Discover country superstars who have also starred on the big or small screen as actors like Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, Garth Brooks, and Chris Stapleton.
Reba McEntire and Acting
The “Fancy” singer arguably has the most acting experience out of any country musician. With her hit television show Reba, that lasted six seasons to her random guest appearances in television shows like Young Sheldon,
Reba McEntire‘s first movie was the 1990 sci-fi thriller flick. McEntire portrayed Heather Gummer, the wife of Burt Gummer (played by Michael Gross).
“We filmed it out in the desert in Lone Pine, California,” Reba McEntire recalled. “I would get into the motel around 2 AM, and here they’d come to take me to the set by 4 AM! It would be cold in the morning and evening and scorching hot in the afternoon. It certainly wasn’t glamorous!”
Although it wasn’t glamorous, she loved working with her fellow castmates. Amazingly, her mother was there for some of the filmings as she had to drive her to her concerts in between filming.
“We did our Friday night show at Caesars, got married Saturday afternoon [to her second husband Narvel Blackstock] on a catamaran at Emerald Bay, did our first show, had our wedding reception and then did our 2nd show,” she said. “The next day, I went back to filming Tremors. We didn’t have our Honeymoon until June 21st!”
Watch Reba McEntire in the flick here:
Garth Brooks on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Garth Brooks has appeared on a handful of television shows like Mad About You, Pop Star, and Cookin’ The Cook.
During the 1999 episode of Saturday Night Live, Brooks hosted and performed as his alter-ego Chris Gaines. The show showed off his comedic side, even poking fun at himself. Cast member Tracy Morgan joked that he should “drop Chris Gaines like a hot plate. You can see his gut through his outfit. If you were that big, they’d be calling you Girth Brooks.”
He has since performed on the show as himself numerous times.
Tim McGraw on ‘Friday Night Lights’
It’s no secret that McGraw has become a part-time actor. In 2004, The Blind Side movie, based on H.G. Bissinger’s book, premiered. McGraw starred as Charles Billingsley, who was the father of football playerDon Billingsley (portrayed by Garrett Hedlund). The film is right up his alley with the southern charm of Odessa, Texas to thank. The inspiring true story hit McGraw personally. “Michael started from a scary enough place,” he told Country Standard. “It was a miracle that he survived, but in a lot of ways, being thrown into the Tuohy family situation and the private-school situation was a lot scarier for him than where he came from. It would have been easy for him to say ‘I can’t deal with this new world,’ and go back to what he knew.”
Chris Stapleton on ‘Game of Thrones’
Chris Stapleton gives his manager what he thinks are impossible tasks, one of which is landing an appearance on GoT. Several celebrities made quick split-second cameos on the fantasy show including Stapleton, who missed his own cameo at first. He was an extra that laid in the dirt as a corpse. He appeared in the final season’s episode, “The Long Night.” He filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“As a joke almost, honestly that’s the thing. I said, ‘hey man I would like to be on Game of Thrones.’ Because I knew it was the last season,” he told Jimmy Kimmel. There had been a few people who were much, much more famous than I am to get in on the show and have bit parts. I want to do that even if I’m just going over there laying in the dirt.”
Aside from his brief stint on the show, he has not acted in any other television or film projects. However, he has worked on numerous movie soundtracks. His music was featured in Trolls: World Tour, Toy Story 4, among others.
Luke Bryan on ‘Nashville’
Bryan is not the most seasoned actor but he has had his fair share of cameos. He has been featured on The Apprentice, American Housewife, and The Rookie. One of his most well-known appearances was on ABC and CMT’s show Nashville. The show itself was about the country music industry and his name came up on more than one occasion in the scripts.
Bryan shot the scene in New York City at Good Morning America alongside Rayna James (played by Connie Britton). “It’s a new world for me. I’ll try not to mess up,” he said before he shot the scene according to Rolling Stone.
Bryan praised the television team for their portrayal of the industry. “You know, there’s some stuff that’s obviously stretched for TV,” Bryan told ABC Radio. “But all of the producers of the show and the people that we know, they work to keep the show, for the most part, like the reality of Nashville and the music business. It’s fun to see them doing that.”
