20 Classic Rock musicians who've acted in movies

6 August 2025, 17:25

Radio X looks at those occasions that rock stars turn up in films - and they're not playing themselves!

By Radio X Classic Rock

@xclassicrock

1. John Lennon

   Lennon was actually the first Beatle to take on a genuine acting role, appearing in Richard Lester's satire How I Won The War at the tail end of 1966. He never followed it up, despite showing promise as the laconic Private Gripweed. Between takes, the musician toyed with a song idea about his childhood stomping ground of Strawberry Fields in Liverpool...

   

2. David Bowie

   Bowie had a solid background in drama and mime, appearing in a 1967 short called The Image and his mentor Lindsay Kemp's play Pierrot in Turquoise, which was later televised. The Thin White Duke had his first lead role in Nicholas Roeg's 1976 sci-fi drama The Man Who Fell To Earth, following this up with David Hemmings' Just A Gigolo (1978), The Hunger (1983), Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1984), Absolute Beginners (1986) and a star turn as Andy Warhol in the 1996 biopic Basquiat. A generation loved Bowie as Jareth, the baby-snatching Goblin King in the 1986 fantasy Labyrinth.

   

3. Roger Daltrey

   The Who singer was given the lead role in the Ken Russell movie version of the band's rock opera Tommy in 1975. However, because the titular character was deaf, blind and mute, Daltrey was usually manhandled and guided by the other actors, which included Oliver Reed, Ann Margaret and Tina Turner (see below). Russell cast the frontman in the lead role of his next musical biopic, Lizstomania later the same year, but as Rog told the press, "Liszt is a more difficult part for me, because I have lots of dialogue." Daltrey was on safer ground as the convicted armed robber McVicar (1980), and as Chesney Hawkes' dad in the 1991 drama Buddy's Song.

   

4. Mick Jagger

   There have been many directors who've attempted to capture the Rolling Stone's extraordinary charisma on celluloid, with varying degrees of success. Mick's first outing in front of the cameras was as the infamous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly in 1970, but this was almost immediately overshadowed by his appearance in Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's psychological drama Performance, in which the Stone plays a strung out old rock star. Jagger's next major role was the futuristic thriller Freejack in 1992, followed by appearances in Bent (1997), Enigma (2001), The Man From Elysian Fields (also 2001), The Bank Job (2008) and The Burnt Orange Heresy (2019). Mick almost bagged a role in Werner Herzog's incredible Fitzcarraldo, but the Tattoo You tour took precedence.

   

5. Sting

   The erstwhile Gordon Sumner had a show-stopping role in the film of The Who's Quadrophenia as the "Ace Face" Mod that kick-starts much of the trouble against the Rockers in Brighton, which made great use of the musician's fame as the frontman of The Police. He followed this up with a turn in the controversial Dennis Potter drama Brimstone & Treacle (1982) and David Lynch's Dune (1984). With The Police now out of action, Sting made several high-profile appearances in the likes of Plenty (1985), The Bride (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).

   

6. Iggy Pop

   Mr Osterberg has appeared in such films as Tank Girl (as a weird kangaroo-human hybrid), Jim Jarmusch's Coffee And Cigarettes, John Waters' comedy Cry-Baby (which also starred Johnny Depp), The Crow: City Of Angels and more.

   

7. Gene Simmons

   KISS made their own terrible movie in 1974, the live action cartoon The Phantom Of The Park, but the self-styled Demon acquitted himself with a convincing performance as the baddie in the Tom Selleck sci-fi thriller Runaway (1984). Further roles have followed over the years, including playing a DJ in the satanic slasher Trick Or Treat (1986).

   

8. Meat Loaf

   The rock star had a background in musical theatre, leading to him joining the LA cast of The Rocky Horror Show in 1973. When the movie version was made in Britain in 1974, Meat reprised his role as Eddie, the delivery boy. Following the huge success of his album Bat Out Of Hell, the musician appeared in acting roles in Roadie (1980), Wayne's World (1992), The Gun In Betty Lou's Handbag (1992), Fight Club (1999), The 51st State (2001) and even the Spice Girls vehicle Spice World (1997).

   

9. Ringo Starr

   Everyone applauded Ringo's featured moment in the first Beatles movie A Hard Days Night, prompting filmmakers to centre the follow-up, Help!, around the lugubrious drummer. The offers kept rolling in, from cameos in the likes of Candy (1968) and Blindman (1971) to co-starring with Peter Sellers in The Magic Christian (1969) and with Harry Nilsson in Son Of Dracula (1974). His finest turn was as the jaded old funfair operator in That'll Be The Day (1973) with David Essex, and his last major role was as Atouk in the prehistoric comedy Caveman (1981), where Ringo met his wife Barbara Bach.

   

10. David Johansen

    The New York Dolls frontman had a long and varied career in movies and TV - he was best known for his role as The Ghost Of Christmas Past in the Bill Murray vehicle Scrooged in 1988. Johansen also appeared with Hulk Hogan in the comedy Mr Nanny and showed up in the Mick Jagger movie Freejack (1992).

    

11. Tina Turner

    The iconic soul singer made her acting debut as the demonic Acid Queen in the movie of Tommy (1975), but she earned a place in movie history as Auntie Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Keep an eye out for a Tina cameo in the Arnold Schwarzenegger stinker The Last Action Hero (1993), where she plays the mayor!

    

12. Deborah Harry

    The Blondie singer's first lead role was in the thriller Union City in 1980, which was being filmed just as the band hit the top of the charts with Heart Of Glass. Her apeparance as Nicki Brand opposite James Woods in the gruseome David Cronenberg horror Videodrome (1983) gave her acting skills some further exposure, and Harry would go onto appear in the John Waters comedy Hairspray (1988), New York Stories (1989), Heavy (1995), Cop Land (1997) and many more.

    

13. Keith Richards

    Depp claimed he based his Captain Jack Sparrow character on the Rolling Stones axeman, so who better to play his father in the 2007 movie Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End? Keef reprised the role in 2011's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

    

14. James Taylor

    The singer-songwriter joined forces with The Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson for Monte Hellman's cult 1971 road movie Two Lane Blacktop, in which The Driver (Taylor) and The Mechanic (Wilson) take on a challenge from GTO (Warren Oates) to race across the USA.

    

15. Bob Dylan

    Dylan made his acting debut as "Alias" in the violent Sam Peckinpah western Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973), which also starred musicians Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge. Variety wasn't that complimentary about Dylan's performance, saying his acting was "limited to an embarrassing assortment of tics, smirks, shrugs, winks and smiles." Still, the film gave us Knockin' On Heaven's Door. Dylan's acting roles since then have been confined to the semi-concert film Renaldo & Clara (1978), Hearts Of Fire (1987) and Masked And Anonymous (2003).

    

16. Prince

    The superstar from Minneapolis made an acting appearance early doors when he starred as "the Kid" in Purple Rain in 1984, which was a commercial success, as was the accompanying album. He followed that up with the comedy-drama Under The Cherry Moon in 1986 (which he also directed), and the Purple Rain sequel Graffiti Bridge (1990), which spawned the hit single Thieves In The Temple.

    

17. Lemmy

    The Motörhead legend had roles in the Comic Strip feature film Eat The Rich (1987) and the sci-fi horror Hardware (1990, alongside Iggy Pop and Carl McCoy from Fields Of The Nephilim). Lemmy was aligned with the cult movie studio Troma and his final film appearance was in their 2013 flick Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1, playing the President!

    

18. Art Garfunkel

    The angelic vocalist of Simon & Garfunkel forged a successful career as an actor in the early 1970s, appearing in Mike Nichols' Catch-22 (1970) and Carnal Knowledge (1971). He appeared alongside Theresa Russell as the control freak professor in the Nicolas Roeg psychological drama Bad Timing (1980) and had parts in Good To Go (1986), Boxing Helena (1993) and The Rebound (2009).

    

19. Paul Simon

    Simon mainly left the acting to his former partner Art Garfunkel, but he often supplied a deadpan cameo when required, particularly as the record producer in Woody Allen's comedy Annie Hall (1977). The musician made his own film, One-Trick Pony (1980), which included Lou Reed in his first acting role!

    

20. Bob Geldof

    With The Boomtown Rats' musical career starting to cool off in the early 1980s, an approach from, director Alan Parker led to frontman Geldof starring as the alienated rock star in the 1982 feature film adaptation of Pink Floyd's concept album The Wall. Despite this high profile appearance, it wasn't the start of a long acting career as Band Aid came along - although Geldof acted in the French drama Bad Girl in 2012.