The Rocky Road from Pop Diva to Big Screen Success: A Timeline
The reviews are in and the general consensus is that Lady Gaga’s film debut in Bradley Cooper’s remake of “A Star is Born” is one for the ages and has the potential to bring her Oscar glory on March 4, 2019. As we await the film’s nationwide release, let’s take a look at all of the pop divas that preceded her in making their bid for big screen stardom.
5/12/1967: Cher’s legendary film career gets off to a rocky start with Good Times.
Cher was one week shy of her 21st birthday when this musical comedy film got released. It was a commercial and critical failure for her and her husband/musical partner Sonny Bono (who co-starred in the film). She made a second — and equally unsuccessful — bid for film stardom with 1969’s Chastity (which Sonny wrote and produced). After a 13-year-break, a Sonny-less Cher returned with a supporting role in the adaptation of the Broadway hit Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. The well-received turn kicked off a spectacular five year run that included her Oscar-nominated turn in 1983’s Silkwood, 1985’s Mask, and 1987’s trifecta of Suspect, The Witches of Eastwick, and Moonstruck (for which she won the Best Actress Oscar). In the over 30 years that have passed since her Oscar win, she has only had significant roles in 5 films — 1990’s Mermaids, 1996’s Faithful, 1999’s Tea with Mussolini, 2010’s Burlesque, and 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
9/18/1968: Barbra Streisand has one of the most impressive debuts in film history with her Oscar-winning turn in Funny Girl.
Five years after releasing her smash recording debut The Barbra Streisand Album, which went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, the songbird supreme made an equally stunning film debut in this adaptation of the Broadway musical. She won the Best Actress Oscar (famously tying with Katharine Hepburn in the only high profile tie in Oscar history) and the film is now widely regarded as one of the greatest musicals ever made. She went on to star in a host of successful films throughout the 1970s, including The Owl and the Pussycat, What’s Up, Doc?, The Way We Were, and the second remake of A Star is Born. She wrote, directed, and produced 1983’s Yentl, 1991’s The Prince of Tides, and 1996’s The Mirror Has Two Faces. In the last 20 years she has only appeared on the big screen three times — in 2004 and 2010 as Ben Stiller’s mother-in-law in the sequels to Meet the Parents and opposite Seth Rogen in 2012’s road comedy The Guilt Trip.
10/12/1972: Diana Ross makes a stunning (and Oscar-nominated) film debut as music legend Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues.
When R&B legend and former Supremes lead singer Diana Ross was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her film debut, it was notable for two reasons. Only one black woman had ever been nominated in the category before her (Dorothy Dandridge) and she was one of two black women nominated in the category that year (Cicely Tyson being the other). Ross followed up the film with turns in 1975’s Mahogany and 1978’s The Wiz. These performances were decidedly less acclaimed than her first, but are indelibly etched into pop culture. Since 1978, she has only acted twice — both in made-for-television movies.
6/16/1978: Olivia Newton-John makes her (American) film debut in the blockbuster adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease.
Prior to the release of Grease, Olivia Newton John appeared in the obscure Australian family film called Funny Things Happen Down Under (1966) and the obscure British musical Toomorrow (1970). Although technically not her film debut, Grease was her first American film and the first film to be released after the launch of her successful musical career. Her turn as Sandy opposite John Travolta’s Danny is incredibly iconic. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for either her follow-up starring roles in 1980’s bizarrely misconceived Xanadu (which tragically served as the legendary Gene Kelly’s final film) or the 1983 reunion with Travolta entitled Two of a Kind. Since 1983, she has sporadically acted in minor supporting roles in low-budget films.
11/9/1979: Bette Midler’s big screen career kicks off with her Oscar-nominated turn in The Rose.
Six years after picking up the Grammy for Best New Artist for her classic debut The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler stunned Hollywood with her raw and affecting turn as a self-destructive 1960s rock star in The Rose. The film, loosely based on the life and career of Janis Joplin, was a commercial success and was nominated for 4 Oscars. Midler went on to have a long and successful film career, particularly throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Highlights include Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, Big Business, Beaches (arguably her most famous film role), For the Boys (which earned her a second Oscar nomination), Hocus Pocus, and The First Wives Club. In the last 20 years, she has appeared sporadically in some tepidly received comedies.
12/19/1980: Dolly Parton’s film career kicks off with the comedy classic 9 to 5.
Thirteen years after Dolly’s legendary country music career began, she teamed up with Hollywood A-listers Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin for the critically acclaimed blockbuster feminist comedy 9 to 5. The film — and her performance — is deeply ingrained in pop culture. Parton didn’t stop there. She went on to play opposite Burt Reynolds in 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Sylvester Stallone in 1984’s Rhinestone, and Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, and Darryl Hannah in the 1989 classic Steel Magnolias. Since then, she has only appeared in a major on-screen role twice — 1992’s Straight Talk and 2012’s Joyful Noise.
3/29/1985: Madonna shines as a Bohemian drifter in the screwball comedy hit Desperately Seeking Susan.
1985 was a quite the year for Madonna. She was at the height of her success thanks to the 1984 album Like a Virgin and she had not one but three films get released. She had a cameo in the forgettable drama Vision Quest and a long-lost independent film called A Certain Sacrifice that she had starred in before her music career took off went straight to video. But it was her performance as the titular Susan in the hit comedy Desperately Seeking Susan that served as her true film debut. Although most of the acclaim went to her co-star Rosanna Arquette, she was more than competent in the film. She followed up the film with a string of high profile failures including Shanghai Surprise and Who’s That Girl. She then redeemed herself with supporting turns in the Hollywood blockbusters Dick Tracy and A League of Their Own and finally gained critical appreciation for her turn in the adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Weber Broadway musical Evita (for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress, but famously failed to secure an Oscar nomination). Since Evita, she has had two unsuccessful bids at acting (Razzie-winning turns in The Next Best Thing and Swept Away) and two unsuccessful bids at directing (Filth & Wisdom and W.E.).
11/25/1992: Whitney Houston struck gold with the romantic thriller mega-hit The Bodyguard.
The late, great Whitney Houston’s film career started 7 years after the release of her blockbuster self-titled debut album with The Bodyguard. She starred opposite Kevin Costner, who was red-hot at the time thanks to a 5 year string of smash hits that included The Untouchables, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and JFK. The film was poorly received by critics (it was nominated for 7 Razzies), but it grossed an astonishing $411 million worldwide (which would be $738 million after adjusting for inflation) and spawned a soundtrack that went on to become one of the Top 5 best selling albums of all time. She followed it up with two other films that failed to wow critics, but did solid work at the box office and spawned very popular soundtracks to which Houston contributed — 1995’s Waiting to Exhale (opposite Angela Bassett) and 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife (opposite Denzel Washington). She made her fourth and final appearance on the big screen in 2012’s Sparkle, which was released after her tragic death.
7/23/1993: Janet Jackson makes her film debut opposite Tupac Shakur in Poetic Justice.
Although she appeared on numerous sitcoms like Good Times and Diff’rent Strokes as a child, Janet Jackson made her film debut as a 27-year-old in Poetic Justice. Directed by John Singleton (who had recently become the first black person ever to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar for Boyz in the Hood) and co-starring rap legend Tupac Shakur, the film earned mixed reviews and did mild business at the box office but earned Jackson a fair amount of respect — including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Since then, she went on to star opposite Eddie Murphy in the blockbuster sequel to The Nutty Professor and three moderately successful Tyler Perry films.
4/27/2001: Mary J. Blige makes a quiet film debut in Prison Song 16 years before her Oscar-nominated turn in Mudbound.
Hip-hop icon Mary J. Blige made her film debut in the little-seen 2001 drama Prison Song, playing the mother of a giftedAfrican-American boy with a supremely disadvantaged upbringing. After some sporadic appearances in films (most notably Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself and Rock of Ages) and television (most notably on Empire and How To Get Away with Murder), she hit it big in Netflix’s 2017 historical drama Mudbound, for which she received not one but two Oscar nominations (Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song).
9/21/2001: Mariah Carey’s career is temporarily derailed by the Razzie-winning Glitter.
Even for a Mariah admirer like myself, there’s no denying that her film debut in Glitter was an epic disaster. In addition to being poorly conceived and executed by its creative team it had the spectacular misfortune of having its release coincide with the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the very public nervous breakdown of its star. She won the Razzie for Worst Actress a few months later and became a punchline. Many thought her career would never recover, before she made a spectacular musical comeback in 2005. She eventually managed to redeem herself as an actress as well, giving several well-received against-type supporting turns in ensemble films —as a tough-talking Long Island waitress mixed up with the mob in WiseGirls, as an aspiring songwriter with an abusive husband in Tennesee, as a compassionate social worker in Lee Daniel’s Oscar-winning Precious, and as the deeply traumatized wife of a cotton farmer in The Butler.
2/15/2002: Britney Spears follows in Mariah’s footsteps with her Razzie-winning film debut Crossroads.
Britney Spears fared similarly to Mariah’s with her film debut that came along 5 months later. It was similarly critically maligned as a “cliched vanity project” and also won the Razzie for Worst Actress. In contrast to Glitter, it at least managed to turn a profit. After the failure of Crossroads, Britney has yet to act again.
7/26/2002: Beyonce Knowles makes her film debut in Austin Powers in Goldmember.
Rather than take the risk of having a star vehicle built around her (a la Mariah and Britney), Beyonce jumped on a well-known property with a built-in fan base. She played Foxxy Cleopatra, Austin Power’s sexy sidekick in the 3rd entry in the spy spoof franchise. She went on to give competent but unspectacular performances in a series of films including The Fighting Temptations, Cadillac Records, Dreamgirls, and Obsessed. The closest she came to breaking out was her participation in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, which was a box office hit and was nominated for 8 Oscars (winning 2). However, her performance was dwarfed by the award-winning turns by Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy. She has not appeared on screen since 2009.
6/20/2003: Kelly Clarkson’s American Idol win leads to an utterly disastrous film debut in From Justin to Kelly.
Just over one year after Kelly Clarkson became the winner of the first ever season of American Idol and just two months after her hit debut album Thankful was released the disastrous From Justin to Kelly entered and quickly left theaters. She was contractually obligated to star in the spring break musical comedy and now remembers it almost as disdainfully as the critics do. It appears on many lists of the worst films ever made. Clarkson has yet to appear on screen again.
11/24/2010: Christina Aguilera gets some help from Cher in her film debut Burlesque.
Over a decade after picking up the Grammy for Best New Artist, Christina Aguilera made her film debut with Burlesque. She starred opposite legend of song and screen Cher, who was making her first film appearance in well over a decade. The return of Cher to the silver screen overshadowed Aguilera’s acting debut, which was more than competent (and unlike so many others featured on this timeline, didn’t score a Razzie nomination). The film was a campy delight that became a minor box office hit and had a Grammy-nominated soundtrack. Aguilera recently made her second on-screen appearance in the science fiction romance Zoe, which quietly entered and exited select theaters earlier this year.
5/18/2012: Rihanna makes her film debut in the film adaptation of the Hasbro board game Battleship.
For reasons that remain unclear, pop superstar Rihanna chose a brainless, big budget, special effects-laden film based on a child’s board game for her film debut. Her performance as a weapons specialist aboard a naval ship tasked with fighting extraterrestrials won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress. She then took a 5 year break from the big screen and returned with supporting roles in last year’s sci-fi bomb Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and this year’s successful Ocean’s Eight, the all-female reboot of the Ocean’s franchise.
10/5/2018: The third remake of A Star is Born starring Lady Gaga hits the big screen.
10 years and a few months after the #1 Billboard hit “Just Dance” announced her arrival, pop superstar Lady Gaga makes her big screen debut in the fourth iteration of A Star is Born. Directed and written by Bradley Cooper, who also co-stars with her, the film has been a huge hit on the festival circuit and has generated Oscar buzz. It remains to be seen how Gaga’s film career will turn out long-term, but it seems fair to say that her film debut will be more like Barbra’s or Bette’s than Mariah’s or Britney’s.
[Author’s Note: The above list purposefully does not contain artists whose film careers preceded their recording careers (e.g., Jennifer Lopez) or musical artists who have only played bit parts in movies (e.g., Taylor Swift). Oh, and I didn’t include famous male artists because … well, hasn’t enough been written about them?]
