In the classic movie musical Singin’ in the Rain, Debbie Reynolds plays a woman whose singing voice is used for another actor. But in an ironic twist, Reynolds isn’t actually singing her own songs in the movie either! It's a woman named Betty Noyes. The process of dubbing or even blending voices is still used for actors who don't have the right singing voices for their part, but there are plenty of celebrities who do sing and have showcased their vocal ability both onscreen and off.
The following 17 actors are best known for starring in comedies and dramas, not musicals. But when the time has come for them to belt it out—whether that be on stage, on film, or in a somewhat pushy interview—they were ready. For some actors, this meant practicing hard in order to star in a biopic. Others were stage performers before they became known for their most iconic roles. Some had a good cry and resigned themselves to the fact that they’d have to sing one song for The Hunger Games and be done with it. (Okay, yes, that was just Jennifer Lawrence.)
Read out to find out more about some actors you probably didn’t know were also talented singers, and to check them out in action. And for stars who weren't born with the names that would make them famous, here are 50 Celebrities Whose Real Names You Never Knew.
1 | Robert Pattinson
Debby Wong/ShutterstockRobert Pattinson sings and plays the guitar, and his music has been featured on the soundtracks for a few of his movies. The first Twilight movie includes two of his songs. The soundtrack for his 2008 movie How to Be has three. He sings in the 2018 western Damsel. And, most recently, he performed a song for the sci-fi thriller High Life with the band Tindersticks.
And for more stars who've made adolescent audiences scream, This Was the Most Popular Teen Idol the Year You Graduated.
2 | Sarah Jessica Parker
lev radin/ShutterstockSarah Jessica Parker got her start in musical theater, performing the lead role in Annie on Broadway when she was 14. (This clip shows her singing the song “I Don’t Need Anything But You” from the musical during a 1982 TV special.) More recently, she sang on film when she starred in the drama Here and Now as a singer.
3 | Kerry Washington
s_bukley/ShutterstockHey, Hollywood? Get Kerry Washington into a musical, stat. The actor spoke about her musical past during an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, and they talked about Washington’s audition for the singing group Paltrow was a member of at their high school. She’s also been put on the spot and showed off her voice in a couple interviews.
And for stars who've dabbled in politics, check out 11 Celebrities You Didn't Know Ran for Office.
4 | Meryl Streep
Shutterstock/lev radinWhen it comes to her best known—and most awarded roles—Meryl Streep isn’t doing much singing. That said, she has put her singing voice to use in a few films, including Mamma Mia!, Into the Woods, and Ricki and the Flash. She also recently sang “The Ladies Who Lunch” from Company in honor of Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday while mixing drinks. What can’t she do?
5 | Daniel Radcliffe
Shutterstock/FeatureflashPhotoAgencyDaniel Radcliffe left Hogwarts behind and starred in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway in 2011. While it’s surprising to see him sing, Radcliffe’s dancing is even more impressive. And it’s no wonder, he told The View that he trained for a year before his debut.
For more stars who are more mature than you realized, check out 40 Celebrities You Won't Believe Are Over 40.
6 | Beanie Feldstein
Shutterstock/DFreeBeanie Feldstein is known for her roles in the comedies Lady Bird, Booksmart, and How to Build a Girl, but she’s also performed on Broadway. Feldstein was cast in the 2017 production of the musical Hello Dolly with Bette Midler. The brief scene of her singing in Lady Birdled to her casting, as she explained in a BUILD interview. On YouTube, you can also watch her sing “It Takes Two” from Into the Woods with her best friend, Tony-winner Ben Platt.
7 | Oscar Isaac
Shutterstock/Kathy HutchinsIf you've seen the film Inside Llewyn Davis, where he plays a struggling folk singer, you probably know that Oscar Isaac can sing—yes, that’s really his voice. But he was singing long before his acting career took off. Isaac was the guitarist and singer for a ska band called Blinking Underdogs when he was in college, as reported by Tribeca Film. Then, he was in another band called NightLab. He plays a singer in the 2011 film 10 Years and actually wrote and performed a song for the movie called “Never Had.”
For stars who left the spotlight after seeing some success, check out 15 Stars Who Quit Acting After Hitting It Big.
8 | Joseph Gordon-Levitt
DFree/ShutterstockThere are a ton of videos of Joseph Gordon-Levitt singing to be found on the internet. And even though he writes his own songs and has performed a lot, you may never have heard about it because he’s better known for his acting roles in films like Inception, 50/50, and 500 Days of Summer, which he actually does sing in, briefly. You can even check him out performing with Lady Gaga during a Muppets holiday special.
9 | Reese Witherspoon
lev radin/ShutterstockWhen Reese Witherspoon played June Carter Cash in Walk the Line she did her own performances, after six months of voice and autoharp lessons. Considering she won an Oscar for the role, it all definitely paid off. You can also hear Witherspoon’s skills in the animated movie Sing.
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10 | Tom Hiddleston
Shutterstock/TinseltownTom Hiddleston also sang on film while portraying a real-life singer. While he’s best known as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hiddleston took some time away from the superheroes in 2015 to play Hank Williams in the biopic I Saw the Light. To prepare, he moved in with a musician in Nashville and spent five weeks practicing singing and playing guitar, according to an interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
11 | Christina Applegate
Shutterstock/TinseltownMarried... with Children and Dead to Me star Christina Applegate put her singing skills to use when she starred in the Broadway revival of Sweet Charity in 2005. She also performed a medley of oldies with Carrie Underwood and Kristin Chenoweth during Carrie Underwood: An All Star Holiday Special in 2009. In their segment, she joked that she got her Tony nomination for Sweet Charity “for my high kicks and my charm, not so much for my singing.”
12 | Sarah Hyland
Tinseltown/ShutterstockSarah Hyland played the oldest Dunphy kid, Haley, on Modern Family for 11 years. And during that time, most of her fans were probably unaware that she’s actually a talented singer. In 2016, a video of her singing a cover of the Chainsmokers’ “Closer” went viral, but you can also check her out singing on stage in a couple musicals, including Hair in 2014.
13 | Joaquin Phoenix
Cubankite / Shutterstock.comLike his co-star Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix actually sang himself when he played Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, and he also learned to play guitar. “I’m not John. I don’t have that voice,” Phoenix told the Associated Press in 2005. “It wasn’t easy, but you just think, ‘How is it that you can get there, and it sounds close and it’s not distracting?’”
14 | Keira Knightley
Featureflash Photo Agency/ShutterstockKeira Knightley learned to sing for her movie Begin Again, in which she plays a singer-songwriter. “It wasn’t daunting because I think I was probably really stupid and I didn’t think about it until I got into a studio and went, ‘Oh, I have no idea how to do this,’” Knightley told the BBC in 2014. She added that her method was to just “keep singing and singing until [the people she was working with] stopped wincing.”
15 | Michelle Williams
Shutterstock/lev radinMichelle Williams has been singing all her life and hasn’t been hiding that part of her — you just might not have come across it. Williams played Sally Bowles in the 2014 Broadway revival of Cabaret, and she also sang in the miniseries Fosse/Verdon in which she played dancer Gwen Verdon. “This is everything I've been dreaming of,” she told W Magazine of Fosse/Verdon. “It's like doing a Broadway show, but without working six days a week, eight shows a week."
16 | Sterling K. Brown
Shutterstock/DFreeSterling K. Brown is most widely known for starring as Randall on the drama This Is Us, but he recently lent his singing voice to a very popular TV show. In season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Brown played Reggie and got a chance to sing. The actor was also in Frozen II as Mattias, but while he was originally supposed to have a song in the film, it got cut.
17 | Jennifer Lawrence
Jaguar PS/ShutterstockJennifer Lawrence would probably say that she can’t sing, but that doesn’t mean that she didn’t sing and do a pretty darn good job of it. The Oscar winner sang “The Hanging Tree” for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1. During an interview on The Late Show, Lawrence said that she cried before having to perform the song for the movie, but give it a listen and you’ll see that she pulled it off.
