Songs: Yeah!, Stand Up.
Tracy Marrow is a Grammy Award winning rapper, actor, and author. He is credited with helping create gangsta rap in the late 1980s and created more controversy in 1993 with the release of the song Cop Killer. After well received performances in New Jack City, Surviving The Game and Trespass he did a stint of straight to DVD and low budget movies. In 2000 he settled into the role of a police officer on the hit TV series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He is cast in the upcoming movie Thira.
Hit Songs: Colors, Cop Killer
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. is a Grammy Award Winning hip hop artist, model and actor. He starred in significant roles in such films as Smokin’ Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, and Wanted. Not that I followed much of the guy’s music, but Common immediately piqued my interest as a bodyguard in Smokin’ Aces. There’s something about the guy’s voice and delivery that is so cool you can’t turn away. He was also cast as the Green Lantern/John Stewart character in the live adaptation of The Justice League.
Hit Song: Love of My Life
James Todd Smith III is a Grammy Award winning rapper and actor. LL Cool J stands for “Ladies Love Cool James.” He is one of a few hip-hop stars of his era to sustain a successful recording career for more than two decades. He has had starring roles in the movies Any Given Sunday, Deep Blue Sea, Rollerball and The Last Holiday as well as his own long running TV show In the House. As a seasoned actor, LL Cool J easily excels in both fields.
Hit Songs: Radio, Mama Said Knock You Out.
Dante Terrell Smith has been nominated for Golden Globe, Emmy, and Grammy Awards. This is a guy I enjoy in just about anything. In 2002, he played the role of Booth in Topdog/Underdog, a Tony-nominated and Pulitzer-winning Broadway play. He also starred in Monster’s Ball, 16 Blocks, The Italian Job,The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Be Kind Rewind. He won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Vivien Thomas in the HBO film Something The Lord Made. His next movie is Cadillac Records as the famed Chuck Berry.
Hit Song: Universal Magnetic.
Dana Elaine Owens is a rapper, singer and actress. Latifah’s work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination for the hit movie Chicago.
She’s starred in Set it Off, Jungle Fever, Barbershop, The Bone Collector and The Last Holiday. She also starred in the long running TV series Living Single. She is currently a Cover Girl model and Jenny Craig spokesperson. Her latest movie was The Secret Life of Bees.
Hit Song: Ladies First.
O’Shea Jackson is a rapper, actor, screenwriter and producer. Regarded as one of the greatest hip hop artists of all time he began his career as a founding member of the rap group N.W.A. Much like Ice-T and LL Cool J, Ice Cube has been around for a while and certainly has credibility with fans. He had starring roles in smash hits Boys in the Hood and Friday as well as starring roles in Anaconda, The Players Club, (which he directed), Three Kings and Are We There Yet? He produces movies under his Cube Vision production company. His next movies are The A-Team and the title role in Welcome Back, Kotter which he is also producing.
Hit Songs: No Vaseline, Today was a Good Day
Willard Christopher Smith Jr. was half of the wildly successful hip-hop duo Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. He was the first rapper to win a Grammy Award. He then made the successful transition to TV in 1990 and starred in the slightly biopic hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He was also the first rapper to receive an Academy Award Nomination and the only rapper to receive 2 nominations.
This is a guy that keeps churning out great movies like Men in Black, Bad Boys, Independence Day, Ali, I,Robot, The Pursuit of Happiness and Hancock. The only bad choice he made in his acting career was turning down the role of Neo in the mega hit movie Matrix to accept the lead role in the flop Wild,Wild West. He is now considered one of the most powerful people in Hollywood and with his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith currently produce TV and movie projects.
Hit Songs: Parents Just Don’t Understand, Git Jigga Wit it.
Contributor: MT
.2 James C
2Pac would have absolutely been on the list if he was still a living rapper/actor which this list only included.
10. Aadilz
Although a good actor,I never considered Mark walberg a real rapper.
11. Ren
Dre, Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Xzibit are one dimensional, bad actors and thus don't qualify for this list.
Thanks for all of your comments.
You cant even say method man is a bad actor seeing as the wire was one of the best shows ever
well, i wouldnt say method man is a bad actor per se, he was actually pretty good in the Wire. But he’s right, he was one dimensional. A gansta rapper playing a Baltimore drug dealer? Gee, what a stretch!
WILL SMITH FTW!!!
Great list, except 2pac isn’t there
what? no SWAT for LL Cool J?
not a starring role, but still…
GUNS
t.i. rulez
heavy guns
No Alvin Joiner (Xzibit)?
i cant believe will smith turned down the matrix! he must be kicking himself now…
Marky Mark!!!
I wish Eminem was higher on the list. I was expecting to see Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and 2 Pac. Some of your choices for Hit Songs were a little weird. The song Forget about Dre was featuring Eminem and he’s had other really good songs that he did on his own. The same thing with Ludacris and Yeah! That was Usher ft. Ludacris and Lil’ Jon.
For #3 Queen Latifah – what about adding her role in Chicago? It allowed her to use her talented voice along with her acting abilities.
Thank you I agreed the Queen should be #2 your list is so off, T.I. really??? no Ice T should be before Ice Cube and Luddy should be at the bottom, where is M.C. Lyte????
I think you could find some room for Method Man who more than holds his own as ‘Cheese’ amongst some seriously great acting in ‘The Wire’.
Mark Wahlberg?
While we’re at it, can someone please explain why rappers don’t use their real names? (Will Smith half excepted.)
astraya- probably for the same reason Bob Dylan and John Wayne and countless other musicians and actors don’t use their real names.
I heard Will Smith wasn’t a good rapper….could have been from a hate list though. Still, saw that coming.
I can’t believe you left out the best one by far. Vanilla Ice in his epic film “Cool as Ice”. To think I was just starting to like this list only to find that Vanilla Ice was left out!!!!
Oh and you forgot I am Legend in his list of great movies.
I can’t believe you forgot about Queen Latifah’s role in Hairspray. Not only does it showcase her acting skills, it shows that she isn’t afraid to belt it!
@ Ghidoran
Will Smith can rap pretty well, it is the subject matter of his music that most people don’t care for. Most of his songs have no edge to them, they are kid friendly. Also he caused an upset when he won a Grammy Award over Public Enemy. Most people think he won because he was the “safe” Black Rapper and Public Enemy was definitely not.
astraya-
you’d be surprised to find how many actors don’t use their real names either.
as for the list…it’s a pretty good one. I think that Marky Mark certainly deserves a spot on the list. I might replace ludacris with him. luda has shown himself to be a horrid actor (who was also in 2Fast 2Furious along with fred claus, either of which should automatically disqualify him)
Ludacris is a grat actor. I loved him when he was on Law And Order SVU. Ice T is also amazing on that show.
Kyran Wray,
Will Smith in the Matrix?
“Hell no, you did not just bend that spoon at me!”
No Hulk Hogan?
Where’s the Tupac!
his role in juice was sick definitly shoulda been one
Marky Mark too
I wouldve suggested Marky Mark over Eminem. I dont see him as an actor at all. Mark Wahlberg is a terrific actor. Or even Method Man.
Hmmm… I’m curious to see if there are any actors turned rappers (shoe on the other foot thing)
eminem’s kinda ok..will is good..
Didnt the Fat Boys do a movie?
You can tell this list was made by someone who saw some of these rappers in movies but didnt really know about them. Those are by far TI and Ludacris Hit Songs, and Common doesnt even sing Love of My Life thats Erykah Badu.
Forgot to mention Will Smith in I am legend, and I definatly agree Mark Wahlberg needs to be up there
Guns don’t kill people, shouty, angry, black men, turned turgid actors in doggerel film do!
When I saw the title for this list, I immediately thought of Mark Wahlberg and was suprised to not see him on the list.
Xzibit was good in gridiron gang
hahaha..Snoop. Old School.
Snoop! Snoop-a-loop!
sorry.. MT I’d like to give my undying thanks for that picture of LL Cool J.
Marky Mark should definitely be up there. Come on, feel the Vibrations!
what about the big man shaq???? he rapped and dont forget his great box office hit shazzam!!!
Long live the Queen! She deserves her place on the list.
I definitely think Tupac deserves a spot on this list. Maybe replace Eminem with 2Pac based soley on the films they’ve each done.
I’d say Marky Mark would be mandatory for this list, although his rap cred is not as significant as the others on this list.
Otherwise, very nice.
One other thing- under Will Smith, it’s “Jiggy” not “Jigga.”
The only person I think this list is missing is DMX. I know he hasn’t been in many great roles but he starred in Belly, which is one of the best “gangsta” movies ever made IMO. I guess the fact that he has kinda disappeared disqualifies him?
Will Smith and Queen Latifah are amazing actors. I love Ice-T on Law & Order:SVU. Not a big fan of LL Cool J’s rapping, but he’s an excellent actor and… mmmm… Just a fine piece of eye candy.
Great list!
I agree that Mark Wahlberg and 2pac should DEFINETLY be on the list before most of these other names up here. I think Will Smith is an awesome actor, and coincidently I was just last night talking about how good of an actor Mos def is, he’s just such a natural. ice- t is really good too it’s funny how he’s played a cop for so long after realeasing cop killer though. lol…as for everyone else, Luda is alright, not really of fan of LL or his movies,the same goes for queen latifah, ice cube pretty much plays the same role in every movie nothing exciting ( funny in all the fridays though), T.I and Common look like they can definetly have a bright future on the big screen, and I’m a huge fan of Eminem’s music but I feel like he really shouldn’t be on the list for 8 mile since it really wasn’t much more than him being him really.
Mark Wahlberg is by far the best singer turned actor.
What about DMX? He had a huge rap career with Ruff Riders although I am not personally a huge fan of his rapping I do however enjoy his acting skills tremendously. Never Die Alone….Great movie: Drama, Violence, Love….Then there is Romeo Must Die (which also featured Jet Li)….Cradle to the Grave (featuring the beautiful Gabrielle Union)…I think he has earned his place on this list!!
Okay this is so funny. Ice T made the song Cop Killer and later became a fictional cop in Law and Order.
MT, I know it’s probably a generational thing, but Rap has never appealed to me as music…well, neither has Country, so maybe it’s just a matter of taste…but I *do* have to admit that I admire most all of these performers as actors!
I have a theory (not in the scientific sense), that truly talented people in one art, are usually talented in other arts as well. I’ve seen it in practice over and over.
Musicians who act. Writers who paint. Painters who play music.
My entire family are artists, each one has a different “major” art, but each one also has several peripheral talents. That’s what I’m seeing in the list above.
Some of these performers are such great actors that I have to wonder if acting isn’t their main talent, with music their peripheral talent.
Just a thought.
astraya, about the names: You’d be shocked at some of the names of the old big-time stars!
Shocked, I tell you, shocked!
segue: I’d like to see that list – 20 Old-Time Stars with Shocking Names.
Will Smith’s acting has gotten lazy in his last few movies (didn’t see Hancock, so I can’t judge that one). I, Robot was lame, partly because of him (partly because of the stupid looking robots).
Oh, I agree with some about Eminem’s mention. I love Eminem’s music and I think he did a great job, but then he was basically playing himself – and it was only the once.
I would’ve added Mark Wahlberg if the list needed a token white guy.
I didn’t think I was going to be interested in this list, but by the end I was. I think maybe the order could be switched, at least 5-10, but I enjoyed this list. (Would check on those hits, too.)
How many albums did Marky Mark put out? 1, maybe 2? I don’t think he was established enough to be considered a rapper turned actor, more like an actor who started by rapping (and modeling).
48. segue: I agree with your tastes, there. I won’t dismiss a song because it’s country or rap, but it’s not something I’m drawn to.
MT – although not a modern rapper, marky wahlberg definitely at least attempted to be a rapper. you could make the same argument about common. although he does some rap, the primary basis of his music is R&B rather than rap.
robneiderman ~ I agree. I am Legend was such a disappointment. It could have been so much better.
will smith is one of the best actors out there. cause he can do any movie genre and be good at it
NO!
You did not just misspell “Gettin JiggY with It” did you?
Tragedy.
Sheer Tragedy.
I can’t believe no one mentioned “Six degrees of Seperation.” That was far and away Will smith’s best role in a movie, and it was definately one of his first.
Also, Mark Wahlberg has been in some pretty good movies (remember him in “Fear”), and the Funky Bunch was definately hip hop if not rap.
Lastly, DMX and Nas gave pretty decent performances in “Belly”, so that should get an honorable mention.
No love for Flava Flav? His sitcom is terrible, but his groups’ music helped pave the way for everyone on this list.
Yeah Boi!
And Andre 3000 (OutKast / Revolver, ATL) is just plain cool at everything he does. Hey Ya!
Yes! I second the vote for Andre! He’s a talented musician and a talented actor. Didn’t he make a baby with Erica Badu? She’s been in some movies, too, I think.