Actors who can sing

So....Jared Leto is the singer/guitarist/songwriter for '30 Seconds to Mars' as well as an actor with a rather impressive resume. Notably, he was the Joker in Suicide Squad, and made the mistake of trying out method acting on that one. So, we should probably be careful about casting someone like that in a gleeful serial killer role, because, well, that's not a good headspace for anyone to get into. He's 46 years old.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001467/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

I kinda hate music like this, but I guess the guy can sing and perform at least.






An actor I like a lot better, who also started out as a musician, is Justin Timberlake (well, okay, he started out as Mickey Mouse Club, to be totally honest, but there was that NSync thing). I think he's better at acting than he was in his music career, but in the absence of being any judge of musical talent myself (I'm tone deaf), I have to assume he's at least a capable singer. He's 37 years old. I liked him in In Time. I guess now he does weird commercials?

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005493/




And if we want someone who can win a rap battle.... There's always Eminem. He starred in 8 Mile, which was semi-autobiographical, but it was still fictional. He's 45.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004896/



I think I managed to get two songs that didn't need a language warning? This next one definitely does, though:

 
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Antonio Banderas. He's probably too old to be an Elf at this point, but I think he'd make a good human bard or storyteller. Based on his role as a sort of "everyman" narrator in the film version of Evita, I think he'd be really interesting as one of Beor's people who introduces Finrod to some of their traditions and history. I can imagine a fun scene of him singing about past battles or flight from darkness, because he can crank up the snark factor to entertaining effect without losing touch with the fundamental tragedy of a situation--you get a bit of that in "Oh, What a Circus," and more in some scenes in the movie.



 
Also from Evita (among many other things), Jonathan Pryce. I'll include an audio clip below because he looks really different now than he did when the movie came out in 1996(!). I didn't realize this, but he won a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical (Miss Saigon) in 1991. More recently he played the High Sparrow in Game of Thrones, thus:

jonathan-pryce-game-thrones.jpg


 
And of course the hosts brought up the fact that Weird Al can sing and is eligible to be cast in this project somewhere....






Live performance with someone else:
 
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For characters yet to be cast, I tried to compile a list of those who need to sing in the story, to try to find actors who can sing for them.

Goldberry
Gildor Inglorion and his buddies

Beren
Hurin
Turin
adult Aragorn
Legolas
Gimli
Frodo
Samwise
Merry
Pippin

I suppose it could be argued that only Goldberry, Gildor, Aragorn, and Legolas need to be able to sing well. But I'd rather avoid actors who are entirely unable to sing or tone-deaf for any of these characters.
 
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For characters yet to be cast, I tried to compile a list of those who need to sing in the story, to try to find actors who can sing for them.

Beren
Turin
adult Aragorn
Legolas
Gimli
Frodo
Samwise
Merry
Pippin

Edit: Gildor Inglorion ?
Goldberry ??

I suppose it could be argued that only Aragorn, Legolas, (and possibly Gildor and Goldberry) need to be able to sing well. I'd like to avoid actors who are entirely unable to sing or tone-deaf, though.
Hurin as well. He tries, but he broke his instrument.
 
My wife, who is also obsessed with Ackles for reasons I find unfathomable (I think it is how much lipstick he wears), has said that she thinks him a trifle too rugged to be an elf.

Eh, there are rugged elves, but I think what does him in for elf status is the bowleggedness. I think he would enjoy an action-hero-y (or slightly villainous) role, but he can also handle comedy and singing, and, well, he's quite pretty. At age 40, he's on the upper end of our elf age range, but he's still perfectly acceptable there.

I don't have a good feel for which humans will need to be able to sing in this show (well, except for Aragorn), so we'll probably have to make that list at some point.
 
I don't have a good feel for which humans will need to be able to sing in this show (well, except for Aragorn), so we'll probably have to make that list at some point.

In Book 5 of LOTR we see the Rohirrim singing (with gusto!) in battle, so we probably would want Théoden, Éomer, and Éowyn to have at least decent voices. I'm not sure how much direct evidence there is for this, but I tend to imagine the culture of Rohan as being strongly tooted in oral tradition, and therefore having a really important role for song in storytelling and history. At any rate, there are enough Rohirric songs and poems quoted in just a couple chapters that we'll surely need to cast a few bards, no?

On another note: another singing Elf we might end up casting is Lindir (representing the Elves who like to hang out and review the latest music in the Hall of Fire).
 
Back to Jensen Ackles...

He can sing.

He can definitely sing.


(goes to listen to this song a few times on repeat)

I'm not nominating him for any roles in Season 4, I don't think, but I will likely try to find space for him somewhere in this project. ;) He's also good at beheading people and kicking down doors, in case we need someone who can do both.....
 
Back to Jensen Ackles...

He can sing.

He can definitely sing.


(goes to listen to this song a few times on repeat)

I'm not nominating him for any roles in Season 4, I don't think, but I will likely try to find space for him somewhere in this project. ;) He's also good at beheading people and kicking down doors, in case we need someone who can do both.....
What keeps you from nominating him to play Ecthelion??
I can see no reason not to nominate him.
 
What keeps you from nominating him to play Ecthelion??
I can see no reason not to nominate him.

Well, he is bow-legged. So, I was leaning more towards 'human' with him. Nick's wife concurs - human, not elf. But I suppose I could nominate him and see what others think. ...
 
Well, he is bow-legged. So, I was leaning more towards 'human' with him. Nick's wife concurs - human, not elf. But I suppose I could nominate him and see what others think. ...
I haven't seen The Supernatural but I found a clip in which he walks across a room. There's nothing weird about the way he walks, IMO. But I take your word for it.


...


...


Perhaps his legs got hurt somehow. Maybe he got injured on the Helcaraxë.
 
Bow legs...very visible in the Season 4 and Season 8 openers. But yes, with camera work, you can make choices that call attention to this or make it less obvious.

(Clip at 0:59)

Season 8 opener - side view is normal enough, but when he's walking directly towards or away from the camera, it's pretty clear (also, tough to pretend you're in Louisiana when you film in Vancouver; those trees look a bit out of place....)

Jensen Ackles' bowlegs are also clearly apparent in this tour of his house with Architectural Digest.
Eg, at :38s, :45s, :50-:54, 1:00-1:04, 1:59, 3:26, 4:03, 4:10-4:16, 4:34, 5:39-5:42, etc.
 
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Taron Egerton. Funny turn of events: He sings Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" in Sing, acts in a movie (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) with Elton John, and then plays Elton John in "Rocketman".

 
Sophie Turner. Not quite sure if Baby Shark is recommended for someone's repertoire, but...


 
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