These Iconic Black Musicians Transformed Into Hollywood's Biggest Stars

Many Black actors and actresses who got their start in the music industry have been able to transfer their talents onto the big screen, delivering unforgettable performances in Hollywood for decades.

Over the past 40 years, we've witnessed numerous skilled MC's transform into iconic characters in major Hollywood films like Common , who portrayed James Bevel in the Academy award-winning film Selma, and Will Smith. who won Best Actor for his role as Richard Williams in the 2021 film King Richard. Artists like Eve and Nick Cannon thrived on television while singers like Jennifer Hudson reached EGOT status after she served as a producer of the Tony award-winning musical A Strange Loop.

In honor of Black Music Month, iHeartRadio is highlighting talented Black musicians who evolved into Hollywood stars. Each of these artists-turned-actors have starred in at least one impactful motion picture that forever altered their careers, and turned them into hot commodities within the film industry.  

Queen Latifah

First Movie: Jungle Fever (1991)

Stand Out Films: Set It Off (1996), The Bone Collector (1999), Chicago (2002), Beauty Shop (2005), Last Holiday (2006), Just Wright (2010), Girls Trip (2017), The Tiger Rising (2022), Hustle (2022), End of the Road (2022)

TV Shows: Livin’ Single (1993), The Equalizer (2021)


Ice Cube

First Movie: Boyz In Da Hood (1991)

Stand Out Films: Friday (1995), Dangerous Ground (1997), Anaconda (1997), The Player's Club (1998), Three Kings (1999), Next Friday (2000), All About The Benjamins (2002), Barbershop (2002), Barbershop 2: Back In Business (2004), Are We There Yet? (2005), XXX: State of the Union (2005), Are We Done Yet? (2007), 21 Jump Street (2012), 22 Jump Street (2014), Ride Along (2014), Ride Along 2 (2016), Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016), Fist Fight (2017).


Ice-T

First Movie: Breakin’ (1984)

Stand Out Films: New Jack City (1991), Trespass (1992), Surviving The Game (1994), Crazy Six (1998), Equal Standard (2020)

TV Shows: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000), Law & Order: Organized Crime (2023)


Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges

First Movie: The Wash (2001)

Stand Out Films: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Hustle & Flow (2005), Crash (2005), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), John Henry (2020), F9 (2021), End of the Road (2022), Fast X (2023), Dashing Through the Snow (2023)


Eve

First Movie: XXX (2002)

Stand Out Films: Barbershop (2002), Barbershop 2: Back In Business (2004), The Cookout (2004), Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016)

TV Shows: Eve (2003), The Talk (2017) Queens (2021)


Beyoncé

First Movie: Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001)

Stand Out Films: Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), The Fighting Temptations (2003), The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls (2006), Obsessed (2009), The Lion King (2019), Black Is King (2020), Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)


Will Smith

First Movie: Where The Day Takes You (1992)

Stand Out Films: Bad Boys (1995), Independence Day (1996), Men In Black (1997), Enemy Of The State (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), Ali (2001), Men In Black II (2002), Bad Boys 2 (2003), I, Robot (2004), Hitch (2005), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), I am Legend (2008), Men In Black 3 (2012), After Earth (2013), Suicide Squad (2016), Aladdin (2019), Bad Boys For Life (2020), King Richard (2021), Emancipation (2022), Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

TV Shows: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990)


Aaliyah

First Movie: Romeo Must Die (2000)

Stand Out Films: Queen of the Damned (2002) 


LL Cool J

First Movie: The Hard Way (1991)

Stand Out Films: Toys (1992), Out-Of-Sync (1995), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Deep Blue Sea (1999), In Too Deep (1999), Any Given Sunday (1999), Kingdom Come (2001), Rollerball (2002), Deliver Us From Eva (2003), S.W.A.T. (2003), Last Holiday (2006) 

TV Shows: In The House (1995), NCIS (2009), NCIS: Los Angeles (2009), NCIS: Hawai'i (2023)


Jennifer Hudson

First Movie: Dreamgirls (2006)

Stand Out Films: Winnie Mandela (2011), Chi-Raq (2015), Sandy Wexler (2017), Respect (2021), Breathe (2024)

TV Shows: The Jennifer Hudson Show (2022)


Tupac Shakur

First Movie: Juice (1992) 

Stand Out Films: Poetic Justice (1993), Above The Rim (1994), Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), Gang Related (1997)


Naturi Naughton

First Movie: Notorious (2009)

Stand Out Films: Fame (2009), Lottery Ticket (2010), Step Sisters (2018)

TV Shows: Power (2014), Power Book II: Ghost (2020), Queens (2021)


Method Man

First Movie: Cop Land (1997)

Stand Out Films: Belly (1998), How High (2001), My Baby's Daddy (2004), Soul Plane (2004), Red Tails (2012), Vampires vs. The Bronx (2020), On the Come Up (2022)

TV Shows: The Wire (2003), The Deuce (2017), Power Book II: Ghost (2020)


Shad Moss aka Bow Wow

First Movie: Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001)

Stand Out Films: Like Mike (2002), Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Roll Bounce (2005), The Fast & The Furious: Toyko Drift (2006), Lottery Ticket (2010), Madeas Big Happy Family (2011), F9 (2021) 

TV Shows: 106 & Park (2012), CSI: Cyber (2015), Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta (2017)


Janet Jackson

First Movie: Poetic Justice (1993)

Stand Out Films: Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps (2000), Why Did I Get Married? (2007), For Colored Girls (2010) 

TV Shows: Good Times (1977)


50 Cent

First Movie: Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)

Stand Out Films: Home of the Brave (2006), Streets of Blood (2009), Twelve (2010), 13 (2010), All Things Fall Apart (2011), Escape Plan (2013), Den of Thieves (2018), Expend4bles (2023)

TV Shows: Power (2014), For Life (2020), Power Book II: Ghost (2022)


Whitney Houston

First Movie: The Bodyguard (1992)

Stand Out Films: Waiting to Exhale (1995) The Preacher's Wife (1996) Cinderella (1997) Sparkle (2012)


Common

First Movie: Smokin' Aces (2006)

Stand Out Films: American Gangster (2007), Atreet Kings (2008), Wanted (2008), Terminator Salvation (2009), Just Wright (2010), LUV (2012), Now You See Me (2013), Selma (2014), Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), The Hate U Give (2018), The Kitchen (2019), Ava (2020), Alice (2022), Fool's Paradise (2023), Breathe (2024)

Mary J. Blige

First Movie: Prison Song (2001)

Stand Out Films: I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009), Rock of Ages (2012), Mudbound (2017), Respect (2021) 

TV Shows: The Umbrella Academy (2019), Power Book II: Ghost (2020)


T.I.

First Movie: ATL (2006)

Stand Out Films: American Gangster (2007), Takers (2010), Identity Thief (2013), Get Hard (2015), Ant-Man (2015), Roots (2016), Sleepless (2017), Krystal (2017), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Cut Throat City (2020), Monster Hunter (2020), Fear (2023)


Snoop Dogg

First Movie: Half Baked (1998)

Stand Out Films: Urban Menace (1999), Hot Boyz (1999), Baby Boy (2001), Training Day (2001), Bones (2001), The Wash (2001), Soul Plane (2004), Meet The Blacks (2016), The Underdoggs (2024)

TV Shows: BMF (2021)


André 3000

First Movie: Hollywood Homicide (2003)

Stand Out Films: Be Cool (2005), Four Brothers (2005), Revolver (2005), Idlewild (2006), Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013)


Nick Cannon

First Movie: Whatever It Takes (2000)

Stand Out Films: Men In Black II (2002), Drumline (2002), Love Don't Cost A Thing (2003), Underclassman (2005), Roll Bounce (2005), The Killing Room (2009), Chi-Raq (2015), The Misfits (2021)

TV Shows: All That (1998), The Nick Cannon Show (2002), Nick Cannon Presents: Wild N' Out (2005), America's Got Talent (2009), Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013), The Masked Singer (2019)


Kid Cudi

First Movie: Maniac (2011)

Stand Out Films: Need For Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Vincent N Rozzy (2017), Crisis (2021), Don't Look Up (2021), X (2022), Crater (2023)

TV Shows: Entergalactic (2022), Knuckles (2024)


Nicki Minaj

First Movie: Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)

Stand Out Films: The Other Woman (2014) Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016)