Non-Actor Vehicle: Difference between revisions

* Swimmer Esther Williams started a similar screen career with a supporting part in ''[[Andy Hardy]]'s Double Life''. A series of star vehicles followed, starting with ''Bathing Beauty''.

* Carol Heiss in ''[[Snow White and The Three Stooges]]'' was an attempt to make her the next Sonja Henie. It unfortunately didn't work out that well; [[The Three Stooges]] weren't even brought in until the studio realized Heiss couldn't carry the movie.

* [[Britney Spears]] in ''Crossroads''.

* Cindy Crawford in ''[[Fair Game]]''.

** What many people don't realize is that David Bowie was an acting student ''before'' he started making music. So this is somewhat of an aversion.

* [[Dwayne Johnson]] in ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy Returns]]'' and ''[[The Scorpion King]]'' partially counts - it was more of a 'breakthrough to non-wrestling fans' rather than a direct example of this trope. He's had a decent acting career since then, to the point that he's not even credited as "The Rock" anymore.

* [[Randy Couture]] in the [[Direct to Video|straight to DVD]] sequel to ''The Scorpion King'', subtitled "Rise Of A Warrior".

* [[Roddy Piper]] in ''[[They Live]]!'' He [[Throw It In|ad-libbed]] one of the [[Chew Bubblegum|most memorable lines]] in the film and helped choreograph its [[Fight Scene|(in)famous fistfight]].

* Howie Long in ''Firestorm''.

* Harry Houdini in ''[[The Master Mystery]]''.

* Luciano Pavarotti in ''Yes, Giorgio''.

* [[Madonna]] in ''Desperately Seeking Susan'', where she played a pop musician. Led to an almost two-decades-long acting career, in which she generally did well if she was part of an ensemble (as in ''[[Dick Tracy]]'', ''[[A League of Their Own]]'', and ''[[Evita]]''), and... didn't if she was appearing in a star vehicle (as in ''everything else'' she ever did).

* Jordan's then-teammate Dennis Rodman in ''[[Double Team]]'' (second-billed to [[Jean Claude Van Damme]]) and ''[[Simon Sez]]''.

* Whichever wrestler is starring in any given [[WWE|WWE Films]] project:

* Ray Allen in ''He Got Game''.

* [[The Rolling Stones|Mick Jagger]] in ''Performance'' and ''Ned Kelly''.

* College football star (and high-profile NFL flop) Brian Bosworth in ''Stone Cold''. He's done a fair amount of supporting roles since then.

* Brazilian soccer star Breno Mello and track & field athlete Adhemar da Silvain in ''Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus)''.

* Jackie Robinson in ''The Jackie Robinson Story''.

* Doris Day, before starring in ''Romance on the High Seas'', was known only as a singer.

* Taylor Firth in the 2010 remake of ''Ice Castles''.

* [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] in ''Hercules In New York''.

* [[Music/The Village People|The Village People]] and Bruce Jenner in ''[[Cant Stop The Music]]''; the former also overlaps with [[Autobiographical Role]].

* In France, ''AB Productions'' was specialized on this... [[Macekre|Among other things.]]

* [[Mickey Spillane]] in ''Ring of Fire''.

* [[Disney Channel]] sitcoms like to do this a lot. Isn't it convenient that all of their stars can sing and "act"?

* Rudolf Nureyev (ballet dancer) as Rudolph Valentino (silent movie star) in ''Valentino''.

* Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage, as Catherine Weaver in [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles|Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles]].

* Bette Midler in ''The Rose''; though she had dabbled in the theatre in her early career, it was her first movie role. She went on to have a long and fairly successful career as an actress, reaching her peak in both fields at about the same time (the late [[The Eighties|1980s]] and early [[The Nineties|1990s]]).

* Korean Television Stations are frequently used as places where singing idols try and diversify their entertainment value:

** The [[Dogged Nice Guy]] in ''[[Boys Before Flowers]]'' is Kim Hyun Joon from the group [[SS 01]]. He shows up again in ''[[Playful Kiss]]''.

** Almost every lead character in ''[[Dream High]]'' has a [[Real Life]] career in a singing group. This is not surprising, though, as the premise of the [[Korean Drama]] is a bunch of kids at a high school who specializes in the entertainment business (like the 1980's show "Fame").

** Mickey Yoochun, from the music groups TVXQ and JYJ, played the [[Lonely Rich Kid]] in ''[[Sungkyunkwan Scandal]]''.

** ''[[You Are Beautiful]]'' has several, including Lee Hong Ki from the group FT Island and Jung Yong Hwa from CD Blue. In a non-musical reversal, Jang Guen Suk started as a model before the show, and just released his first music album in April 2011.

* John Wayne Bobbitt: ''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|Uncut]]''.

* [[Steven Soderbergh]] likes this trope, apparently stemming from his experience working with non-actors in the 2005 indie film ''Bubble''.

** ''[[The Girlfriend Experience]]'' stars porn actress Sasha Grey as a high-class callgirl.

** ''[[Haywire]]'' stars [[Useful Notes/Mixed Martial Arts|Mixed Martial Arts]] covergirl Gina Carano.

** Sodebergh's use of this trope actual started with his surreal 1996 opus ''Shizopolis'' which stars the man himself in not one but two roles. Its probably one of the more interesting examples of the trope because underneath all its weird and surreal humor its really about Soderbergh examining the crumbling of his marriage (his real life ex-wife appears as his characters wife) as well as his anxieties about the future of his directing career in the wake of a series of flops following his debut ''Sex Lies & videotape''.

* The 1956 Broadway musical ''Mr. Wonderful'' gave Sammy Davis, Jr. his first starring role; it incorporated a large portion of his nightclub act wholesale.

* Perhaps one of the more interesting examples: director [[Steven Soderbergh]]

 

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