15 Pop Stars Turned Movie Stars

Rihanna

The Pop Star: Burst onto the music scene in 2005 with debut album Music Of The Sun . She hit the big time on our shores with ‘Umbrella’ in 2007. The song was originally penned for Britney Spears, who decided against it (this was around the time she attacked a car with a brollie, after all).

According to Wikipedia, Rihanna has a mezzo-soprano vocal range, which means she’s able to navigate three octaves with no problem.

The Movie Star: After appearing as herself in 2006 cheerleading sequel Bring It On: All Or Nothing , Rihanna made her acting debut this year with Peter Berg’s so-daft-it’s-almost-good Battleship . She plays Petty Officer Cora Raikes, and gets to say “boom” a lot.

Stick To The Day Job? Alright, so Battleship wasn’t exactly earth-shattering (though, hell, it really tried). But Rihanna came away from Berg’s movie with fewer ego-bruises than the likes of Taylor Kitsch. There’s potential there, then – her acting future will no doubt depend on her next movie.

Justin Bieber

The Pop Star: Mop-haired muppet who swept onto the scene in 2010 sporting pearly whites and emo fringe. Tweens were soon swooning over him in their droves (a sure sign of the apocalypse). His greatest contribution to our lives so far? That website packed with pictures of women who look just like him.

The Movie Star: Bieber’s acting gigs have been mostly TV-bound, the pint-sized crooner having appeared in two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

He was also the star of his own big screen documentary, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never , which hints he’s got his sights set on silver screen domination.

Stick To The Day Job? He’s already got a net worth of $105m just from making records, so it’s probably in his interest to stick with the pipe-playing. That said, Bieber didn’t make us want to eat our fists when he appeared on CSI , so there could be something there.

Britney Spears

The Pop Star: Started out as a member of the Mickey Mouse Club (with Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake) before releasing ‘…Baby One More Time’ in 1999. Quickly became a superstar.

Hit a career zenith in 2001 when she danced with a python at the MTV Video Music Awards, before spectacularly crashing and burning in 2007, when she shaved her head and became even more of a tabloid fixture. Later that year she hit back with fittingly-titled new album ‘Blackout’. Her seventh album was released last year.

The Movie Star: Britters made cameos in little-known teen flick Longshot in 2000, and then in Austin Powers In Goldmember as a singing fembot.

It wasn’t until 2002 that she went it alone as the star of Crossroads , a cutesy teen drama about three friends living in small town American.

Stick To The Day Job? The critics weren’t kind to Crossroads , accusing it of having double standards – should a movie about female empowerment really star a singer most famous for her taut torso? Still, Spears makes for a likable lead, meaning this could always be a plan B career for the popstress.

David Bowie

The Pop Star: Made the top five in the UK Singles Chart in 1969 with ‘Space Oddity’, and never looked back. A pioneer of glam rock, Bowie made waves with his outrageous, flamboyant ‘70s alter ego Ziggy Stardust. According to biographer David Buckley, he “challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day”.

The Movie Star: Bowie’s chosen his acting roles with all the zany frivolity of a true eccentric. His feature debut, 1976’s The Man Who Fell To Earth , is a disturbing oddity that bagged him a Saturn Award, while 1983’s The Hunger had him taking on vampires.

Of course, we love him best for his crotch-shoving, camp-y turn as the Goblin King in Labyrinth . “You remind me of the babe…”

Stick To The Day Job? Bowie’s not singing as much as he used to (his last album was 2003’s Reality ), but he’s made some notable screen appearances in recent years – in particular 2006’s The Prestige .

Frankly, we want to see more of him. What we really want is a team up with his director son Duncan Jones ( Moon , Source Code ). Bowie, make it happen…

Cher

The Pop Star: Self-appointed ‘Goddess of Pop’, Cher’s had, shall we say, a varied career that began back in the ‘60s as part of twee husband-and-wife pop duo Sonny & Cher.

They divorced in the late ‘70s and Cher went solo, making a comeback in the ‘80s. Her single ‘Believe’ sold 10 million copies and was the biggest selling record of 1999.

The Movie Star: If the awards are anything to go by, Cher’s one of the most successful pop-stars-turned-actors on the list. She won an Oscar for Moonstruck , having been nommed previously for Silkwood . She also won the Best Actress award at Cannes for Mask , and has numerous Golden Globes dusting up her shelf.

Stick To The Day Job? If she keeps making rubbish like Burlesque , we’d rather she crank out a few more auto-tune records – at least we can tune her out that way.

Justin Timberlake

The Pop Star: Also known as Justin ‘Trousersnake’ (we’re not sure why), Timberlake found success in the late ‘90s as the lead singer in boy band ‘N Sync.

He launched as a solo artist in 2002 with the album Justified , and took a dig at his ex, Britney Spears, with the video for ‘Cry Me A River’. He’s not released an album since 2006.

The Movie Star: After cutting his acting teeth on the likes of Edison , Alpha Dog and Southland Tales , Timberlake established himself as a serious acting contender when he bagged a role in David Fincher’s The Social Network .

Stick To The Day Job? Since Social Network , Timberlake’s struggled to live up to his potential, mainly sticking to forgettable comedies like Bad Teacher and Friends With Benefits .

That said, he’s got natural screen presence, and an innate likeability, which means this probably isn’t the last we’ve seen of him at the cineplexes.

Debbie Harry

The Pop Star: A new wave pop icon, Debbie Harry captured the public’s imagination in 1977 as the lead singer of Blondie. Her two-tone hair and rebellious stage persona earned her a legion of fans, and the band released six albums between ’77 and 1982. Harry’s also released five solo albums.

The Movie Star: Harry first appeared on Broadway with Andy Kaufman in Teaneck Tanzi , then made it big in David Cronenberg’s psycho-sexual Videodrome , which further cemented her cult status.

She’s made numerous, varied appearances since, including John Waters’ original Hairspray , and awesome John Carpenter/Tobe Hooper TV horror Body Bags.

Stick To The Day Job? With her distinctive sex bomb looks, Harry can get away with doing anything – even at the ripe old age of 66.

Mark Wahlberg

The Pop Star: Those pants. That dancing. Those abs. Wahlberg’s bad boy image (he claims he got in trouble with the Boston Police over 20 times as a youngster) served him well as rap singer Marky Mark in the early ‘90s.

The younger brother of Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids On The Block, Marky Mark released just two albums (in 1991 and 1992) before hanging up his baggy trousers.

The Movie Star: Despite an inauspicious debut in TV movie The Substitute (which he followed up with silly teen thriller Fear ), Wahlberg’s become one of Hollywood’s most interesting talents.

He’s had loads of woeful, woeful misfires (uh, Rock Star , Planet Of The Apes , The Happening , Max Payne ), but the good stuff on his CV is solid gold – The Departed , Boogie Nights , The Other Guys , The Fighter …

Stick To The Day Job? Wahlberg’s getting more and more consistent as the years go on, proving he can do both funny and furious. We can’t wait to see him in Ted . We've already got 'The Thunder Song' stuck in our head.

Beyonc

The Pop Star: A native of Houston, Texas, Beyoncé Knowles has been singing since she was a kid. When she was selected to be a part of girl group Girl’s Tyme (later Destiny’s Child), her father quit his job to become the band’s manager, and established a rigorous boot camp to train the girls up.

Between 1992 and 2000, Destiny’s Child became one of the most successful girl groups ever, and Beyoncé went on to acclaim as a solo artist.

The Movie Star: Knowles landed her first big acting gig in 2002 as Austin Powers’ squeeze in Goldmember . She’s basically doing a Pam Grier send-up, but it works mostly thanks to Knowles’ winsome smile.

Other screen credits include the decent (2006’s Dreamgirls ) and the dreadful (2006’s Pink Panther ). She did her best screen work in Cadillac Records , playing soul singer Etta James.

Stick To The Day Job? Beyoncé’s acting career fizzed out spectacularly with 2009’s terrible revenge thriller Obsessed , and it seems she’s now taking time out to be a mum. After the promise of her earlier acting roles, though, we’d like to see her back up there sometime.

Will Smith

The Pop Star: Better known in the late 1980s under stage name The Fresh Prince, a much-skinnier Smith was greeted with modest success as a rapper.

What really kicked him into households, though, was the TV series based on his rapping alter-ego. The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air ran between 1990 and 1996, and successfully turned Smith into a household name.

The Movie Star: Only the coolest action star of the late ‘90s. After making us all laugh as the Fresh Prince, Big Willie made an unlikely transformation into a muscle-bound, one-liner-spouting action hero in the likes of Independence Day , Men In Black and, uh, Wild Wild West .

Stick To The Day Job? Acting is Smith’s day job now. Despite musical comebacks in 1999 ( Willennium ) and 2005 ( Lost And Found ), Smith’s actor through and through. Let’s hope he brings his A game for Men In Black III .

Whitney Houston

The Pop Star: Sold over 170 million albums in a singing career that really kicked off in the mid-80s. Her self-titled album stuck like Velcro to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart for 14 non-consecutive weeks.

More impressively, she’s the only artist in the history of the Billboard 100 to clock in seven consecutive number ones. After very public dabbling with drugs, Houston made a singing comeback in 2009 before her untimely death in February 2012.

The Movie Star: Houston had audiences raving with her iconic acting debut, The Bodyguard , in which she starred opposite Kevin Costner and got to both sing and thesp it up.

She followed Bodyguard up with 1995’s Waiting To Exhale , but after the flopsome Preacher’s Wife and made-for-TV Cinderella , she shied away from screen gigs.

Stick To The Day Job? Houston never managed to find the same success in acting as she did in music, though The Bodyguard rocketed her to even greater superstardom. She’ll be back in cinemas for a final hurrah this year when Sparkle , filmed last year, gets a posthumous release.

LL Cool J

The Pop Star: Born James Todd Smith, LL Cool J (which apparently stands for Ladies Love Cool James) swept onto the scene in 1985 with first album Radio . It was acclaimed as an innovative record, while Cool J was commended as a powerful rapper.

The Movie Star: Though he’d appeared in his own sitcom In The House from 1995, Cool J didn’t make the leap to the big screen until the late ‘90s, when he starred in two high profile horrors. He played a comedy relief cop in Halloween H20 , and a comedy relief chef in Deep Blue Sea .

Stick To The Day Job? A string of flops ( Rollerball , Deliver Us From Eva , SWAT ) meant Cool J’s all but retired from the big screen – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as he seemed to struggle to play anybody except, well, LL Cool J.

Mariah Carey

The Pop Star: Released her first album in 1990, which nabbed her four consecutive number one singles and went multi-platinum.

Most memorable for having the best Christmas song of the last 20 years, with ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. Always gets us in the mood.

The Movie Star: Like you need reminding. Carey crashed into movies with the cringe-worthy Glitter in 2001 (after a tiny role in the equally dreadful The Bachelor ), and was handed a Worst Actress Golden Raspberry for her troubles.

Stick To The Day Job? Pre-2009 we’d have said yes. But then Mariah went and made Precious , scraping off the make-up and delivering a surprisingly raw, emotional turn as a counselor. She’s barely recognisable, but all the better for it. Kudos, Carey, there’s hope for you yet.

Jon Bon Jovi

The Pop Star: Lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which has a total of 11 studio albums to their name (they’ve sold 130m copies worldwide). Having earned a massive income of $125m, the band were decalred the second richest in 2011, only just getting beaten by U2.

The Movie Star: Bon Jovi made a less-than-glamorous debut performance in Young Guns II , when he played ‘long-haired corpse in coffin’.

It didn’t get much better from there, the actor appearing in mostly duds - has anybody actually seen The Leading Man ? Or Homegrown ? Or Cry Wolf ?

Stick To The Day Job? It’s probably a good idea, to be honest. Though he was likeable in the final season of Ally McBeal , Bon Jovi's movie choices have left a lot to be desired.

Madonna

The Pop Star: Saucy songstress whose uniquely raunchy brand of pop took the world by storm in 1982. Since then she’s released 12 albums, sold more than 300 million records the globe over, and become the world’s top-selling female artist of all time.

The Movie Star: The queen of reinvention hasn’t exactly had the most success at the movies. 1985’s Desperately Seeking Susan was a great place to start, but Madge ruined it all with 1993’s horrendous Body Of Evidence .

Things haven’t improved since. Dross like Swept Away meant that in 2010 she received the Raspberry Award for Worst Actress of the Decade…

Stick To The Day Job? It really is advisable. Though Madge is an OK actress (we liked Evita ), when she’s a film’s lead, the film in question generally sinks like a stone. And it's even worse when she's behind the camera...