Top 10 Singers Turned Actors of the 80's

Following up my last Top 10 list of Actors turned Singers, I'd like to reverse the roles and list the Top 10 Singers turned Actors.

Once again, the criteria for making this list is a reverse of the last list. They had to first have notoriety as a singer before having notoriety as an actor. They also had to have notoriety for both in the decade of the 80's. That's not to say they also couldn't have had notoriety in other decades.

#10

Phil Collins

Phil Collins, of course, had a great musical career with Genesis and later as a solo artist. Phil also had some pretty good acting chops. He played a pretty memorable role in the 80's tv series Miami Vice, which led to him starring in his own motion picture called Buster. He went on to play in such blockbusters as Hook and The Jungle Book 2.

#9

Sting

Sting is one of those people who probably could do whatever he wanted. He seems to be talented at everything he puts his mind to. Before he was a rock star he was an English teacher.

The trailer up above is from a 1982 movie that I actually haven't seen, but if the trailer tells us anything, it looks as though Sting does a pretty good acting job. Of course when most people think of Sting acting the first thing that comes to mind is Dune. He also played in 1985's The Bride as Baron Charles Frankenstein. I'd like to see Sting in more movies, he's actually pretty good.

#8

Olivia Newton-John

Olivia had two movies in the 80's, Xanadu (above) and Two of a Kind, which was a re-teaming with John Travolta. She played in various TV movies throughout the 90's and 00's. Of course she was in Grease in '78 with Travolta and some guest spots on sitcoms such as Ned and Stacy.

#7

Prince

Most probably think Purple Rain was nothing more than a 2hr music video, but actually the movie was pretty good and Prince does a good job of basically playing himself. He followed this up with Under the Cherry Moon and then a sequel to Purple Rain called Graffiti Bridge.

#6

Madonna

I know, I know.....She's been in quite a few stinkers, but she's actually had a few pretty good movies too. Desperately Seeking Susan (above) was a pretty good start for her, but she followed it up with a couple of bad movies like Shanghai Surprise and Who's That Girl. She came back in the 90's with a few pretty good roles though. She had a blockbuster hit with Dick Tracy, she done a pretty good acting job in A League of Their Own and actually won some critical acclaim for her role as Evita Peron in Evita.

#5

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton burst onto the acting scene in 1980 playing a secretary in 9 to 5. She also was about the only thing watchable in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and in Rhinestone. She really showed off how well she could act in 1989's Steel Magnolias (above). She doesn't do much acting nowadays, but I bet she still has the chops.

#4

David Bowie

I'd love to see David Bowie in more acting roles. He's a great character actor who deserves more roles. He was good in Labyrinth (above) and The Last Temptation of Christ, both in the 80's. In the 70's he was in The Man Who Fell to Earth. He has continued his fine acting all the way to the present. I loved him as Nikola Tesla in 2006's The Prestige with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson.

#3

Barbra Streisand

I'm by no means a Barbra Streisand fan, but you gotta give the devil his due, or her due in this case. Her acting career has spanned 5 decades and she seems to be just as at home in front of and behind a camera as she is behind a microphone. The above trailer is a perfect example of all her talents on display as she wrote, directed, acted and sung the soundtrack for 1983's Yentl.

#2

Bette Midler

Bette Midler in my opinion is even a better actress than a singer. That's saying a lot too. She plays funny with the best of them. She had several hit comedies throughout the 80's and of course one really serious movie called Beaches (above). She hasn't been in a lot of movies in the new 00's, but here's hoping she makes some new comedies in the future.

#1

Cher

Can she act? Of course she can, she won an Oscar for God's sake. She won Best Actress for Moonstruck (above) and was actually nominated once before for Supporting Actress in Silkwood. She had several box office hits throughout the 80's and into the 90's, but has pretty much been on hiatus in the 00's. However, she has 3 new movies coming out in 2010 and 2011.

I'm sure as usual there are some that I missed and if so leave it in the comments below. I hope you enjoyed this list.

I'll be typin' at ya later,

Bob the Blogger