Actors you didn't know were also musicians

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Zoe Kravitz​

This may not be too surprising, given who Kravitz’s parents are. Her dad, Lenny Kravitz, is, of course, a successful musician, and her mom, Lisa Bonet, has made some music as well. Zoe has been making music since she was a teenager, and she’s currently the frontwoman for a duo called Lolawolf, which released one album in 2014.

 

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Maya Rudolph​

Rudolph is also the child of a musician. Her mother is the late Minnie Riperton, best known for the '70s hit song “Lovin’ You.” Before Rudolph got her big break on “Saturday Night Live,” she was a member of the band The Rentals. She did backing vocals and played a bit of keyboard. You can even see her in a couple of music videos from the ‘90s.

 

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Michael Shannon​

Can you imagine the weird intensity that Shannon would bring to music? He’s the singer and lyricist for an indie rock band called Corporal. It formed in 2002 but didn’t release its first album until 2010. The band also released a single in 2012 called “Obama” in support of Barack Obama’s run for reelection.

 

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Michael Cera​

Cera has been acting since he was a kid, so where has he found the time to learn to play music? He’s been a member of two indie rock bands, one called Mister Heavenly, and one called The Long Goodbye. Cera plays bass in these bands, and he also played bass and sang backup vocals on songs from the “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” soundtrack. That also happens to be a movie in which he played a musician.

 

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Kevin Bacon​

We all know about Bacon’s extensive film career. There’s a reason why the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a thing. We wonder if there’s a way to play that game in the world of music as well. Kevin and his brother, Michael, have a band called The Bacon Brothers. They’ve released six albums, and they even tour sometimes.

 

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Katey Sagal​

In the ‘70s, Sagal was a member of a rock band called The Group With No Name. She provided vocals on its one album, “Moon Over Brooklyn,” in 1976. Then Sagal got into acting, featuring in shows like “Married…with Children” as Peg Bundy and “Futurama” as Leela. Eventually, she would get back to being a vocalist, releasing a couple of albums over the years. Also she provided a song for the soundtrack for “Silent Rage,” a Chuck Norris film.

 

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Jason Schwartzman​

Schwartzman comes from an acting family. His mother is Talia Shire, which makes Francis Ford Coppola his uncle. And yet he has spent time as a musician as well. He was the drummer in the band Phantom Planet. Yes, he performed on its hit song, “California.” He left the band several years ago, but he still makes music as a solo artist on occasion.

 

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Juliette Lewis​

Lewis has appeared in movies such as “Whip It” and “Natural Born Killers.” She also has a musical streak running through her. Lewis was the frontwoman for the band Juliette and the Licks, which released three albums. The band had some rock music pedigree to it, though. Its drummer was Patty Schemel, best remembered from Hole.

 

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Jada Pinkett-Smith​

The Smith’s are a musical family. Will Smith was the Fresh Prince. Willow first rose to prominence with her song “Whip My Hair.” Jaden makes music too. Jada is a musician in her own right, though. She has been the frontwoman for the heavy metal band Wicked Wisdom.

 

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Hugh Laurie​

Laurie would occasionally play the piano on the sketch show that helped break him out in England, “A Bit of Fry and Laurie.” However, few people outside of America knew Laurie as anything other than Dr. Gregory House for many years. For them, their first awareness of Laurie’s musical interest would have come from his 2011 album, “Let Them Talk.” It actually topped the blues charts in the United States, but how many of you are following the blues charts?

 

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Brie Larson​

When she was young, Larson’s interest in music and acting seemed pretty equal. She even signed a record deal as a teenager, putting out one album in 2005 called “Finally Out of P.E.” It did not sell well, and Larson has expressed displeasure with the way the recording industry works. Though around that time she promised new music was coming to fans on MySpace (yes, this was a while ago,) she started to get more acting gigs, and now she has an Oscar. She hasn’t released any music since.

 

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Alyssa Milano​

You know some actors do ads overseas, often in Asia, because they get a ton of money. But nobody over in America sees those ads, and that was especially true back before the rise of the internet. Milano is sort of the musical equivalent of that. In the ‘90s she signed a five-album deal with a Japanese recording company. This was done with intent, because she didn’t want her pop albums released in the United States.