The Voice is getting ready to celebrate a big milestone when Season 30 premieres on the 2026 TV schedule this September. Two new faces will join Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson on the coaching panel — Queen Latifah and Riley Green, the latter of whom is surely hoping to honor the show’s history of country music dominance. Blake Shelton seems to believe Green’s up to the task, and he’s got some blunt advice for the newcomer.

Blake Shelton exited The Voice in 2023 after 23 seasons, and while he still has no plans to come back (in a coaching capacity at least — he has performed on the show since then), he’s still got plenty of opinions about the show, especially with his former rivals Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine going strong after their respective returns. Shelton offered some strong words of advice to Riley Green as he prepares to go up against them, telling ET:

Blake Shelton makes it sound like The Voice coaches are all mortal enemies, and admittedly if you ever witnessed the feud he had with Kelly Clarkson or heard the F-bombs Adam Levine’s thrown his way, you might believe it. However, trolling is Shelton’s love language — he even trolled his own wife when they competed on The Voice Season 22 — so there’s really no animosity there.

Friendships aside, however, Blake Shelton still thinks Riley Green’s got what it takes to go up against the two veterans, despite both Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine having won four seasons of The Voice (second only to Shelton himself, who won nine). The “God’s Country” singer suggested the other coaches might have trouble luring artists away from Luke Grimes’ friend and Marshals co-star, saying:

Kelly Clarkson actually may be a tad intimidated by Riley Green, as she has definitely tried to take over as the country music expert on seasons without Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire. In fact, the American Idol winner started talking smack to Green before The Voice Season 30 started shooting — even before she’d actually met the country singer in person!

I’m excited to see how these four coaches get along and what surprises Carson Daly might have in store for The Voice’s milestone season.

Speaking of milestones, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani just celebrated their 5-year wedding anniversary after meeting on The Voice, with their big day coming just weeks after Shelton turned 50 years old. Now, he may not be returning to the NBC singing competition, but it sounds like he’ll be rooting for Riley Green.

The Voice Season 30 premieres at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC with episodes streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice will hit a big benchmark when it returns to the 2026 TV schedule this fall, gearing up to crown its 30th champion since debuting 15 years ago. Anyone who’s tuned into NBC’s singing competition knows how important The Voice’s superstar coaches are to the show’s success, because when their competitive juices start to flow, so does the smack talk. Apparently they don’t always wait for the cameras to start rolling, either, because incoming rookie Riley Green revealed that Kelly Clarkson has already sniffed out that fresh meat.

One aspect of The Voice that’s contributed to its success is the fact that each season is really two competitions in one — there’s the singing competition that aims to launch an artist into the industry and then there's the battle amongst the coaches to have that person be their team member. Rising country music star Riley Green is set to take his place in the Big Red Chair for the first time in Season 30, and he told E! News ahead of the AMAs how Kelly Clarkson is welcoming him to the family:

It is absolutely wild that Kelly Clarkson is putting newbie Riley Green in his place before production even starts on The Voice Season 30. Knowing how competitive she gets, it’s not exactly a surprise, though, and I have to say, I absolutely love it.

The “Worst Way” singer said that while he hasn’t gotten much facetime with his fellow Season 30 coaches Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson or Queen Latifah yet, he’s excited about the idea of their rapport developing in real time in front of the camera. I agree that will be fun to watch — but I stand by concerns that the trio of music industry veterans might just eat Riley Green’s lunch. At least Clarkson showing her competitive edge early gives the Marshals actor a hint of what to expect, as he said:

You can say that again! In Kelly Clarkson’s 10 seasons, she’s taken 4 artists to the end. That’s the same number of victories as OG coach Adam Levine, except it took him 19 seasons to accomplish it.

The “Since U Been Gone” singer proved how ruthless she is during Season 29’s Battle of Champions, winning both the Triple Turn Competition and the All-Star Showdown that brought back the coaches’ past team members. She wasn’t able to get the crown in the end, though, as Adam Levine team member Alexia Jayy took top honors.

So Kelly Clarkson can be beaten, but it sounds like she’s definitely going to make Riley Green work for it. The Voice Season 30 will premiere in September on NBC, with episodes available to stream the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice is celebrating its milestone 30th season this fall, and it’s certainly bringing the star power to the 2026 TV schedule. As I suspected, rumors of Blake Shelton’s potential return were greatly exaggerated, but I’m definitely not disappointed in the coaching lineup that NBC has assembled. Queen Latifah is set to join The Voice family alongside the previously announced Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson and newcomer Riley Green, and I have to admit I’m a bit concerned about the country music artist.

The Voice prides itself on finding superstar talent to lead each season’s group of contestants, and Queen Latifah is unequivocally that. Not only does she have a music career dating back over three decades (earning her a Grammy and myriad other awards), she’s an actress who’s won an Emmy and a Golden Globe and been nominated for an Oscar.

I can’t wait to see how her experience and expertise informs her mentoring strategy, because while she’s never coached on The Voice before, Queen Latifah has been a guest judge on America’s Got Talent, sang at the Super Bowl and hosted numerous awards shows and her own talk show (Carson Daly better watch out!).

That’s obviously a lot more entertainment experience than Riley Green has accumulated, and I’m really interested to see how he plays that on The Voice Season 30.

That’s not to downplay the achievements the country singer has see in his comparatively short career. Riley Green hasn’t coached before, but he performed in The Voice finales for Seasons 26 and 28. He’s won numerous ACM and CMA Awards since releasing his debut studio album in 2019 and has hits with artists like Thomas Rhett and Luke Combs.

He also recently made his acting debut on the CBS series Marshals (streaming with a Paramount+ subscription), so clearly he’s qualified to coach entertainment industry hopefuls.

Riley Green also played college football, so we're probably looking at a strong competitive spirit. I also admit how naive it would be of me to underestimate how well any country music artist can do on The Voice. However, not only is Riley Green going up against Queen Latifah, he’s got to face two of the competition’s most venerated coaches.

Season 30 will be Adam Levine’s 19th time on The Voice, which is more than any coach other than Blake Shelton (23). He and Kelly Clarkson each have 4 wins — the most of any coach other than Shelton (9). Clarkson’s reign is all the more impressive because those victories came in just 10 seasons, giving her an impressive 40% win percentage.

I love that Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson are coming back, because they carry a legacy of winning, and I’m super pumped to see how Queen Latifah and Riley Green fit into the mix.

With this being the NBC singing competition’s 30th season, I’m sure Carson Daly’s got some twists up his sleeve, and the network has already teased special appearances from former coaches and mentors.

What we don’t yet know is the premiere date, but stay tuned, because we’ll definitely be on the lookout for The Voice Season 30 this fall on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The force was strong with San Diego Comic-Con this morning! George Lucas' hold over popular culture remains as we anticipate more and more upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows and Sunday morning at Hall H George Lucas himself just took Hall H. We just attended the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts panel set to start at 11 a.m. PST and update you on everything that happened during Lucas' first time at SDCC.

CinemaBlend has been covering the con throughout the weekend, talking to everyone from the Percy Jackson cast about their advice to the new Harry Potter kids or seeing the first footage of Coyote v. Acme. This was our last panel of the con, and we were so happy to witness this moment in SDCC history. Check out all the updates from the panel below:

We're seated and waiting for the panel to begin in about 20 minutes. Hall H is packed with fans of Star Wars movies and other Lucasfilm creations, as they have packed their lightsabers and brought their best cosplays to the con for Lucas' debut to SDCC. Check back here throughout the next hour for updates on what happens.

Fans are cheering and chanting "LUCAS" as we continue to wait for the panel to begin. The energy is going to be high on this one for sure!

OK, we're getting started with Queen Latifah, who is moderating, Star Wars production designer Doug Chiang, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and George Lucas all on stage. Lucas got a huge standing ovation from the crowd upon his arrival.

We just saw a preview of the the museum, which looks amazing, and so futuristic and sleek. In a video, Lucas called it a "dedication to cultural fantasy" as we saw a sneak peek of just a handful of 40,000 works at the museum. There's going to be everything from comic book art from Jack Kirby to art from Frida Kahlo. Oh, and loads of Star Wars props and ships, of course.

George Lucas said he's been collecting art for decades, starting with comic book art and such. I'm paraphrasing her, but Lucas says that art is anything that means something to you, and if it doesn't than you can simply move on to the next piece. His comments can't help but remind one of how his work on Star Wars has received mixed praise over the years (such as with the prequels).

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who is on the museum's board, and set to release his take on Frankenstein later this year, calls the Lucas museum more so a "lineage of images that have been spoken" rather than simply one man's collection. He also brought up how important it is in this moment in time to look at art over the years not only as a way to express one's self, but make sure dark times in history don't repeat themselves.

Del Toro is speaking about how these days, there are ideas that A.I. can create art, but what's important about art doesn't come "in a fucking app." That got massive applause from the crowd.

Queen Latifah named off some of the special pieces from one display at the museum, which are important to culture. If you visit the museum, you'll be able to see artwork for Flash Gordon, Peanuts, Iron Man and Black Panther originals from 1968.

She asked Lucas to to speak about a group of pieces from Norman Rockwell called the Four Freedoms, which will be on display. He described one depicting a family during Thanksgiving, which he finds especially evocative because "most families are dysfunctional" but they are important because they "keep society together."

Lucas leads "from the heart", according to Chiang. The production designer also says the museum will be a great education for kids and hopes it will inspire the next Norman Rockwell or other great artists.

Latifah has also pointed out how there's no right angles in the museum, and asked George Lucas to talk about the vision of the museum's design. Lucas says that early on he actually wanted to be an architect until he realized there'd be a lot of math involved.

He's talking about how "stories" makes one feel connection to people, and perhaps help one feel better about the unknowns about life. He says: "Humans think they know everything, even though they don't know anything."

Del Toro adds that he and Lucas are both collectors but in his mind he says "I don't own anything", but a brief holder of things that can live on after us. And hopes to share his collection with the world while it's in his possession to do so.

The panel ended at 12 p.m. without any audience questions, nor a date for the opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts. However, it was such a solid first introduction to the upcoming Los Angeles attraction, and we can't wait to see it. That's a wrap on SDCC 2025, and what an epic way to do so.

Spoilers for The Equalizer’s series finale are ahead! To catch up, you can stream the CBS drama with a Paramount+ subscription.

CBS has been brutal with the cancellations this year. The network has axed a number of shows, with The Equalizer most recently joining the list of shows canceled and ending in 2025. The Queen Latifah-led crime drama officially ended on Sunday on the 2025 TV schedule after five seasons, and as expected, plans were already in place for Season 6. The showrunner even revealed what would have happened had the show continued on beyond Season 5.

In the series finale, Latifah’s Robyn McCall and Tory Kittles’ Dante eventually get engaged, which came after Dante was shot during their romantic getaway thanks to Juan Javier Cardenas’ Salazar. Although fans are probably happy knowing that the couple’s future is set in stone, they are also probably sad that they don’t get to see them get married. But it could have happened.

In an interview with TV Insider conducted prior to the cancellation, showrunner Joe Wilson said that he hoped to see the two walk down the aisle for Season 6:

Hearing what could have been with the wedding is sad, knowing that fans will never see that happen, at least for now. Though perhaps this could be a good thing, especially since it sounds like the wedding would have been a whole lot crazier than the proposal, whatever that could mean. Robyn and Dante certainly deserve a peaceful wedding, but that doesn’t mean that it still isn’t sad that the wedding will never happen on-screen.

The wedding isn’t all that Wilson and the writers were cooking up for Season 6. Wilson also shared that although it’s hard to tell what else could happen in the sixth season, especially with Robyn’s daughter Delilah going off to college, mostly the entire cast of The Equalizer, more or less, would have returned, even if not full-time, and keep that family dynamic that fans loved so much:

It’s unknown if The Equalizer will be shopped around elsewhere, especially since it’s clear that more stories are waiting to be told. Queen Latifah has spoken out about the cancellation, assuring fans that she will return to “kick ass” in the future. So at the very least, she may no longer play Robyn McCall, but she is still going to leap into action. That doesn’t make the cancellation any easier, though.

It's always tough whenever a show gets canceled before its time, especially when plans for the next season were already in place. Not even Tracker could save it. This certainly makes me want a sixth season even more, knowing what could have happened, and the fact that it never will is certainly hard. But with Robyn and Dante living happily ever after, it’s better than nothing.

CBS rolled out its renewals and cancellations in the 2024-2025 TV season rather than announcing the fates of the full slate at once. The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Liza Lapira, and Adam Goldberg, was the last show standing until early May in the 2025 TV schedule. Alas, joins like two FBI shows and Shemar Moore's S.W.A.T. (again), the series has been cancelled by CBS, and fans only have one episode left before the only option for reliving the action will be by streaming older installments with a Paramount+ subscription.

Queen Latifah herself wasted no time in posting a message in reaction to the news, and it's worth looking ahead at what to look forward to (or dread) out of the series finale on May 4.

The Equalizer Cancelled After 5 Seasons, And Queen Latifah Has thoughts

News of the cancellation came late on the Friday night before the finale, so the sad news may not have circulated much in the immediate aftermath. According to Deadline, a possibility to bring The Equalizer back at least one more time was a 13-episode sixth and final season, with producers and Queen Latifah reportedly making budget concessions to CBS for that possibility.

Whatever debates may have been happening behind the scenes, the show will not return, the potential spinoff is not moving forward, and it's said that Universal Television is not planning to shop The Equalizer around to be rescued by another network or streamer.

While the cancellation undoubtedly stings for fans, hopefully Queen Latifah's message on Instagram will be a bit soothing. The leading lady.executive producer wrote:

The Equalizer being cancelled obviously wasn't the ideal result of any deliberations at CBS, but Queen Latifah's first public response to the decision was positive and focused on the great parts of the experience. Specifically addressing the "ride-or-die" fans just ahead of the series finale was a lovely move by the star, and I'm just hoping that the finale ends in a satisfying way rather than a stressful cliffhanger that will never be resolved.

And on that note...

What To Expect From The Series Finale

The cancellation news coming less than 48 hours before the season finale – and now series finale – airs on CBS of course means that it's far too late to film a different ending than the one originally produced. The Deadline report states that The Equalizer creative team did plan the Season 5 finale in a way that could double as a series finale. That should come as some relief – The Equalizer has delivered big cliffhangers in finales before! Per CBS' episode description, here's what to expect:

So much for a romantic getaway! It's hard to predict how that storyline could go down or end just based on preview material, but hopefully Dee's meeting with her favorite author is a nice way to end her story of The Equalizer. As for McCall and Dante, the promo sheds more light on just how unromantic their getaway is going to get:

Maybe they'll get a few minutes to enjoy the cabin before it's invaded by gun-toting bad guys? Nothing is ever too straightforward for Robyn McCall on The Equalizer! The promo also doesn't give away any of what happens in any of the subplots, so we'll all just have to tune in for these characters' primetime swan songs.

The series finale of The Equalizer airs on Sunday, May 4 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, following the penultimate episode of Watson (with the return of Randall Park's Moriarty) at 9 p.m. ET and the long-awaited return of Melissa Roxburgh as Dory Shaw on Tracker at 8 p.m. ET. All three shows are also available streaming on Paramount+.

Movies about friendship can be the warmest, funniest, and most tense experiences audiences can have. Of course, the comedy blockbuster Girls Trip fits into that incredible tradition. The all-female comedy is a view of Black friendship that is rarely given space on the big screen. The film was a display of comradery and a shot in the arm of big-screen comedies when released in 2017.

The success of the friendships in the ensemble comedy spoke volumes, as the movie raked in over $100 million. It was not only a hit with audiences but received a positive reception from critics, including a glowing review from CinemaBlend. The Black comedy has ranked amongst the best female-led buddy comedies since it premiered. With that in mind, I think Girls Trip is now the ultimate Black friendship movie, and here’s why.

Girls Trip Is About Friends Reconnecting After Drifting Apart

This comedy tackled a tried but true trope – friends reconnecting. Of course, Girls Trip’s premise revolved around a group of college friends reuniting at the Essence Festival after not connecting for five years. This trope works well as viewers get a peek into each woman’s daily life while watching flashbacks to their rowdy college days. Ryan (played by Regina Hall) is a best-selling lifestyle guru. Sasha (played by Queen Latifah) is running a gossip site. Lisa (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) is a party girl-turned-single mom still reeling from her divorce. Dina (played by Tiffany Haddish) is the impulsive and irresponsible one still living on the edge.

Like real-life friendships can, the Flossy Posse grew apart as life sent them on different paths. However, this fact doesn’t mean their bond has faltered. The group recommits to their lifelong friendship throughout the weekend. Of course, like any reconnection attempt, this comes with love and tension.

It’s A Rare Example Of Women Having Their Turn At Raunchy And Outrageous Fun

Bro (or frat) comedies have had their raunchy fun throughout cinema. However, comedies like Bridesmaids and Girls Trip proved that the ladies could get dirty like the guys. 

Of course, resident firecracker Dina kicks off the debauchery with her inappropriate prayer. She gets the girl squad high before Ryan’s career-making deal, leading to the infamous dance battle scene. She even gets reformed party girl Lisa to let loose and have adult fun with a younger guy (played by Kofi Siriboe). Of course, this relationship led to the iconic grapefruit scene (for better or worse). However, this bittersweet moment doesn’t compare to Lisa’s notorious urination scene during a fun night in New Orleans.

Those scenes (and so much more) proved Black women lose their inhibitions and have just as much outlandish fun as their male counterparts. The Flossy Posse picked the perfect time and venue for drunken and forgettable nights.

The Flossy Posse Navigates Changes And Personality Differences With Bumps Along The Way

The movie’s storyline focuses mostly on the group's tight bond. However, Ryan and co. have grown as women since graduating college. Of course, post-college life kept them together for life-changing moments, but that doesn’t mean the women know each other as adults. Ryan became a bigger-than-life media personality with fame, money, and a loveless marriage. Lisa turned in her dance card for a safe life as a mother and nurse. Sasha went from a prestigious journalist to a struggling gossip blogger. Dina has remained the same throughout the years (for better or worse).

However, the five-year friendship gap has bred animosity and hidden truths among the college best friends. This growing tension culminates in a nasty fight between the group over leaked pictures featuring Ryan’s husband. These growing pains showed that female friendships experience the same trials and tribulations as a bromance. Lifelong friendships aren’t immune to envy and jealousy, especially after a decades-long bond.

I Love Watching The Flossy Posse’s Bond Grow Through Healing And Empowerment

Something you rarely see in comedies is the healing process between devoted friends. Of course, Girls Trip deals with that as the women come to terms with their differing lifestyles and personalities. In true comedy fashion, each character faced regret and expressed forgiveness and compassion. Healing gave way to empowerment as Sasha, Lisa, and Dina supported Ryan in telling her truth to an audience of thousands.

I enjoyed watching the Flossy Posse grow apart and back together as each woman found strength in their incredible bond. The film proved soulmates aren't always romantic, as the ladies find love and companionship within their friendship.  

Girls Trip Celebrates Black Culture - Women Over 40, The Essence Festival, And New Orleans

Of course, Flossy Posse’s story took center stage throughout the raunchy comedy, but the film served as a love letter to Black American culture. Every scene brought clues and homages without drawing attention to them. Allowing the enchanting New Orleans and Essence Festival to be the backdrop was a beautiful way to salute Black women. The underserved group gathers yearly in the city to attend the multi-faceted festival, so having the friends gather there made sense. The sisterhood illustrated in the movie encapsulates the fun and fearless vibe at the three-day event.

With Essence Fest as the backdrop, the comedy gave audiences a rare treat – Black women over 40 as the focus. College-educated Black women finally got the chance to be outrageous and free like their white counterparts. So, Girls Trip was a rare feat for movie audiences. Seeing the Flossy Posse’s debaucherous misadventures was a detour from the traditional guy weekend or road trip films moviegoers usually see. The film even snuck in a small homage to the cult classic Set It Off, when Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith starred together for the first time. It showcased Black culture without pandering or over-explaining to a wider audience.

Girls Trip shifted Hollywood in a way audiences have not seen since Bridesmaids in 2011. It amplified Black women and culture reminiscent of the Black movie renaissance in the 1990s and 2000s. I loved watching Black women being fun, flawed, and unfiltered without outside societal pressures and norms. The quartet showed what real-life friendships go through as all involved parties mature and take separate paths. It was nice seeing mature women have outlandish fun like their male counterparts.

After the comedy’s tremendous success, talks of a much-buzzed-about sequel began at once. It's finally happening with the entire cast reportedly returning, including breakout star Tiffany Haddish. Producer Will Packer even confirmed the sequel was a go with THR. So, expect more debauchery and beautiful friendship moments when the second installment, which currently has no production or release date, finally arrives. 

If you want to see more movies like Girls Trip, watch the best movies about female friendship across streaming platforms and other media.

As TV comes back in full swing, Queen Latifah is gearing up for the return of her CBS series The Equalizer. The rap icon has acted and collaborated with multiple heavyweights over her decades-long career. So, of course, this advantage lends itself to possible guest stars for the network TV drama. One of those possible guest stars could’ve been country music legend Dolly Parton. After learning about this missed opportunity, I’m feeling so much FOMO.

Right before The Equalizer returns for its fourth season on the 2024 TV schedule, ET caught up with Queen Latifah to learn more about the upcoming season. The subject of guest stars for the CBS drama came up as she teased viewers will get more of what they love from the series. The rapper-turned-actor revealed she also came close to reuniting with Parton, saying:

I’m so heartbroken. I would’ve loved to see Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton together on the screen again after starring in 2012’s Joyful Noise. Getting Parton would’ve been great since they played so well together in the musical comedy. Parton’s appearance would’ve been another amazing guest star for the series after scoring Jada Pinkett Smith and Kelly Rowland in prior seasons. Latifah seemed amped about reuniting with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as she recalled their time in the 2012 film, saying:

Working with Dolly Parton seemed like a dream come true. Of course, this revelation wasn’t surprising given Parton’s kind and giving reputation. I hope Queen Latifah and CBS will be able to convince the Grammy winner to do a guest spot. It would be nice to see the music icon back on the screen again after popping up in sporadic TV cameos in recent years. Maybe Parton could have a substantive role where she and Robyn McCall get to interact.

However, making the guest role a possibility might be hard as both women are busy. Queen Latifah has The Equalizer Season 4 premiere to worry about, which will air on CBS at 8 p.m. ET on February 18. Meanwhile, Dolly Parton’s music career hit a new level as she secured her highest-charting album, a new collaboration with goddaughter Miley Cyrus, and caused online discourse over her much-criticized Thanksgiving NFL performance. 

While we hope for these two icons to reunite someday on The Equalizer, make sure to check out our TV schedule to see what other season premieres are coming up.

The top actors in Hollywood make a lot of money, but anyone will tell you that the real money is in production. That means that many of the biggest stars in the world have formed their own companies to produce both their own films and other projects that interest them. 

Often, these company names and logos appear at the beginning of the movies, along with larger, more recognizable studios like Paramount and Disney. Here is a list of many of the actors with their own production companies, along with the name of the company to look out for. 

Jordan Peele - Monkeypaw Productions

Jordan Peele has become one of the most exciting and interesting directors and producers in recent years. His Monkeypaw Productions has produced or co-produced his own movies, like Get Out, Us, and Nope, as well as other films like Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, and Adamma Ebo's Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul.

Tom Hanks - Playtone

Tom Hanks' Playtone has been wildly successful on the big and small screens. With movies starring Hanks like Cast Away, Charlie Wilson's Way, The Polar Express, and Greyhound, as well as films not starring him, like Mamma Mia and its sequel, the company keeps winning. It has also hit it big on TV with shows like Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and John Adams on HBO, and the CNN series about each decade of the last 60 years. 

Elizabeth Banks - Brownstone Productions

Elizabeth Banks has been on a hot streak with her company Brownstone Productions. It's most notable for the Pitch Perfect franchise, but the company has also co-produced movies like 2019's Charlie's Angels, and that surprise 2023 hit about a bear that gets into something it should not have in the woods, with scary (and hilarious) results. 

Reese Witherspoon - Pacific Standard

When Reese Witherspoon started Pacific Standard in 2012, she did so with the express purpose of highlighting and producing projects with strong female leads, crews, and topics. So far, it's been a huge success with films like Gone Girl and Wild, as well as TV shows like The Morning Show, and Big Little Lies. 

Adam Sandler - Happy Madison Productions

Adam Sandler movies are not for everyone, but wow, do they make him a lot of money through his company, Happy Madison. Though the two films it's named after Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison were not his productions, almost everything he's been in since 2000 is, and it continues to make a ton of money for the actor. The company has even dabbled in TV, most notably with The Goldbergs.

Drew Barrymore - Flower Films

Drew Barrymore's company, Flower Films, has produced or co-produced a ton of movies since she founded it in 1999. With movies like Donnie Darko, 50 First Dates, Fever Pitch, and the Charlie's Angels franchise, it is safe to assume Barrymore has made a pretty penny. Of course, it also produces her daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show. 

Queen Latifah - Flavor Unit Entertainment

Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit Entertainment started out producing movies with moderate budgets that she starred in, like The Cookout and Beauty Shop, but these days, it's been successful on TV with her show, The Equalizer.

George Clooney - Smokehouse Pictures

Smokehouse Pictures is the second company founded by George Clooney after he shut down Section Eight Productions in 2006. Most movies he's starred in or directed since 2008 have been produced under the Smokehouse banner, including Leatherheads, Monuments Men, and The Boys In The Boat, plus other projects like Ocean's 8 and Argo.

Sandra Bullock - Fortus Films

Sandra Bullock may not be acting as much these days, but her production company, Fortus Films, is still humming along. Through the company, Bullock has produced movies like Miss Congeniality and its sequel, Two Weeks Notice, and The Lost City.

Courteney Cox - Coquette Productions

Friends star Courteney Cox and her ex-husband David Arquette started Coquette Productions together in 2004. The business relationship continued after the couple split six years later, though they haven't actually produced much in recent years. 

Brad Pitt - Plan B Entertainment

Plan B Entertainment was started by Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and producer Brad Grey in 2001. In 2004, Pitt and Grey bought Aniston out in the midst of her split from Pitt. Since then, the company has gone on to major success, with three of its movies, The Departed, 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight all winning Best Picture Oscars, with seven others receiving nominations for the award. 

Sterling K. Brown - Indian Meadows Productions

This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown named his production Indian Meadows Productions after the name of the neighborhood he grew up in outside St. Louis. Though it's just getting started, there are some interesting things on the way as Brown's star continues to shine brightly. 

Margot Robbie - LuckyChap Productions

Margot Robbie may have gotten snubbed at the 2024 Oscars for Barbie, but you can be sure she wasn't snubbed out of money as one of the producers of the hit movie. Robbie's company, LuckyChap Productions, has also produced movies Robbie starred in like I, Tonya and Birds of Prey as well as other projects she didn't star in like Saltburn and Promising Young Woman.

Leonardo DiCaprio - Appian Way Productions

Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions produced two Oscar-winners with The Aviator (which won five) and The Revenant (which won three, including Best Actor for DiCaprio). Through the company, DiCaprio not only produced feature films, but documentaries, as well. 

Nicole Kidman - Blossom Films

While Nicole Kidman's Blossom Films has dabbled in movies, most notably the 2011 rom-com Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez, it has found its biggest successes on the small screen. With shows like Big Little Lies, The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers, and 2024's Expats. 

Michael Douglas

Further Films, founded by Michael Douglas, doesn't have the portfolio that others may have on this list, as they seem to have found a niche in thrillers and suspense films like Swimfan, Don't Say a Word, 2017's Flatliners, and the streaming show Ratched.

Natalie Portman - Handsomecharlie Films

Natalie Portman named her company, Handsomecharlie Films, after her beloved dog, and she's put together a nice run of movies. She's produced many of her own projects, like No Strings Attached and Jane Got a Gun, as well as a surprise that she didn't star in, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. 

Eddie Murphy - Eddie Murphy Productions

Eddie Murphy started betting on himself early in his career through Eddie Murphy Productions and it has paid off, big time. Starting with Raw in 1987, the company has produced some huge movies for the legendary comedian, including Coming To America, Harlem Nights, Boomarang, The Nutty Professor, and Norbit. 

Barbra Streisand - Barwood Films

Barbra Streisand has produced many of her own projects through her company, Barwood Films. 1976's A Star Is Born, The Prince Of Tides, and Yentl are a few of the examples of her biggest successes. Barwood has also dabbled in TV movies, like the groundbreaking What Makes a Family in 2001, about a lesbian couple having a child together. 

Alec Baldwin - El Dorado Pictures

Alec Baldwin's El Dorado Pictures has been in the news a lot in recent years due to its connection to Rust and the tragic events that occurred on set. Baldwin has produced quite a few of his own projects through the company over the years and even got into the TV game show space with the revival of Match Game, which he also hosted. 

Tina Fey - Little Stranger

Tina Fey has one of the sharpest wits in Hollywood, so it's no surprise she would use those same brains to produce. From critically acclaimed movies like 2024's Mean Girls to wildly successful TV shows including 30 Rock and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Fey, and her company Little Stranger, continue to crush it. 

Laurence Fishburne - Cinema Gypsy Productions

The biggest success Laurence Fishburne and his company Cinema Gypsy Productions has seen thus far is the sitcom black-ish, but he's also produced some great movies of his own that have flown under the radar, but are worth checking out, in Five Fingers and Akeelah and the Bee.

Jodie Foster - Egg Pictures

It's no surprise that an actor and director like Jodie Foster, who has been in show business for basically all of her life, would be a producer as well. Through her Egg Pictures production company, she produced many of her own projects, starting with Nell in 1994 and Home for the Holidays in 1995. She closed the company in 2002 when she decided that producing wasn't for her. 

Clint Eastwood - Malpaso Films

Without question, one of the most successful companies on this list is Malpaso Films, founded by Clint Eastwood. It has served as the production company for almost all of the films Eastwood has directed and its history stretches back to the mid-1960s. Many of his classic films, including Unforgiven, The Bridges of Madison County, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Escape from Alcatraz, Million Dollar Baby, Sully, and many more have all been produced or co-produced by Malpaso. 

Halle Berry - 606 Films

Halle Berry's 606 Films has an interesting origin story. Though it was formed as part of her deal to star in Extant, the name has an important meaning. She named it after CA Senate Bill 606, a law intended to protect celebrities' children from the paparazzi.

It was an important issue for Berry, and when the company was formed, her partner, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, said, "606 Films is named for the anti-paparazzi bill, Senate Bill 606, which Halle fought so hard for and won, when no one believed it could be achieved. It truly informs the spirit of our company — making dreams possible, one bill at a time."

Mel Gibson - Icon Productions

Mel Gibson is not the most universally loved man in Hollywood, to be sure, but he's often bet on himself with his Icon Films, and more times than not, it's worked. Since 1989, he's financed many of his own projects completely through Icon, making movies like Hacksaw Ridge, The Passion of the Christ, and We Were Soldiers, plus co-producing maybe his most iconic movie, Braveheart. 

Salma Hayek - Ventanarosa Productions

Ventanarosa Productions, founded by Salma Hayek in 1999 has most often focused on Latin-centric projects, including Hayek's own Frida and the hit TV show, Ugly Betty. Ventanarosa also works throughout Latin America, producing Spanish-language films and TV. 

Will Smith - Overbrook Entertainment

Will Smith grew up in the West Philly neighborhood of Overbrook, which he took for the name of his production company as well, Overbrook Entertainment. Through it, Smith has produced many of his own projects, starting with Ali in 2001. King Richard, for which he infamously won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2022, was also produced by Overbrook. On the small screen, the Netflix hit Cobra Kai is an Overbrook production, as well. 

Amy Poehler - Paper Kite Productions

Amy Poehler's Paper Kite Production has dabbled in movies, but most of its success has been on TV and streaming. With shows like Russian Doll, and Broad City, you can see that Poehler likes sticking with what she knows, comedy. You might be surprised, though, that the company has also found success with reality TV and even feature length documentaries.

Danny DeVito - Jersey Films

Danny DeVito is obviously proud of his New Jersey roots, naming his production company Jersey Films. He also has to be proud of the output from the company with films like Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty. He's found a lot of success on TV too, with Reno 911! Another of Jersey's films, Erin Brockovich, was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2001.

Charlize Theron - Denver And Delilah Productions

Denver and Delilah Productions' first film was Monster, starring the company's founder, Charlize Theron. That seems to have inspired a bit of a theme, as the company has produced other serial killer-related projects, like Netflix's show Mindhunters, and the HBO docuseries Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York. There are also a few non-serial killer films, like Bombshell, Atomic Blonde, and Murder Mystery.

Will Ferrell - Gary Sanchez Productions

Before Adam McKay and Will Ferrell had their falling out in 2019 and dissolved Gary Sanchez Productions, the company had been wildly successful, releasing some of the funniest movies and shows over the last couple of decades. Step Brothers, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Daddy's Home, Eastbound & Down, and Drunk History are just a few examples. Add to that a little HBO show called Succession, which has won just a few Emmys, and wow, what a success story. 

As this list shows, success as an actor often leads to success in production as well, so actors will continue to open up their own shops, and will continue to crush it, for sure. 

Some of the best talk show hosts have been celebrities, and vice versa, throughout the history of this celebrated medium. However, that doesn’t mean just anyone can hold the desk equally. Keep that in mind as you take in this list of famous celebs who tried to make a talk show happen, but just couldn’t hold their own.

Regis Philbin - The Regis Philbin Show - 1981 - 1982

Throughout the history of Regis Philbin's best movie appearances, as well as his career as a legendary talk show host, the man made a name for himself as someone who knew how to talk to people. But even with his resume of success bookending The Regis Philbin Show's 1981-1982 run, there was still room to learn as this short-lived endeavor proved.

Alan Thicke - Thicke Of The Night - 1983 - 1984

Could Alan Thicke have made Thicke of the Night last under more ideal circumstances? Maybe, but then again, any show that tried to take on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson kind of deserved to be put through the wringer. On the plus side, Thicke wasn’t too far off from starring in Growing Pains, where he’d show us his smile again.

Joan Rivers - The Late Show - 1986 - 1988

Joan Rivers’ “permanent guest host” status on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show was exactly why the comedy icon landed her own series, The Late Show. Directly competing with that NBC landmark in a live program for the Fox network, this albatross supposedly ended the long friendship between Rivers and Carson.

Pat Sajak - The Pat Sajak Show - 1989 - 1990

Being a game show host isn’t the same as being a talk show host. Just ask game show icon Pat Sajak, whose own attempts at crossover success with The Pat Sajak Show never landed. Low ratings took this show out of commission, with Sajak not even hosting the final episode of his own show. After which point the only gaffes Pat would witness were those made on Wheel of Fortune.

Dennis Miller - The Dennis Miller Show - 1992

Sometimes talk shows fail because of not playing to the right audience. In the case of SNL vet Dennis Miller, we would see him flourish through HBO’s Dennis Miller Live program between 1994 and 2002. However, the syndication market didn’t exactly pick up on the man’s unique vibe, which is more than likely why The Dennis Miller Show never made it out of 1992.

Chevy Chase - The Chevy Chase Show - 1993

One of the most infamous late-night flameouts of all time, The Chevy Chase Show saw the SNL comedy legend trying to compete in the late-night wars on behalf of the fledgling Fox network. Not only did Chase’s show fail, but it was the continuation of a long-standing curse that TV titan still encounters to this day.

Jon Stewart - The Jon Stewart Show - 1993 - 1995

"Cancellation should not be confused with failure." David Letterman imparted those words to Jon Stewart as The Jon Stewart Show was literally canceled the day of that very interview. An unsuccessful jump from MTV to syndication could be the major factor that was to blame, though Letterman’s words eventually rang true when Stewart went on to become The Daily Show’s longtime host in 1999. 

Charles Grodin - The Charles Grodin Show - 1995-1998

Charles Grodin’s expertise in playing a curmudgeon made him a popular guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. So one could think placing that energy behind the desk would be a recipe for success, and that’s what CNBC had hoped when debuting The Charles Grodin Show. Twenty-six episodes later, that assumption was tested, and proven false.

Keenen Ivory Wayans - The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show - 1997 - 1998

With the magnetism that propelled him to success in movies and with TV’s In Living Color, surely Keenen Ivory Wayans had the juice to turn late night on its head, right? Nope. Lasting only a few short months, The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show was out like a flash. Judging by Keenen’s claims that he wasn’t really given the free reign he’d expected with the series, it’s no surprise why.

Magic Johnson - The Magic Hour - 1998

Eight weeks was all it took for NBA legend Magic Johnson to flame out on the talk show circuit. The Magic Hour was anything but, with critics clearly not digging the man’s style when it came to holding court on TV. Save for an infamous episode with one of his staunchest critics, Howard Stern, there wasn’t much enchantment to be found here.

Martin Short - The Martin Short Show - 1999 - 2000

The bad news is that certified comedy legend Martin Short didn’t last very long as the host of The Martin Short Show. However, the silver lining to be had is the fact that this short engagement in the land of talk shows did give us one of his most memorable characters, as this was the launching pad for one Jiminy Glick. 

Queen Latifah - The Queen Latifah Show - 1999 - 2001/2013 - 2015

Sometimes it all comes down to timing and ratings, both of which seemed to be the death knell for The Queen Latifah Show in its two separate incarnations. The 1999-2001 run could be seen as ahead of its time, while the 2013-2015 run saw a promising start leading to declining ratings. 

Wayne Brady - The Wayne Brady Show - 2001 - 2004

It’s still hard to believe that the charming and quick-witted Wayne Brady couldn’t make it in daytime talk. Though the Let’s Make A Deal host is doing quite well for himself now, The Wayne Brady Show was a bit of a stumbling block on his career path. Luckily, right before the show went off the air, Wayne’s infamous Chappelle's Show sketch went to air, and it gave him a win that overshadowed the whole business.

Zach Galifianakis - Late World with Zach - 2002

Zach Galifianakis’ Late World with Zach on MTV is a particularly notable example of what happens when a talent like this Hangover star lands at the wrong time. All of the ingredients were there, as MTV let Zach be Zach; but people weren’t clued into the gag just yet, because many of Galifianakis' best movies weren't out yet. By the time Between Two Ferns kicked off though, the world was ready, and a confrontational legend was born.

Caroline Rhea - The Caroline Rhea Show - 2002 - 2003

When a notable talk show host leaves, there’s always the question of who carries on their legacy of schtick. As The Rosie O’Donnell Show came to a close, Caroline Rhea’s talk show, The Caroline Rhea Show, attempted to pass that torch to the Sabrina the Teenage Witch legend. The networks, and audiences, were not exactly supportive, and after 195 episodes, it was no more.

Sharon Osbourne - The Sharon Osbourne Show - 2003 - 2004

Before Sharon Osbourne's "embarrassing" departure from The Talk, she struck it out on her own to try and parlay some of her reality TV fame into a chat show. And yet, The Sharon Osbourne Show didn't last, as the show failed to land a following, leaving Sharon to let it die a quiet, un-renewed death. 

John McEnroe - McEnroe - 2004

Tennis is a grueling sport, but talk shows can be even more of a battlefield if you’re not careful. John McEnroe learned that the hard way during a handful of months in 2004, when his series McEnroe went from a critically panned debut to a critically panned finale. Even his most dedicated fans have probably overlooked it, with a mere mention of the series prompting many exclamations of, “You can’t be serious!”

Megan Mullally - The Megan Mullally Show - 2006 - 2007

Sometimes our preconceptions get the better of us, and shows like The Megan Mullally Show suffer as a result. As audiences were taken aback by Mullally failing to be her Will & Grace character in real life, there was nowhere to go but down for this daytime talk show.

George Lopez - Lopez Tonight - 2009 - 2011

If it wasn’t for Conan O’Brien, Lopez Tonight may have had a healthy run on TBS. Though it seemed his hiring could have boosted George Lopez’s show, the only shake-up it got was being moved into a later time slot, with weakened ratings. However, this all happened with O’Brien trying to avoid any sort of bad blood along the way, with the host even paying tribute to this slain series on its final night of air.

Wanda Sykes - The Wanda Sykes Show - 2009 - 2010

Following in the footsteps of Joan Rivers’ The Late Show and Chevy Chase’s The Chevy Chase Show, Fox really wanted to make late-night happen with comedian Wanda Sykes. Unfortunately for the network, The Wanda Sykes Show was such a disappointment that it hasn’t even tried to mount another original program in that later evening block since. 

Katie Couric - Katie - 2012 - 2014

A staple of NBC’s Today, seeing Katie Couric go to daytime talk felt like a lateral move. Moving to ABC to do so was certainly the most shocking turn of it all, at least until Katie was mutually canceled by its star and overseers. What started as a good run soon fell into a slump, leaving this enterprise grounded by 2014.

Bethenny Frankel - Bethenny - 2012 - 2014

How’s this for a story? The Real Housewives of New York alum Bethenny Frankel tried to kickstart her talk show Bethenny, only for it to initially get shelved. Fate seemed to smile on the entrepreneur as the show was revived for a run between 2012 and 2014. Only 170 episodes would be produced before the hammer came down, freeing Frankel up for appearances on shows like Shark Tank. 

Kris Jenner - Kris - 2013

It wasn’t cancellation that ended Kris’ brief 2013 run, as the talk show fronted by Kris Jenner was only being tested when it aired. Coincidentally the most notable episode was its finale, which saw Kanye West showing off the first photos of her granddaughter North. Ratings spiked, but it couldn’t save this ship from sinking. 

Khloé Kardashian - Kocktails With Khloé - 2016

A TV show where the host drinks with their guests? Not a bad move, especially when someone with clout like Khloé Kardashian could get the concept greenlit for cable. Unfortunately for Kocktails with Khloé, the show struck out after 14 episodes; more than likely due to the perfect storm of airing on cable and audience feedback sounding rather disappointed with the overall product.

Harry Connick Jr. - Harry - 2016 - 2018

For someone as adept at conversation and shenanigans as Harry Connick Jr., to fail in the talk show landscape always feels like a waste. Harry capitalized on the former American Idol judge’s star power and charisma, but even then audiences weren’t buying as heavily as when he was a part of Fox’s former reality show fixture.

Sarah Silverman - I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman - 2017 - 2018

There still isn’t a clear answer as to why Hulu canceled I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman. A mashup of talk show and sketch show, Silverman took on the tough issues of our modern times with her trademark sense of humor. Twenty-one episodes still don’t seem like a long enough run, but that’s sadly where things ended.

Lilly Singh - A Little Late With Lilly Singh - 2019 - 2021

With Carson Daly giving up the throne of Last Call with Carson Daly, NBC made what seemed like a smart move. By tapping famous YouTuber Lilly Singh for her show A Little Late with Lilly Singh, the network was clearly trying to get the younger generation to tune into this tested timeslot. It didn’t work, even with some changes to the format in the second season, and with this show’s demise also came that of the 1:35 A.M. slot at NBC.

Kathy Griffin - Kathy - 2012 - 2013

Giving Kathy Griffin her own talk show, after years of being banned from shows like Ellen and The View, was probably a bit of a surprise. In fact, the only thing that would have been more surprising is if Kathy had actually lasted past its short spell of 24 episodes on Bravo.

ALF - Alf’s Hit Talk Show - 2004

ALF’s Hit Talk Show tried pretty hard in its extremely brief run to make TV Land viewers stay up a bit later. Not even guests like Merv Griffin and Doris Roberts, not to mention professional sidekick/Tonight Show legend Ed McMahon could push this affair past seven episodes. 

Russell Brand - Brand X With Russell Brand - 2012 - 2013

You’d think a talk show with Russell Brand at the helm would be something so controversial you’d have at least heard of it. That appears to not be the case, as FX failed to crack the same molds it had broken with shows like The Shield with its two-season run of Brand X with Russell Brand. 

Bonnie Hunt - The Bonnie Hunt Show - 2008 - 2010

Bonnie Hunt not only had the comedic chops and kindness to host something like The Bonnie Hunt Show, but she infused it with a creative spin. Thanks to guests being able to enter the set through various methods of excitement, like a firepole, there seemed to be some magic in giving the Cheaper by the Dozen star a daytime talk slot. Two seasons, and even a couple of award nominations later, it was lights out.

Fran Drescher - The Fran Drescher Tawk Show - 2010

For six seasons and 146 episodes, Fran Drescher charmed the world as Fran Fine on CBS’ The Nanny. Sadly, that sort of effortless affability didn’t help The Fran Drescher Tawk Show make it past 16 episodes in 2010. And yes, that did include a humorous reunion with her co-star Charles Shaughnessy. 

Even with the most pleasing personality, the best time slot, and a pedigree in the business, talk shows are a concept that can still present a gamble. Many celebrities have tried, and many more probably will in the future; because when you can make it as a talk show host, you can pretty much write your own ticket from that point on.

Music and the movies are two worlds that cross over often, and to great effect. Sometimes the greatest overlap between those segments of entertainment comes from performances through figures we primarily know for carrying a tune over a scene. But believe it or not, these 32 movies featuring professional musicians are noteworthy for providing talent that can do both. 

Janelle Monáe - Hidden Figures

Playing Mary Jackson, an African-American mathematician crucial to the early days of NASA’s space race, Janelle Monáe showed off her dramatic chops in the historical drama Hidden Figures. One of the earliest cinematic roles in her career, Monáe would go on to become a more prolific actor and singer, adding films like Glass Onion: a Knives Out mystery to her resume along the way. 

David Bowie - The Prestige

As he continues to build amazing ensemble casts to carry out his cinematic visions, director Christopher Nolan has a knack for choosing talent. Which leads to that time Nolan begged David Bowie to be in The Prestige, as the helmer felt that the actor/singer would be a perfect Nicola Tesla. That instinct was as well played as the film it served to bolster.

Lady Gaga - A Star Is Born

Lady Gaga is such a natural entertainer that when she was announced as a lead in Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born remake, it didn’t feel like that much of a surprise. With previous films and shows to her acting credit, this role could be considered her cinematic breakout, as it landed her many raves, awards and nominations during the 2018-2019 awards cycle.

Frank Sinatra - The Manchurian Candidate

By the time Frank Sinatra made The Manchurian Candidate, his career had seen him make musicals, comedies, and intense dramas alike. The 1962 neo-noir thriller became one of his best received films, as Sinatra’s Captain Bennett Marco and his quest to prevent a clandestine assassination attempt distinguished itself as a contemporary hit, as well as an all-time classic. 

Queen Latifah - Set It Off

A landmark ‘90s drama that’s still fondly remembered to this day, Set It Off told a story of four women looking to live better lives through thievery. Queen Latifah’s Cleo Sims made up a part of that team, offering a complex performance that was both tragic and empowering. 

Gene Simmons - Runaway

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons knew what it was like to surprise the world when he and his bandmates took off their makeup for a period between the ‘80s and ‘90s. That was as good a time as any for Simmons to break into acting, as the villainous Dr. Charles Luther in Michael Crichton’s Runaway. 

Whitney Houston - The Bodyguard

If The Bodyguard had been made when it was first written, we might have seen Ryan O’Neal and Diana Ross playing the leads. But, as anyone in Hollywood could tell you, delays can sometimes gum up the works. Which is how, by time the ‘90s rolled around, Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston landed the iconic leads in this romantic-drama; with Houston making her historic cinematic debut.

Tim McGraw - The Blind Side

A year after Tim McGraw starred in Four Christmases, the country singer experienced two life changing moments. Not only did McGraw’s weight loss journey start to take off, but his acting career saw him co-starring with Sandra Bullock in the sports drama The Blind Side.

Beyoncé - Dreamgirls

2006 was a banner year for Beyoncé’s film acting resume, thanks to Deena Jones, part of the central trio in the musical drama Dreamgirls. The Renaissance woman helped boost director Bill Condon’s musical to awards glory, alongside co-stars Anika Noni Rose and Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson. 

Lenny Kravitz - The Hunger Games

Lenny Kravitz jumped into the acting game in a pretty big way, after playing himself in several film appearances. Perhaps his most iconic role yet is that of portrayal of Cinna, stylist to Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games. Inspiring everyone’s favorite tribute into subtle acts of rebellion, Kravitz’s warmth helps solidify the guidance that helped turn Katniss into a hero for the ages. 

Cher - Moonstruck

“Snap out of it!” With four words, Cher became a romantic-comedy legend, as she tried to deal with Nicolas Cage’s amorous advances in Moonstruck. Not only did that impress audiences overall, it landed her the award for Best Actress at 1988’s Academy Awards as well.

Flea - The Big Lebowski

If you thought “Nihilist #2” in The Coen Bros’ legendary comedy The Big Lebowski looked or sounded familiar, you have a good ear. Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Flea is the actor credited for that role, providing some comedic menace in Jeff Bridges’ neo-noir classic about blackmail, death, and bowling. 

Dolly Parton - 9 To 5

With a balance of commanding wisdom and unlimited sweetness, Dolly Parton is a country star that will always be an icon. However, watching 9 to 5 just might shock you, as the dark comedy shows her teaming with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda to teach Dabney Coleman how to treat a woman in the workplace. Let’s just say that lesson goes beyond a catchy theme song.

Dean Martin - The Sons Of Katie Elder

Rat Pack icon of cool Dean Martin is mostly known for either his comedies alongside musical pals Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., or his long running partnership with Jerry Lewis. But outside of either of those canons is Martin’s parts in westerns like The Sons of Katie Elder, which saw the crooner playing brother to genre legend John Wayne. So you can see how this was a pretty big deal back in 1965. 

Madonna - A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own's Mae Mordabito is quite possibly Madonna's most memorable part. As center fielder for the Rockland Peaches, she plays the entire cast with comedic precision with her free spirited character. 

Eminem - 8 Mile

Playing a fictionalized version of your own experiences isn’t a guaranteed success. And yet, Eminem took 8 Mile’s aspiring rapper Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith and made believers of fans and critics with his acting abilities. It was enough of a success that, decades after he has yet to take on another major film role, people are still curious if Marshall Mathers will ever lose himself in a movie again. 

Mandy Moore - A Walk To Remember

Pro-tip: if you’re a pop star that wants to become an actor, a Nicholas Sparks movie just might be the surest way to test those waters. Mandy Moore can attest to that fact, as her role in 2002’s A Walk To Remember was probably a good warm up for her future success as part of NBC’s drama series This Is Us. If you’re a fan of that meteoric network hit, and you haven’t watched this movie, you owe yourself a moment to correct that. 

Isaac Hayes - Escape From New York

A certain generation of Isaac Hayes fans will know him best as a soulful singer, while others would recall his velvety pipes from the romantically obscene Chef from South Park. And right in between those groups are the die hard fans of the best action movies ever who would remember Hayes as the menacing Duke in John Carpenter’s Escape from New York. 

Brandy - Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Everyone has their favorite Cinderella, and for Disney growing up in the ‘90s, Brandy is a prime candidate for those honors. Which is totally valid, as the singer’s leading portrayal in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella is a magical glass slipper that ties the entire cast of notables together. To imagine this movie without her is, quite frankly, impossible.

Sammy Davis Jr. - The Cannonball Run

The entire Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. were all actors, as well as singers, at the height of their powers. One of Davis’ best gigs, besides the original Ocean’s 11, came out of The Cannonball Run, which reunited him with fellow pally Martin for two films of vehicular madness. 

Janet Jackson - Poetic Justice

Writer/director John Singleton’s Poetic Justice could very easily be counted as an acting win for either Tupac Shakur or Janet Jackson. However, Ms. Jackson wins out no question, as her dynamic performance as Justice anchors both the dramatic, and the romantic halves of this picture. Not to mention, this project marking Janet’s debut as a feature film actor is still a powerful statement felt by her fans.

Andre Benjamin - Four Brothers

While Four Brothers isn’t an exact, on-brand remake of the western The Sons of Katie Elder, it’s pretty close. The similarities between the two Paramount movies are even eerier when you think about how Dean Martin’s acting career was enriched by the 1965 western, and Andre “3000” Benjamin saw the same sort of fortune come from his part in the 2005 action-drama.

Diana Ross - Lady Sings The Blues

Upon its release in 1972, Lady Sings The Blues sparked critical debate over how good of a biopic it really was. What wasn’t up for question was the excellence of Diana Ross’ performance as Billie Holiday; a feat that not only won her raves from critics, but also scored her a Best Actress nomination at 1973’s Academy Awards.

Usher - Light It Up

Not long after Usher made his movie debut in Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty, he graduated to being a lead player in the ensemble for writer/director Craig Bolotin's Light It Up. Going back to high school with Rosario Dawson and Sara Gilbert as classmates, Usher took part in a teenage rebellion with a cause more serious than any alien invasion.

Alicia Keys - Smokin’ Aces

The words “professional assassin” aren’t exactly what come to mind when talking about singer/songwriter Alicia Keys. That perception is part of how 2006’s Smokin’ Aces was such an explosive surprise upon its initial theatrical release. Keys and Taraji P. Henson’s double act as hired killers with a job to do helped keep this ensemble action dramedy spinning with chemistry to spare.

John Legend - La La Land

Is John Legend’s La La Land character a villain? It depends on who you ask, with his part in splitting up Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s on-screen romance acting as a defining factor. Unsurprisingly, the piano man’s charm and musical prowess added some extra star power to Damian Chazelle’s colorful musical.

Mariah Carey - Precious

People like Mariah Carey and Charlize Theron “deglamming” for performances in powerful dramas only helped amplify their performances. In Theron’s case, that led to her first Academy Award nomination in Monster. Meanwhile for Carey, director Lee Daniels’ heartbreaker provided her with a credit that wowed the critics to an impressive degree.

Alice Cooper - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Decades before Across the Universe turned the Beatles songbook into a jukebox musical, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band used that premise to a campier extent. This is, after all, the movie where you can see Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees “fighting” villains like Aerosmith and Steve Martin. And a part of that collection of baddies is an equally creepy and intriguing Alice Cooper, playing the role of cult leader Father Sun. 

Björk - Dancer In The Dark

Writer/director Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark was only singer Bjòrk’s second motion picture. You’d never know it, as this beautiful but tragic mashup of drama and music saw the Icelandic singer-songwriter land a heartbreaking blow with her character Selma. Trust us, you need the right headspace, and a lot of tissues, to take on this experience.

Common - Run All Night

While Common eventually got to hunt down Keanu Reeves’ titular assassin in John Wick: Chapter 2, he practiced his killer skills with another action vet: Liam Neeson. Run All Night pitted the rapping/acting talent against Mr. Neeson, and the war waged between the two men is something truly impressive to behold. 

Britney Spears - Crossroads

Not a girl, not yet a woman, and because of Britney Spears’ intense “method acting” in Crossroads, there was one more thing she wasn’t at the time: an actor. Though she’d eventually play a couple other roles here and there, preparing to star in this teenage drama road trip was enough to make Spears question how much she really wanted to act. 

Prince - Purple Rain

The world knows the many sides of Prince through his mythic career as a guitar god and musical boundary pusher. Purple Rain made that image all the stronger, as the man is basically playing himself, with some dramatic and comedic embellishment. The result is a movie that was a white hot success, and a powerful calling card in Prince's future endeavors on both sides of this fence.

While it’s not for everyone, actor/musician crossovers are always interesting to keep an eye out for. Both commanding successes and curious one-off scenarios are equally intriguing, as one never knows where the next success story will come from. Aspiring singers and actors alike take note: these cases we’ve just discussed are good studies to keep in mind when plotting your own course to stardom! 

As Jamie Foxx continues to recover from a “medical complication,” many stars have spoken up to show their love for the actor. The Academy Award winner appeared in public this week, though insiders say Foxx isn’t at 100% yet. However, it sounds like he’s really making progress when it comes to healing. With this in mind, his friend and fellow performer Queen Latifah got candid about the impact the Ray star has had on Hollywood and how much she admires him. 

As Queen Latifah reflected on her career and all those who have helped her, one fellow multi-hyphenate she made sure to show some love for was Jamie Foxx. After telling ET that she’s “praying hard” for the actor, she went on to gush about the impact the They Cloned Tyrone star has had on the industry, saying:

Latifah made such a great point. Foxx really has helped so many people in the industry. For example, Ed Sheeran slept on his couch for six weeks before he made it big, as the actor explained on The Graham Norton Show. The “Thinking Out Loud” singer had approached the Baby Driver star, who hosted a radio show at the time, about getting his music onto said show. So, the actor/musician gave the "Shape of You" singer's music a listen, loved it, and offered him a place to stay. These days Ed Sheeran is a household name.

Jamie Foxx went on to say in the same interview that he has hosted many up-in-coming artists and would always “champion” them. Latifah passionately spoke to this point too, noting that he has a ton of energy and was always excited to perform, saying:

Even as Foxx reportedly recovers he’s been proving that he’s “really the genuine article.” About a week before these comments were made, the Day Shift star kindly returned a fan’s lost bag, and he told the fan that he was “feeling good.” So, whether he’s helping artists get their start or simply being a good Samaritan, it seems like the Django Unchained star is always doing what he can to support others. 

In the midst of all this news surrounding Foxx, lots of his co-stars and friends have shown their support. Nick Cannon said he’ll “do anything for Jamie,” as he took over co-hosting Beat Shazam, noting just how much he respects the actor’s career. Tiffany Haddish also said he’s “the man,” while sending a heartwarming message to her fellow actor. 

As Jamie Foxx continues to allegedly work his way back to full health he has a few movies premiering on the 2023 film schedule. They Cloned Tyrone received a great review from our own Nick Venable, and it’s currently available with a Netflix subscription. On top of that, the actor is also voicing a character in the dog comedy Strays which hits theaters on August 18. 

It often feels like rom-coms are a dime a dozen, but the truth is that the best romantic comedies are ones built on several things. Fans of the genre enjoy snappy dialogue, inventive and/or realistic complications for the central couple, a swoon-worthy love story, and, of course, main characters portrayed by actors who have more than enough on-screen chemistry to make all of those pieces come together. 

What’s great about romantic comedies is that we’ve gotten more than enough couples like this over the past two plus decades, but some of them have either only partnered one time (which, granted, may be because their pairing is still relatively new), or haven’t been in a film together for many years now. So, let’s take a look at the (mostly) rom-com partners that we really think should make another movie together!

Meg Ryan And Tom Hanks

This duo probably feels like a no-brainer to you, and, well, it should! Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks have memorably joined forces for two rom-com hits, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, plus the 1990 cult favorite romantic comedy, Joe Versus the Volcano, so there’s no reason for them not to really round things out with a fourth film. I’d be down for a second chance romance where they learn to love again, wouldn’t you?

Diane Keaton And Keanu Reeves 

Yes, yes… Already I’m cheating here, but only a tiny bit. While the magnetic on-screen coupling of Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves wasn’t the main focus of Something’s Gotta Give, I have spent the past 20 years wishing they were. So, let's get these adorably crazy kids back together! They could play any kind of couple (bickering marrieds who are clearly still hot for each other, two folks who shouldn’t get together but can’t help themselves, etc.) and I’d be in the theater on opening night.

Lana Condor And Noah Centineo

Honestly, there might not be a cuter couple on this list. The dreamy teen romance movie pairing of Lana Condor and Noah Centineo was, obviously, gifted to everyone with a Netflix subscription in the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, and there’s a reason that so many people fell head over heels for them. These two sorta sparkle together on screen, and I’d love to see them reunite in a romance (or any comedy) that’s got more of an adult edge to it.

Alison Brie And Jason Sudeikis

We all adore it when a rom-com gives us something different, and 2015’s Sleeping with Other People does just that with its story of friends who openly acknowledge their sexual tension, but purposely avoid doing anything about it so as to not screw up what they have. Alison Brie and Ted Lasso cast lead Jason Sudeikis are amazing as the friends in question, and I’d love to see them bring their casual, but still sexy, chemistry to another film. 

Jenny Slate And Jake Lacy

A true pleasure of watching Obvious Child was seeing the relationship between Jenny Slate and Jake Lacy’s characters develop as she has trouble revealing that she’s getting an abortion several weeks after their one-night stand. They work great as a duo with a clear attraction that’s impeded by a secret, and we’d really appreciate it if we could watch him warm her butter and make her tea in a movie that sees them as fully coupled characters.

Constance Wu And Henry Golding

I cannot tell a lie; some of the reason for Constance Wu and Henry Golding making the list is simply because we are all dying for the Crazy Rich Asians sequel we’ve been promised for several years now. While we wait, I’m hoping we can at least get those two into another fun rom-com where he can bring his posh, suave energy to meet her adorably spunky, girl-next-door verve.

Emma Stone And Ryan Gosling

What’s not to love about Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, especially when they star opposite each other in a romantic story? They were sweet, sexy, bantery, and slightly goofy together in Crazy, Stupid, Love, then had all of that with more emotional depth in La La Land, and also had the same chemistry in Gangster Squad, but with an added veneer of danger. It’s been a rough few years; the world needs more of their exact thing, OK?

Kate Hudson And Matthew McConaughey

I know, I know! Matthew McConaughey doesn’t make rom-coms anymore, but that’s honestly no reason why he can’t re-team with Kate Hudson, 20 years after they first hit the screen together in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. The engaging push-and-pull of their romance in that film can easily be translated to, say, a movie where each is portraying a lawyer on the opposite side of a big murder case. There! Someone make that movie!

Queen Latifah And Common

Just Wright might not be the first movie you think of when it comes to Queen Latifah or romantic comedies, but it’s hard to deny that watching her play off of Common as they slowly go from not-quite-enemies to lovers was a genuine treat. Now all we need is the right vehicle for them so their individual easygoing charm can show us how well-matched they are on screen.

Jennifer Garner And Mark Ruffalo

There’s a reason that 13 Going On 30 is still so popular almost two decades later. That reason is Jennifer Garner’s joyful, weirdo energy as a teen suddenly transplanted to her adult life, sure, but it’s also how Mark Ruffalo calmly reconnects with the childhood friend he’d long ago lost touch with. They're just sweet together, OK? We saw them in The Adam Project. We need more!

Sandra Bullock And Channing Tatum

The luminous and hilarious pairing of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum was definitely not on my rom-com bingo card, but damn, it was a joy to behold once we got it. In The Lost City, they were perfect as a starchy and grieving romance novelist and her incredibly sweet but somewhat dim cover model who get caught in a life-or-death situation in the jungle, and all I can hope for is that we someday have a sequel to enjoy.

Billy Eichner And Luke Macfarlane

If an opposites attract energy is your thing, there’s no way for you not to enjoy the pairing of Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane. The Bros stars only just met up on screen in 2022, but we’d love to see them reunite in a rom-com that switches Eichner’s intense characterization and Macfarlane’s laid-back vibe around for additional laughs.

Meg Ryan And Hugh Jackman

Kate & Leopold is the rare romance where Meg Ryan’s character is less than sweet for much of the film, but watching her early ‘00s driven career woman begin to soften with the attentions of Hugh Jackman’s fancy man from the 1870s was a delight. Now if we can just get them to play off of one another when both are from the modern day, all will be right in the world.

Anne Hathaway And Chris Pine

We all know that The Princess Diaries 2 is so beloved that fans have wanted to bring the cast back for the now in development third movie for nearly 20 years, and part of that was because of the sweet, (sorta) slow burn love story between Anne Hathaway and Chris Pine’s characters. While everyone would love to see them as a long-married couple in a sequel, we’d also take them as, oh, I don’t know, bickering co-workers who can’t deny their attraction, so let’s stop stalling and get this coupling back on the big screen!

Julia Roberts And Hugh Grant

Look, I know that Hugh Grant is fully in his slimy villain era right now and is hilariously against even attempting rom-coms again. But! I think that makes the potential of this Notting Hill pairing coming back together even more appealing. Let him play a con-man who tricks Julia Roberts into falling in love, only to steal all her money and force her to track him down with a hilarious vengeance. I’d buy a ticket for that, OK?

Jennifer Lopez And George Clooney

Sure, sure. I’m cheating this entry a bit because, technically, Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney didn't star in a traditional rom-com together, but who among us can deny that they were HOT in Out of Sight? No one, that’s who! I say we get these two into a proper romantic comedy, but maybe one that’s not another Lopez wedding movie, just to switch things up.

Sanaa Lathan And Omar Epps 

Yes, this is another, more direct, fudging of this article’s concept, because Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps were a romantic drama pairing in Love & Basketball… but they were SO GOOD TOGETHER. Watching them play out a long-term path to eventual happiness was extremely satisfying, but maybe this time we can use that chemistry of theirs for a couple that has more good times than stressful ones.

Cristin Milioti And Andy Samberg

The chances that Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg will strike time loop movie gold again after Palm Springs is incredibly unlikely, and we wouldn’t want them to try. Instead, why not let these two portray criminals on the run for separate crimes who accidentally cross paths and fall in love while they’re on the lam? They can give us that same adorably wacky enthusiasm that we all loved the first time around that way!

Kristen Stewart And Aubrey Plaza

If you saw Happiest Season, then you saw the undeniable spark between Kristen Stewart and Aubrey Plaza as their characters (Who weren’t even dating!) dealt with a lot of toxicity during Christmastime. They managed to genuinely bond (and look great doing it) over their similar relationship trauma, so I say we go ahead and give these two an even bubblier romantic comedy where they can actually freakin’ end up as a couple! 

Gemma Chan And Harry Shum Jr. 

Obviously, we didn’t get a real romance between the characters played by Gemma Chan and Harry Shum Jr. in Crazy Rich Asians, but the movie sure did set up the promise of fulfilling the epic love story that was a part of Kevin Kwan’s novel trilogy. Fans got a very brief scene of them looking all cute and dreamy with each other and dancing during the mid-credits scene, so hear me now: WE NEED THAT ASTRID AND CHARLIE SPINOFF, ASAP!

Issa Rae And Kumail Nanjiani

It may be hard to cast two people who have perfect romantic chemistry, but it could be even harder to find a duo who can portray the first glorious blush of falling in love, that same couple once they’ve begun to fall apart, and then play them as they start to get closer… because they’re on the run after being accused of murder. Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani are those people, and we’ve been wanting them back on screen since The Lovebirds to do something just as crazy and rom-commy again.

Reese Witherspoon And Josh Lucas

If you’re looking for a bickering duo who are hot together no matter what, that’s Sweet Home Alabama’s Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas, for sure. I’m sure they’d be great doing anything on screen, but also doubt anyone would mind if they paired for a story that would let them fight (and fight through) their attraction until they finally admit their feelings for each other.

Rachel McAdams And Domhnall Gleeson

You know what’s coming, right? After being apart for a decade, it’s About Time that Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson join forces again to bring fans another lovey dovey couple, and we don’t even care what the set up is!

Sarah Hyland And Tyler James Williams

Never has it been more enjoyable to watch a woman who’s not sure about the whole marriage thing date a man who’s very much ready for a long-term commitment than in The Wedding Year, and that was because of the well-matched chemistry/comedic energy of Sarah Hyland and Tyler James Williams. I think these two would be fantastic in an action/adventure rom-com like The Lost City!

Kristen Bell And Dustin Milligan 

Though Kristen Bell and Dustin Milligan starred in The People We Hate at the Wedding, which was more of a straight ahead comedy, they had a definite romantic comedy storyline and played off of each other beautifully. I’m imagining a cinematic rematch for them that involves both of their characters being messy and a bit angry this time, and I think they’ll be a delight to watch once again.

Vivian Oparah And David Jonsson

Even though Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson are a very new rom-com pairing, as their starring vehicle, Rye Lane, debuted in early 2023, there’s no doubting the fizzy joy one gets from watching their characters meet cute and end up slowly becoming attracted to each other over the course of one eventful day. These two can do anything together next, but I don’t think anyone would mind a sequel where we get to see this romance progress!

If nothing else, while we wait to see if these rom-com partners get back together on the big screen, we can all at least go back and enjoy the amazing films they’ve already given us!

Oh, biopics. If there was ever a genre with “Oscar-bait” written all over it, it’s this one. Whether it’s one of Forest Whitaker's best performances playing Idi Amin, or Renee Zellweger's transformation into Judy Garland, biopics are usually a surefire way to get Oscar buzz.     

The same rationale apparently doesn't apply to rap biopics, as even though we’ve gotten movies about Biggie and 2Pac, with the films being Notorious and All Eyez on Me, respectively, as well as the N.W.A. movie, Straight Outta Compton, none of the actors or actresses involved in those films were nominated for their performances.   

Now, you could argue that none of those performances were comparable to, say, Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, or Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, and I wouldn’t necessarily argue with you. That said, with Snoop Dogg getting his own biopic, it made me think of five other rap biopics that I would love to see get made. And maybe, just maybe, if Hollywood ran with any of these biopics, we might see one of these actors up there on the stage one day thanking the Academy for awarding their performance.   

Jay-Z 

H to the Izzo, a.k.a., Shawn Carter, would have a really interesting life story, mostly because of the massive amount of hustle involved to get him to where he is today. His first album, the classic, Reasonable Doubt, debuted when the artist was at the ripe old age of 26 (which is downright ancient in the world of rap), and it was preceded by—you probably guessed it if you listen to his music—years of drug dealing.  

But, what I’d REALLY love to see is a film that showcases Jay-Z in his prime. I’m talking the formation of Roc-A-Fella Records, his verbal beef with Nas (which, I’m sorry Nas fans, that Jay won), and even his marriage to Beyoncé. And, you want drama? How about we actually get into Jay cheating on Queen B? I mean, honestly, forget who’s going to play Jay-Z. That can be hashed out later. What I really want to know is who would play the now 40-year-old Beyoncé. Because you know she can’t be played by just anybody. Sheer royalty requires only the best.   

Beastie Boys 

Okay, so, there’s already been a really good Beastie Boys movie called Beastie Boys Story. But, that was a documentary by Spike Jonze. That said, as good as it was, I’d really like to see actors play the Beastie Boys, as the documentary really showcased how the three friends (Adam Yauch was only in it through archival footage because he passed away in 2012), grew up together and evolved throughout the years. 

If anything, I might like to see a movie about the Beastie Boys’ earliest years when they were more of a punk band struggling to find their eventual rap identity. I love, love, love a lot of the later Beastie Boys albums, like Hello Nasty, To the 5 Boroughs, and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, but I’d really like to see a biopic that maybe ended with the release of Licenced to Ill. Because sometimes, I prefer biopics that focus more on MAJOR EVENTS (like the movie Selma) rather than being a full life story.  

Queen Latifah 

While she wasn’t the very first female rapper to break onto the scene (M.C. Lyte would take that title with 1988’s Lyte as a Rock, making her the first female rap artist to release a solo rap album), Newark’s own Queen Latifah was probably the first to really make a major splash with a general audience. But, unlike with the Beastie Boys, I would really love to see a full life story, from her beat boxing days, all the way up to her acting work on The Equalizer.  

The really cool thing about a Queen Latifah biopic, though, would be that it could showcase all the waves she made with her explosive introduction into the rap world, as well as all the artists she influenced who followed after her. And, here’s the best part—I would want Queen Latifah to play herself. I mean, look. If Eminem could basically play out his life story in 8 Mile, then I don’t see why Queen Latifah—an Academy Award nominee—can’t play herself in her own biopic.    

MF DOOM 

When my favorite rapper, MF DOOM, died, it really hit me hard. And, apparently, I wasn’t alone, as many people paid tribute to the late rapper, who died at 49. The thing is, MF DOOM had a pretty tragic life, losing both his brother and his son, neither of which he ever really recovered from.   

That said, I think there is much to be said for a man who goes on to wear a mask (with pride) and to declare himself a supervillain, going so far as to not even show up to some of his concerts and to instead send DOOM Imposters. I would really love to see a film about why Daniel Dumile (who even had an alliterative name like a comic book character) decided to take on the identity of DOOM in the first place. Honestly though, I really just want to hear “Rapp Snitch Knishes” on the big screen, and maybe finally learn who Mr. Fantastik is.    

Kool Keith

Last but not least, I want a Kool Keith biopic. Now, if you don’t know who Kool Keith is, I don’t entirely blame you, since the rapper has probably had more identity changes than any other rapper in history. He started out in the rap group The Ultramagnetic MCs, but then went on to have his own solo career, first coming out as Dr. Octagon, and then becoming Dr. Dooom (where he killed off Dr. Octagon), then Black Elvis, and then…you know what, I have no idea what identity Kool Keith has right now. The dude has built a career on being an enigma. 

That said, I would want an enigmatic biopic to go along with the rapper's eccentric career. Something along the lines of the Bob Dylan movie, I’m Not There, where different actors play different aspects of the musician himself. Because if any rapper deserves a bizarre, out-there biopic, it’s Kool Keith.

Which rappers would you love to see get a biopic? For more news on upcoming rap biopics, make sure to swing by here often.  

Whether you’ve been a fan of The Voice since the beginning or are a newcomer to the NBC show, we've got everything you need to know about the singing competition's history of superstar coaches and winners right here. This fall, the show's milestone 30th season will hit the 2026 TV schedule, with Adam Levine looking to defend his title after winning last season's "Battle of Champions." He'll have to get through Kelly Clarkson and two talented newcomers to The Voice coaching family to do it though.

The Voice has welcomed 23 superstars so far in its 15-year history to lead the music industry hopefuls, with two more joining for Season 30. Blake Shelton was the longest-running mentor, appearing in the first 23 seasons, but an eclectic array of musicians have come and gone over the years as well. Let’s take a look at all of The Voice coaches, how many seasons they've coached, and all the artists they've led to victory.

Blake Shelton (23 Seasons, 9 Wins)

Blake Shelton is the leader of the pack when it comes to The Voice coaches in both longevity and wins. The longest-serving coach collected nine wins during his 23-season tenure, and he must have left his mark on the artists, as all nine of them showed up to surprise Shelton on his final episode with an emotional group performance. The cowboy returned for the Season 27 finale, but only to perform.

Season 2: Jermaine Paul. Blake Shelton got his first win fairly quickly in The Voice’s run, winning the second season with R&B singer Paul.

Season 3: Cassadee Pope. Country pop singer Pope has released four studio albums since The Voice, and her duet with country singer Chris Young, “Think of You.” went No. 1 on the US Country Airplay chart in 2016.

Season 4: Danielle Bradbery. Blake Shelton completed a three-peat with then-16-year-old Bradbery. She is among artists who found success after The Voice.

Season 7: Craig Wayne Boyd. Team Blake bested three Adam Levine team members in this finale, giving Boyd the crown.

Season 11: Sundance Head. In 2016, Sundance Head beat out competitors who included former child star Billy Gilman. Head was one of many singers on The Voice who also competed on American Idol, and he made headlines in 2024 after accidentally shooting himself in the stomach. He continues to tour as of 2026 and appears to have made a full recovery.

Season 13: Chloe Kohanski. Following her win, Kohanski gave us some behind-the-scenes info about The Voice. In 2019, she began performing as chloe mk, and in 2021 she released the album, All the Same All OK.

Season 18: Todd Tilghman. Pastor and father of eight Tilghman became Shelton’s seventh champion on The Voice. At 42 years old, he is the oldest contestant to win the show.

Season 20: Cam Anthony. The coach’s strategy of clearing the lane for Anthony to be the only R&B singer on his team paid off, as he “changed the show forever” and gave the cowboy an eighth victory.

Season 22: Bryce Leatherwood. This classic country singer used negative online feedback to fuel his upset victory in his coach's penultimate season. Leatherwood sang hits by George Strait, Travis Tritt, Keith Whitley and more en route to the trophy and stands as Blake Shelton’s final champion.

Kelly Clarkson (10 Seasons, 4 Wins)

Blake Shelton may have the most victories, but Kelly Clarkson has notched a pretty impressive win rate, winning 4 out of the 10 times she’s coached (Seasons 14-21, 23, 29). The American Idol OG champ stepped away from The Voice in 2023, whenThe Kelly Clarkson Show's production moved to New York City. She performed in the Season 27 finale before returning as a coach for Season 29, and she'll be back in the Big Red Chairs for Season 30.

Season 14: Brynn Cartelli. In her first year on The Voice, Kelly Clarkson gave A+ advice, leading this 15-year-old pop singer to victory. Cartelli stands as the competition’s youngest winner.

Season 15: Chevel Shepherd. Make that 2-for-2 for the “Breakaway” singer, as 16-year-old Shepherd became the first country artist to win on a team other than Blake Shelton’s.

Season 17: Jake Hoot. This country singer was “in shock” after giving Kelly Clarkson her third win in four seasons. He returned for Season 29's "All-Star Showdown," where he "broke" Kelly Clarkson but also helped her win an extra spot in the finale.

Season 21: Girl Named Tom. This folk trio comprising siblings Joshua, Caleb, and Bekah Liechty made history as the first group to ever win The Voice. They joined Jake Hoot in representing their former coach in Season 29's All-Star contest.

Adam Levine (18 Seasons, 4 Wins)

One of the original coaches, Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine served on the panel for the first 16 seasons, contributing to some of the wildest moments in The Voice’s history and forming bromantic rivalry with Blake Shelton. He exited the show ahead of Season 17 for 10 seasons before returning for the 27th and 29th cycles of the competition in 2025 and 2026. He has earned four victories overall, including Season 29's Battle of Champions, and he's confirmed that he'll be back for Season 30.

Season 1: Javier Colon. Adam Levine started off with a bang, taking this singer-songwriter all the way to the end, to be crowned the first champion of The Voice. Colon returned to represent his coach in Season 29's "In-Season All-Star Competition."

Season 5: Tessanne Chin. This Jamaican artist beat out some strong competition in Jacquie Lee and Will Champlin to give the Maroon 5 frontman his second win.

Season 9: Jordan Smith. The singer-songwriter blew all of his competition out of the water, coasting to a victory in 2015. In 2022 he also represented Kentucky on NBC’s American Song Contest, and he joined Javier Colon in Season 29's All-Star Competition.

Season 29: Alexia Jayy. John Legend really shot himself in the foot with this artist, and Adam Levine took her all the way to the finish line in a season full of stunning covers of songs by Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Adele and more.

John Legend (11 Seasons, 1 Win)

EGOT winner John Legend has been a pretty regular figure on The Voice panel since 2019 but has garnered just one victory so far. Legend served as a coach on The Voice on Seasons 16-22, 24, 25, 27 and 29.

Season 16: Maelyn Jarmon. The folk singer wowed voters with her finale covers of Hallelujah and Unforgettable. Funnily, she said the competition was not as stressful to her as the final season of Game of Thrones. Jarmon represented John Legend in Season 29's All-Star competition, along with Season 27 finalist Renzo.

Christina Aguilera (6 Seasons, 1 Win)

Another one of the original panel, Christina Aguilera appeared on six of the first 10 seasons of the NBC competition show (1-3, 5, 8, 10), and won in her final appearance. Two years after her exit, the “Genie in a Bottle” singer said that by Season 10, The Voice had become less about music and more about making good TV moments.

Season 10: Alisan Porter. Some viewers may have recognized the eventual winner from her roles as a child actor, including the titular character of 1991’s Curly Sue. Porter’s victory made Christina Aguilera the first female coach to win a season.

Gwen Stefani (8 Seasons, 1 Win)

The No Doubt frontwoman joined the cast of The Voice in fall 2014, and has scored one win in her eight seasons so far (7, 9, 12, 17, 19, 22, 24 and 26). At the time of her first appearance, she and Blake Shelton were both going through divorces. Fans got to watch their friendship blossom into romance, and in Season 22, they were the show’s first husband-and-wife couple to go to battle. Stefani has appeared on two seasons since Shelton left, but only time will tell if she'll continue to return.

Season 19: Carter Rubin. The 15-year-old pop singer gave Gwen Stefani her first win — beating out two members of her then-fiancé’s team — and became the youngest male winner in series history.

Pharrell Williams (4 Seasons 1 Win)

The “Happy” singer was added to The Voice’s panel in Season 7. He stayed in the Big Red Chairs through Season 10, winning his sophomore effort.

Season 8: Sawyer Fredericks. Following his win at just 16 year's old, Fredericks recorded three albums while touring and playing events for charities, including St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. He is one of several celebrity relatives to compete on The Voice.

Alicia Keys (3 Seasons, 1 Win)

Alicia Keys brought a cool and positive vibe to the panel for Seasons 11 and 12 — winning in her second season — before leaving to record an album. She came back one last time for Season 14 and performed in the Season 27 finale.

Season 12: Chris Blue. The soul singer was the very last contestant picked on this season, completing Keys’ team. This was the only season that the last singer chosen has won the whole competition.

Usher (2 Seasons, 1 Win)

Season 4 marked the first time The Voice switched up its coaches, and Usher came on replacing CeeLo Green. The “My Way” crooner made a second appearance in Season 6, notching his first and only win.

Season 6: Josh Kaufman. Kaufman started his Voice journey on Adam Levine’s team but was stolen by Usher in the Battles. Following the show he joined the Broadway cast of Pippin, and was the last person to play the title role before the revival closed in 2015.

CeeLo Green (4 Seasons, 0 Wins)

OG coach CeeLo Green appeared on Seasons 1-3 before stepping away in Season 4. He returned for Season 5 for a final season. The Gnarls Barkley member brought a certain flair to the panel, as he was often accompanied by his cat and tended to choose more unique artists than his counterparts. Those choices, however, did not translate to wins.

CeeLo Green has returned to The Voice a couple times since his exit, performing on Blake Shelton's final episode, and serving as a Mega Mentor and the judge of the All-Star Competition in Season 29.

Shakira (2 Seasons, 0 Wins)

The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer filled in for Christina Aguilera on Seasons 4 and 6, failing to bring an artist to the finale in both seasons.

Jennifer Hudson (2 Seasons, 0 Wins)

American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson is probably best remembered for throwing her shoes at the performances she deemed most impressive. She appeared on two seasons (13 and 15), but got no wins. J-Hud returned as a Mega Mentor for Reba McEntire and Michael Bublé’s teams in Season 26, filled in for Kelly Clarkson during the Battles in Season 29, and has also coached on three seasons of The Voice UK.

Miley Cyrus (2 Seasons, 0 Wins)

The addition of Miley Cyrus to Season 11, along with Alicia Keys, marked the first time the singing competition featured two female coaches. She returned in Season 13, but the “Wrecking Ball” singer never earned a win.

Nick Jonas (2 Seasons, 0 Wins)

Nick Jonas adorned the Big Red Chair in Seasons 18 and 20. While having an artist appear in the finale both seasons, he also failed to take them to victory.

Ariana Grande (1 Season, 0 Wins)

Pop singer Ariana Grande got some good zingers in on Blake Shelton, however, in her sole appearance on the show — Season 21 — she had no artists representing her in the finale. The Wicked star has since said she got too emotionally attached to her team and has no plans to return.

Camila Cabello (1 Season, 0 Wins)

Camila Cabello proved she was a force to be reckoned with in her first time on The Voice. In Season 22 she took one artist, Morgan Myles, to the finale, but was unable to wrestle the win away from the cowboy, Blake Shelton.

Chance the Rapper (2 Seasons, 0 Wins)

Chance the Rapper made his debut on The Voice in Season 23, then returned in Season 25. The three-time Grammy Award winner took sister trio Sorelle to the finals in his rookie season but failed to secure an artist in the Season 25 finals. In the Season 27 finale, Chance the Rapper appeared as a performer.

Niall Horan (3 Seasons, 3 Wins)

Former One Direction member Niall Horan joined The Voice family in Season 23, where he struck up a hilariously strong father/son bond with outgoing coach Blake Shelton. It seems the nut didn't fall far from the tree, as Horan has gone undefeated in his three seasons on the show. He stands as the only undefeated coach and the first coach to win their first three seasons (Kelly Clarkson and Michael Bublé won their first two).

Niall Horan joins Blake Shelton as the only two coaches to win three attempts in a row, though Horan's were not in consecutive seasons like Shelton's were (Seasons 2-4).

Season 23: Gina Miles. The soft-spoken 18-year-old spoiled Blake Shelton's goodbye season, edging country singer Grace West in what Carson Daly said was the smallest margin of victory in the show's 23 seasons.

Season 24: Huntley. Niall Horan's long-haired rocker was up against some stiff competition, as all five artists in the Season 24 finale were Four-Chair Turns. He brought it home, though, making it two in a row for his coach.

Season 28: Aidan Ross. The 20-year-old from Texas earned a Four-Chair Turn as the first artist to take the stage for Blind Auditions on his season. He chose to go with Niall Horan and the two never looked back. Halfway through the season, fans were already calling him the winner.

Reba McEntire (4 Seasons, 1 Win)

Reba McEntire joined The Voice for Season 24, replacing fellow country superstar Blake Shelton, and then returned in Seasons 25, 26 and 28. Even before that, though, the three-time Grammy winner had been a friend of the show, helping Team Blake in Season 1, returning in Season 8 and serving as Mega Mentor in Season 23. She has notched one victory on her Voice belt.

Season 25: Asher HaVon. Asher HaVon, a 31–year-old singer from Selma, Alabama, dominated the competition, to the point that after his finale performances, both John Legend and Chance the Rapper agreed the Team Reba singer should win. HaVon was reportedly the first openly LGBTQ+ contestant to win The Voice.

Dan + Shay (1 Season, 0 Wins)

The Voice made history in Season 25 by introducing the Double Big Red Chair for country/pop duo Dan + Shay. The singers were longtime friends of the show, performing with past contestants, serving as Blake Shelton's advisor in Season 20 and filling in for Niall Horan for the Battles in Season 24. Dan + Shay have won three Grammy Awards and had hits with The Voice coaching phenom Kelly Clarkson, as well as Justin Bieber, but were unable to secure a win in their lone season.

Snoop Dogg (2 Seasons, 0 Wins)

Snoop Dogg was apparently so impressive during his gig as the Season 20 Mega Mentor that NBC wanted to bring him on full time. The West Coast rapper and Winter Olympics correspondant joined the coaching panel for the competition’s 26th cycle, and while he suggested he might be one-and-done as a coach, the Gangster Holy Ghost brought him back to the Big Red Chair for Season 28.

Michael Bublé (3 Seasons, 2 Wins)

Season 26 was Michael Bublé's first as a coach, as the five-time Grammy winner appeared on Season 3 as the Battle Advisor for Blake Shelton’s team. The “Home” singer became the fourth coach to win his rookie season (after Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Niall Horan) and the first coach ever to have both the winner and second-place finisher on their first season. (I think he was also the first coach to break their chair.)

He became the third coach after Clarkson and Horan to win their first two seasons, but he couldn't complete the hat trick, losing to fellow (and still) unbeaten mentor Niall Horan in Season 28. Bublé returned as a Battle Advisor in Season 29.

Season 26: Sofronio Vasquez. The 31-year-old from the Philippines and New York became the first Filipino singer to win the competition. He was a Four-Chair Turn who captivated America with covers of artists including Mary J. Blige, Sia and Elvis. Following his win, Michael Bublé announced he was producing Vasquez's EP.

Season 27: Adam David. The blues rocker was a one-chair turn in the Blind Auditions and then needed the help of the Instant Save to make it past the Semifinals, but the 34-year-old from Florida brought home the big prize in the end.

Kelsea Ballerini (1 Season, 0 Wins)

Kelsea Ballerini made her debut in Season 27. As a longtime friend of the singing competition, the country-pop singer served as an honorary fifth coach on Season 15, was Kelly Clarkson’s advisor in Season 16 and filled in for the “Since U Been Gone” singer when she was sick in Season 20.

Queen Latifah: Incoming Rookie

We've talked a lot about Reba McEntire being the "Queen of Country" on The Voice, but Season 30 will see true music royalty in the house when Queen Latifah joins the coaching panel. With a career dating back to the 1980s, this superstar is a Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe winner with an Oscar nomination for the 2002 musical Chicago. I'll be seated.

Riley Green: Incoming Rookie

Country music star and actor Riley Green will also make his debut on The Voice in Season 30, but he's no stranger to the show — Green performed on the finales for Seasons 26 and 28. Also, it sounds like he's living rent-free in Kelly Clarkson's head, because apparently she started trash-talking before production even began.

I'm super pumped to see if Adam Levine can capitalize on his latest victory, but I'd love to see Kelly Clarkson walk away with another win. On the other hand, I'd never underestimate Queen Latifah, and Riley Green is sure having a moment, so whichever way it goes, Season 30 should bring great things.

Stay tuned for updates on when the singing competition will return, with episodes coming this fall to NBC and available to stream next-day with a Peacock subscription.

It usually doesn’t take too long for an actor in Hollywood to find themselves fit into a mold. Whether it’s Jason Statham making action movies or Mads Mikkelsen playing villains, it’s not uncommon to see actors go through similar experiences on screen with very different characters. Sean Bean has been known as the actor who dies on screen, but apparently that’s been the case with Queen Latifah as well, and she’s done with that.

Sean Bean, the actor who dies on screen a lot, has said in the past that he’s started turning down roles where his character dies in the movie. It’s not that he has any specific issue with dying on screen anymore, Bean is a particular fan of his Fellowship of the Ring exit, but he knows that it’s happened so much that Bean now says him dying in a movie has become predictable, and he doesn’t want people to expect his characters to die. In a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show (via Insider) Queen Latifah reveals that she actually includes a clause in her contracts that her characters will not die. Her reasoning is a bit different, however. She wants to be around for the sequel. Latifah explained…  

As reasoning goes, it’s hard to argue with Queen Latifah’s point of view here. We live in a world where franchise filmmaking is where all the money and attention is going. Most major tentpole films, that pay the most money, are also looking for the potential of making more than one movie. If you survive the first one, there’s a pretty decent chance you’ll be in the next one. But if you die in the first movie that’s the end of the jobs and the paychecks.

Queen Latifah certainly isn’t wrong about her early deaths either. When Latifah started to make her transition from the world of music to the big screen in the late ‘90s, she played several characters who died. In three of her first five films, Set It Off, Sphere, and The Bone Collector, she doesn’t make it to the end credits. To be fair though, only of the last of those, being based on a book series, had any real chance of becoming a franchise, but the movie was not well received.  

If she truly has made a point to avoid dying on screen, it happened shortly after that as she tends to survive movies since then. Of course, if she truly has has a clause in her contract requiring her character’s survival, then she’ll have the opposite problem of Sean Bean, in that nobody will ever expect her character to die, which might kill the tension.  

Since its debut in February 2021, The Equalizer has become one of the most popular crime drama series, not just on its home of CBS, but on all of broadcast TV. The series, which is led by rapper-turned-actor Queen Latifah as former CIA operative Robyn McCall, a.k.a. “The Equalizer,” returned for its third season of thrilling action on Sunday, October 2, 2022, bringing with it some new and familiar faces along with it.

If you have watched the show’s return, or are planning to stream it later with a Paramount+ subscription, you probably want to know about those new additions to The Equalizer Season 3 cast and where you’ve seen them before. Well, you’ve come to the right place because we’re about to break down those new cast members as well as the other actors who are back in the game once again for the start of CBS’ fall 2022 TV schedule.

Donal Logue (Colton Fisk)

The first new addition to the Season 3 cast is Donal Logue, who Deadline revealed will be taking on the role of Colton Fisk. A decorated CIA agent with an impeccable record, the highest level of security clearance, and no loose ends, Fisk has been described as being a ghost whose assignment is on a “need-to-know” basis. The character, will presumably be filling the void left by the death of William Bishop, who died in a plane crash after the actor who played him, Chris Noth, was fired from the series because of a series of sexual assault allegations in late 2021.

Throughout his career, Logue has appeared on a variety of TV shows that have seen him play characters ranging from hardened detective Harvey Bullock on Gotham to family patriarch Sean Finnerty on the early 2000s sitcom, Grounded for Life. His other small-screen credits include Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, ER, The Practice, and Vikings, to name only a few.

Gloria Reuben (Trish)

The second new addition to The Equalizer Season 3 cast is former ER mainstay, Gloria Reuben, who will be taking on the role of Trish, a character Deadline described as the recently widowed girlfriend of Viola “Aunt Vi” Marsette (Lorraine Toussaint). Though she will be rekindling her relationship with Vi in Season 3, only time will tell where things will lead.

Throughout her career, Reuben has appeared on a great number of TV shows, including Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Falling Skies, The Blacklist, Mr. Robot, Cloak and Dagger, City on the Hill, and Blue Bloods. Her film work includes titles like Lincoln, Admission, Timecop, The Jesus Rolls, and most recently, the 2022 Stephen King adaptation, Firestarter.

Returning Equalizer Cast Members In Season 3

In addition to the new faces who will be joining The Equalizer in Season 3, the CBS crime procedural will also see its major players and fan-favorites come back for another round of action. CBS has announced that Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes, and Lorraine Toussaint will all be back in the roles they have been playing since the show premiered following Super Bowl LV in February 2021.

Also returning as part of the recurring cast are Brett Dalton, Gabriel Sloyer, Chris Vance, and Stephen Bishop, who all appeared in various episodes in the later part of The Equalizer Season 2.

You can see all these new and returning faces in The Equalizer Season 3 cast when new episodes air Sunday nights on CBS. If you want to know what other shows are coming your way the end of the year, check out CinemaBlend’s 2022 fall TV schedule so you don’t miss any of the action. 

It wouldn’t be unheard of for a Netflix movie with negative reception to be trending in the Top 10. Curiosity sometimes gets the best of streamers around the world. Queen Latifah and Ludacris’ new movie End of the Road is next on the Top 10 Netflix list in 80 countries, but the critics weren’t in favor of it and the audience reaction was even worse.

Starring musician-turned-actors Queen Latifah and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, End of the Road is when a family road trip turns into a fight for their lives when they’re targeted by a mysterious killer. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the 2022 Netflix movie currently has a disappointing score of 32%. In a nutshell, critics felt like the script was very bland. For a movie that was supposed to keep you on the edge of your seat, there was hardly any tension. The audience score, however, was even lower than the critics’ with it currently being at 16%. Those watching at home felt like Queen Latifah and Ludacris could have done much better in this “predictable” movie where the characters make bad decisions right and left. Proves this movie’s many flaws were hard to overlook by audiences and critics.

Despite these low critical and audience scores, End of the Road is still hitting the Top Ten list in 80 countries. BRG says that based on Netflix’s global Top Ten data covering a 7-day period that ended on September 11th, End of the Road beat every English-language film to be Netflix’s #1 movie in the world right now. It garnered 30.2 million hours of viewing time with 29.5 million hours this week. This goes to show that audiences are still willing to take a chance on a movie despite the negative reception it’s gotten.

Netflix has a tendency of releasing movies that have gotten subpar reviews but still manage to trend their way to the top. For example, The Cat and the Hat landed on the Top Ten list this May despite having a harsh critical score of 9%. But, it seems that it didn’t stop families from wanting to rewatch this Mike Myers classic. Another Ludacris movie John Henry got a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were still streaming it. Additionally, Coffee & Kareem also landed on the Netflix Top 10 despite receiving a rotten score of 22% at the time. Sometimes, audiences go into a movie knowing it may not be the best piece of entertainment in the world but are still willing to give it a try.

Even though End of the Road endured disappointing reviews, Queen Latifah and Ludacris still have plenty of ways to keep critics and audiences entertained. The Hustle actress is set to return to season three of CBS's The Equalizer premiering on October 2nd. Other than the upcoming Fast & Furious movies, Ludacris will be partaking in the newest Disney movie Dashing Through the Snow about a divorced social worker who learns about the joy and magic of Christmas. These two actors have plenty of projects to keep them afloat.

End of the Road is an example of a number of Netflix movies that didn’t sit well with critics and audiences, but Netflix streamers will still allow their curiosity to give in to sneak a little peek. If you’re still interested in giving this movie a chance, you can find End of the Road on your Netflix subscription. 

Queen Latifah has always been seen as a beacon of hope for plus-sized women in Hollywood. Despite being upheld by fans and friends as a positive role model, the Oscar nominee definitely hasn’t been immune from the weight-loss pressure, and has been open about her struggle to define her image as an actress. The issue came up anew after the hip-hop legend addressed being referred to as obese by a former personal trainer Jeanette Jenkins. After Queen Latifah’s story went viral, inspiring much disgust among her fanbase, the celebrity trainer herself decided to speak up with her side of the story.

For some background, Queen Latifah was speaking about her wellness journey while as a guest on Red Table Talk (via Glamour), and shared that the first interaction with Jenkins was a wake-up call for the Oscar nominee. The Equalizer star laid out the somewhat shocking exchange that went down during her first fitness assessment, saying:

Queen Latifah thought she was in pretty decent shape until her body assessment seemed to tell her otherwise. Of course, Jeanette Jenkins was helping the entertainer to get her health on track, and presumably wasn't aiming to be insulting with her plainly stated advice. She’s known for helping celebrities like Octavia Spencer and Mindy Kaling get in shape, apparently without causing much uproar. 

And so, upon seeing the clip surfacing online, the fitness and health coach looked to clarify Queen Latifah's comments and complaints, saying:

Of course, Queen Latifah’s assessment of Jenkins’ credentials was spot on. The celebrity trainer came back with facts without chastising the actress. Her years of training and schooling were on display as she broke down the rapper’s health results.

Jeanette Jenkins just wanted to make sure viewers know her test followed scientific research. As the fitness expert mentioned, there can be confusion between body mass index and body fat percentage. The fitness expert assessed the Hollywood star’s body fat, not her body mass, which incorporates a client’s weight and height. She just felt the talk show clip painted the wrong picture of her training and methods, and it's hard to disagree.

Hopefully, Jenkins and Queen Latifah will be able to clear up the misunderstanding behind the scenes before things go any further. Right now, the Living Single alum is currently starring in Netflix’s Hustle with Adam Sandler, which received some critical acclaim, and she has more coming this year, including the Ludacris-starring drama End of the Road. 

She is also gearing up for The Equalizer Season 3, which will remain on Sunday nights for CBS' fall schedule, and which already has an order for a fourth season. You can check out our 2022 TV schedule to see when other new and returning shows are dropping in.

Have you ever been watching your favorite TV show when a certain actor popped into frame and you could not help but wonder where else you might have seen them? There is a good chance that it could have been another episode of the same program, as many television series have a history of casting the same actor for entirely different roles. In fact we have a hefty amount examples below of actors who have played multiple TV characters in one series.

Giovanni Ribisi On Friends (Condom Guy, Frank Buffay Jr.)

Before he joined the Friends cast in the recurring role of Frank Buffay Jr. - the younger half-brother of Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) - Emmy nominee Giovanni Ribisi made an uncredited Season 2 appearance as a guy who asks if he can retrieve the condom he dropped in Phoebe’s guitar case moments earlier. Considering Phoebe never found out about this sibling until later that season, fans have speculated that Frank and “Condom Guy” are the same person, but this has never been confirmed.

Queen Latifah On The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (Marissa Redman, Dee Dee)

Before she was in the Living Single cast, future Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah shared the screen with fellow rapper-turned-actor Will Smith on two episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1991. She played a vain, domineering actress who hires Hilary (Karyn Parsons) as an assistant for her first appearance, and returned to play a woman whose friendship with Will is tested when he does not defend her from ridicule about her weight.

Jerry Orbach On Law & Order (Defense Attorney Frank Lehrman, Detective Lennie Briscoe)

The late, great Jerry Orbach of Dirty Dancing fame is even better known for his 12 seasons in the Law & Order cast as Detective Lennie Briscoe, for which he received his third Emmy nomination. However, his first appearance on creator Dick Wolf’s long-running crime procedural (which was revived in 2022) was in Season 2 (a year before he official joined the cast) as Frank Lehrman - a lawyer defending a woman who shot her estranged husband and his mistress. 

Justin Theroux On Sex And The City (Jared, Vaughn Wysel)

On the premiere season of Sex and the City, Justin Theroux appeared as Jared - Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) post-Mr. Big rebound - before showing up again the following season as Vaughn Wysel -  Carrie’s writer boyfriend whose stories are short, just like his bedroom stamina. The star of HBO’s The Leftovers explained on an episode of People Magazine’s Couch Surfing how he prepared for his second role on the iconic romantic-comedy series by shaving his head.

Dean-Charles Chapman On Game Of Thrones (Martyn Lannister, Tommen Baratheon)

It is not so unusual for a Game of Thrones cast member to die and come back later (i.e. Kit Harrington’s Jon Snow), but Dean-Charles Chapman is a special case. The 1917 star appeared in two episodes of the third season as a Lannister House squire named Martyn before being brought back the next year (and with a sweet promotion) as the polarizing King of the Andals, Tommen Baratheon.

Peter Capaldi On Doctor Who (Caecilius, The Doctor)

Because of Time Lords’ regenerative process, the titular hero of the phenomenal British sci-fi series, Doctor Who, has been played by 13 different actors so far - including Oscar-winner Peter Capaldi (who looked to David Bowie for inspiration for the role) from 2013 to 2017. However, die-hard Whovians may recall when the Scotsman and The Suicide Squad cast member appeared opposite the Tenth Doctor, David Tenant, in 2008 as a man The Doctor saves from Vesuvius’ eruption named Caecilius.

Karen Gillan On Doctor Who (Soothsayer, Amy Pond)

In the same 2008 episode of Doctor Who in which Peter Capaldi made his first appearance in a different role, future Marvel movie star Karen Gillan also made her debut on the cult favorite series as a soothsayer who gained psychic powers from breathing in dust from the volcano, Vesuvius. Two years later, the Scottish actress was cast as Amy Pond, who would accompany Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor on adventures until 2012.

Ted McGinley On Married… With Children (Norman Jablonsky, Jefferson D'Arcy)

On Married… with Children (which some believe is due for a revival), the Bundy Family’s next-door neighbor, Marcy (Amanda Bearse), was married twice - the second time to Jefferson D’Arcy, who was played by Ted McGinley after he joined the cast in Season 5. The previous season, he appeared in a holiday episode inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life in which Al (Ed O’Neill) is shown an alternate reality where Peg (Katey Segal) is, instead, married to a more successful, better looking man named Norman Jablonsky (McGinley).  

Terry O’Quinn On The X-Files (Lt. Brian Tillman, Shadow Man)

Emmy winner Terry O’Quinn, best known from the Lost cast, has starred in a number of series created by Chris Carter - including one of the best ’90 shows, The X-Files, as both a police lieutenant in Season 2  and a super-soldier who tries to kill Scully (Gillian Anderson) in Season 9. He was also a regular on another supernatural series by Carter called Millennium, which once crossed over with The X-Files - meaning O’Quinn has really played three characters within this same universe.

Garret Dillahunt On Deadwood (Jack McCall, Francis Wolcott)

Garett Dillahunt is one of the few names on our list who, instead of just two guest appearances, can claim to have two different, multi-episode recurring roles in the Deadwood cast. He played the crooked-nosed murderer Jack McCall in the HBO series’ first season, before returning in Season 2 as geologist Francis Wolcott. He even made an uncredited cameo in the series’ feature-length continuation from 2019 as random drunk.

S. Epatha Merkerson On Law & Order (Mrs. Denise Winters, Lieutenant Anita Van Buren)

Emmy winner S. Epatha Merkerson, who went on to be a staple of the One Chicago franchise, is best known for playing Lt. Anita Van Buren on Law & Order from 1993 to 2010. Yet, her first role on the iconic crime drama was as the mother of two young shooting victims in the the series’ premiere season.

Paget Brewster On Community (Debra Chambers, Frankie Dart)

During Paget Brewster’s temporary absence from the Criminal Minds cast, she had a starring role on Community as Frankie Dart - a consultant hired to help improve things on the Greendale campus. There is a clever joke from Season 6 of creator Dan Harmon’s cult favorite comedy when Frankie claims to have some bizarre trouble when trying to reach out to Greendale’s I.T. department head, Debra Chambers - whom Brewster also played in the previous season.

James Cromwell On Barney Miller (Sgt. Wilkinson, Neil Spencer, Jason Parrish, Dr. Edmund Danworth)

The producers of Barney Miller (one of funniest and best classic mystery shows) cast several actors in multiple guest appearances over its eight seasons, including Oscar nominee James Cromwell. He first appeared as a police sergeant in 1977, a representative of the department of energy two years later, and both a corporate representative and stress researcher in 1981.

Denise Dowse On Beverly Hills, 90210 (Professor Harriet Welkman, Mrs. Teasley)

Years before appearing on the hit HBO comedy Insecure or FX’s acclaimed crime drama Snowfall, Denise Dowse appeared on a total of 24 episodes as part of the Beverly Hills, 90210 cast from 1990 to 2000. In 23 of those episodes, she played West Beverly Hills High School vice principal Yvonne Teasley, and also played a college professor in an episode of Season 1, which was also her first.

Diane Neal On Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Amelia Chase, A.D.A. Casey Novak)

Diane Neal has starred on the crime procedural spin-off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (initially as a regular and later in recurring and guest appearances) as Casey Novak - an assistant district attorney who also appeared in an episode of the short-lived Law & Order: Trial By Jury. The actress has actually played two characters in this universe - the first being a stockbroker convicted of the rape and murder of a male stripper who staged the murder of her accomplice as a suicide, on SVU’s third season.

Freema Agyeman On Doctor Who (Adeloa Oshodi, Martha Jones)

Before joining the New Amsterdam cast and starring in The Matrix Revolutions, Freema Agyeman first appeared with the Doctor Who cast as Torchwood technician Adeloa Oshodi in 2006. The following year, she was cast as Martha Jones - a companion to David Tenant’s Tenth Doctor - who was later revealed to be Adeloa’s cousin to explain the resemblance between the two.

Christa Miller On Seinfeld (Ellen De Granmont, Paula)

If her starring roles on The Drew Carey Show, with the Scrubs cast, and on Cougar Town do not earn Christa Miller the right to be called sitcom royalty, how about her two disparate guest roles on one of the most celebrated sitcoms of all time, Seinfeld? Miller contributes to two memorable George Costanza moments - the first being when she cost Jason Alexander’s iconic character a bra salesman position after a disastrous attempt at hitting on her in Season 5. In Season 6, she played a woman already dating George, but her unflattering doodle of him suddenly makes him unsure if her affection is genuine.

Nelson Franklin on The Office (Graphic Design Guy, Nick)

Comedian and Being the Ricardos star Nelson Franklin is known for having notable recurring roles on a number of sitcoms, including with The Office cast as Dunder Mifflin-Sabre’s begrudgingly overlooked IT guy, Nick, in Season 6. Two seasons earlier, he appeared in the episode “Job Fair” as a graphic design expert whom Pam (Jenna Fischer) approaches with interest in the field.

Sean Gunn On Angel (Mars, Lucas)

Before his older brother, James Gunn, cast him in multiple roles in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies (namely Kraglin and Rocket Raccoon, for whom he performed the mo-cap), Sean Gunn play two different characters in the first season of the David Boreanaz-led Buffy spin-off, Angel. The future Gilmore Girls cast member first played a spa manager helping an inter-dimensional demon princess hide other women of her kind from the males who enslave them, before returning a few episodes later as a demon himself - specifically the kind that Angel’s ally, Allen Doyle (Glenn Quinn), is a descendent of on his father’s side.

Hayden Panettiere On Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Ashley Austin Black, Angela Agnelli)

Back when she was still best known for Disney movies like A Bug’s Life and Remember the Titans, Hayden Panettiere guest-starred on Season 2 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as the surviving young daughter of two singers accused of neglecting their recently deceased son. Right before joining the Heroes cast made her a household name, the actress and singer appeared on the spin-off’s sixth season as a Catholic high school student whose participation in a sex tape also featuring her classmate and an adult doctor, drove her to murder.

James Jordan On Veronica Mars (Lucky, Tim Foyle)

Years before joining the Yellowstone cast as Steve Hendon, one of James Jordan’s first major TV characters was Tim Foyle - a rival of Kristen Bell’s titular hero from the Veronica Mars cast who appeared in seven episodes, including the 2019 revival season. However, Jordan actually starred in a total of 10 episodes of the hit mystery drama and, for his first three, played a Neptune High janitor ironically named Lucky, who was shot and killed by a school security guard after showing up with an unloaded gun after he was fired.

Michael Cudlitz On CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Officer William Spencer, Josh Barston)

Earlier in his career, former The Walking Dead cast member Michael Cudlitz made a guest appearance on each of the first three editions of the CSI franchise (and each time as a different character, too), but the original is the only one on which he appeared twice. His first played a cop driven to crime by greed in Season 2, and later played a contractor driven to murder by love in Season 9.

BONUS: Kali Rocha On Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Cecily Addams, Halfrek - Confirmed To Be The Same Character)

For years, it was debated among fans of Buffy of the Vampire Slayer whether or not Kali Rocha's roles of Cecily Addams - a 19th Century socialite whose rejection of Spike (James Marsters) resulted in his vampirism - and the vengeance demon Halfrek were the same person. Writer Drew Goddard would confirm in a DVD commentary track (via ScreenRant) that the theory is, indeed, true, which we have chosen to mention as a bonus item on this list just in case there were any fans who may have needed clarification.

Let this list be a lesson to any aspiring actor to never take a TV guest appearance or small recurring role for granted. It could be the first of many appearances on that show alone or could get you promoted to a regular position.

Fans of The Equalizer star Chris Noth were very surprised in mid-December, when the actor was accused of sexual assault by several women, after his Sex and the City character, Mr. Big, was killed off in the premiere of the continuation series, And Just Like That… Noth was quickly removed from a future episode of that show, as well as being fired from the CBS hit, where he played the lead’s trusted ally. Now, Queen Latifah has broken her silence on Noth’s firing after those allegations, and admits it’s a “delicate situation.”

What Did Queen Latifah Say About Chris Noth’s The Equalizer Firing?

Just a few days after Chris Noth was removed from a future episode of And Just That Like…, his co-stars, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon, released a joint statement saying they were “saddened” by the sexual assault claims and “commended” the women for coming forward. But, Queen Latifah, who stars on The Equalizer as Robyn McCall and worked very closely with Noth for two seasons (he portrayed Robyn’s long-time friend, William Bishop) remained quiet after his late December firing from the drama.

Now, though, Queen Latifah has opened up about the situation to People, and had this to say:

I can only imagine that “surreal” might be the least of what Queen Latifah has been feeling since the allegations about Noth came out. While he has clearly stated that “I did not assault these women” and said that the claims were “categorically false,” he has been accused of sexually assualting several women (with Law & Order guest star Zoe Lister-Jones alleging that she knew him to be “consistently sexually inappropriate”), along with a domestic abuse claim from 1995 resurfacing in the wake of the new allegations.

If reports such as the ones against Noth come out, it has to be very odd and troubling to hear those stories, especially if your interactions with that person don’t line up with the claims you’re now hearing. On top of that, Queen Latifah needs to be aware of how sensitive the situation is, particularly for those who’ve finally shared their stories. And, she does seem to be clear on that and how careful she has to be when talking about what’s happened.

What Did Queen Latifah Say Will Happen To Chris Noth’s Equalizer Character?

At the same time, losing Noth’s character was, indeed, a blow to her series. William Bishop was an ex-CIA director who’d worked with Robyn while she was an operative for the agency, and after she became a vigilante fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves, he lent her his considerable skills and connections to assist in her new missions. 

It was just earlier this month that The Equalizer viewers saw what is the last of Noth’s appearances on the drama, and it remains to be seen how he’ll be written off permanently. Queen Latifah added:

There are some relatively easy avenues The Equalizer can take to keep Chris Noth out of the picture long term, but while those behind the show haven’t fully decided how to handle that just yet, we do all hope, like Queen Latifah, that the right things are done in this difficult situation.

You can see how they handle Bishop’s absence as The Equalizer continues, Sundays at 8 p.m. EST, with the rest of the returning TV shows. 

Before women like Rebel Wilson, Melissa McCarthy and Gabourey Sidibe gained mainstream acceptance, Queen Latifah was one of the few plus-sized actresses embraced by Hollywood. For many women, she served as a reflection of them in media, whether it be film, television and music. While she served as a beacon for millions, she faced the same weight loss pressures everyone faces, as her star continued to rise. Just recently, the Equalizer star spoke on the pressure Hollywood has placed on her throughout her decades-long career.

For many years, Queen Latifah stood out from the typical Hollywood actress when it came to her appearance. Unfortunately, that meant the entertainment industry wanted her to conform to its beauty standards. The talk of her weight seemed to increase the more popular she got, leading to some stern pushback. The hip-hop legend revealed how she combatted the pressure from Hollywood:

It's comforting to know that her team stood up for her instead of yielding to Hollywood executives and forcing her to lose weight. Given the number of films and television series she has participated in, viewers have been enamored by her talent rather than her size. Of course, upon hearing the initial suggestions, she didn’t respond well. During her interview with Yahoo, star recalled how she reacted to hearing those hurtful words:

Queen Latifah’s response was the perfect answer to Hollywood’s sometimes sky-high beauty standards. As the multi-hyphenate pointed out, she served as a reflection of the average woman in the U.S. Oftentimes, the size and weight of women in Hollywood don’t reflect what the rest of the female population looks like. So actresses like Latifah were a representation of those women being seen. Thankfully, the rapper decided to ignore those Hollywood naysayers while pushing forward in her career.

Needless to say, the actress has excelled in every avenue of her career. She's been busy, as of late, between shooting her CBS series and working on multiple film projects. The fact that the multi-tainer managed to thrive without conforming to entertainment’s standards is truly inspiring, and is just another reason why fans love her. Viewers can see her in action by catching The Equalizer at 8 p.m. ET on Sundays on CBS.

Having one of the biggest hits of 2021, Ludacris could rest on his laurels and wait on Fast 10 and 11 to start production. Instead, the rapper-actor was filming another movie. His F9 follow-up recently wrapped up production, and of course, he went online to celebrate it. To celebrate the occasion, Ludacris decided to share a touching moment with his co-star Queen Latifah.

The F9 star took to his Instagram to announce production wrapping on his follow-up to the box office hit. Ludacris couldn’t help but gush over acting alongside The Equalizer’s Queen Latifah. The Fast and Furious star said about the chance to work with the screen and music legend:

As evident from Ludacris’ caption, he was more than excited to work with Queen Latifah. Given both actors’ hip-hop backgrounds, it only seemed a matter of time before Ludacris and Queen Latifah would work together. Compared to the Fast and Furious franchise, End of the Road appears to fall into the category of small indie films. As the actor pointed out, it was a huge moment in his acting career to work with the Oscar-nominated actress.

Ludacris’ sweet words to Queen Latifah aren’t without merit. Queen Latifah’s transition from a hip-hop superstar to a full-fledged Hollywood icon has served as a blueprint for many rappers after her. The actress has managed to keep her career stable as she hopped back and forth between film and television. Said career has reaped the acclaim and accolades many upcoming musicians can pattern themselves after. She along with Ice-T, LL Cool J, Ice Cube and Will Smith proved Hollywood and hip-hop could merge without sacrificing one for the other. But Queen Latifah wasn’t the only one Ludacris chose to shout out.

After thanking the Oscar nominee, Ludacris dedicated the rest of his post to highlight the cast and crew of the Netflix thriller for making the shot amazing. To see the special moment captured between the actor and Queen Latifah, check out his touching post below:

Starring in End of the Road seems like a terrific way for Ludacris to continue pushing his acting career past the Fast and Furious franchise. Doing that along with Queen Latifah is just the cherry on top for hip-hop culture. This could be a huge moment, seeing them share the screen for the first time. Hopefully, the Netflix thriller will be worth the wait when it is released on the streamer.

Until the film is released, you can still catch the actors in their current projects. You can watch Ludacris in F9 on VOD and in theaters while Queen Latifah headlines The Equalizer Sundays on CBS with Season 2 premiering in October.

The early 1990s saw the debut of a sitcom focusing on six twenty-somethings dealing with the common struggles of life, love, and their careers as they reside in New York City and, no, I am not talking about Friends. I am actually talking about Living Single - the smash hit comedy that premiered on Fox in 1993, and which solidified rap artist and future Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah as a prominent acting talent and also reignited former The Facts of Life star Kim Fields’ reputation as sitcom royalty. Since its sudden cancellation in 1998, the Living Single cast has gone on to lead some impressive careers, which we will take a deeper look at here, starting with “hip-hop’s First Lady.”

Queen Latifah (Khadijah James)

Born Dana Elaine Owens in New Jersey in 1970, Queen Latifah’s groundbreaking emergence into the rap music scene in the late 1980s paved the way for her to be cast on Living Single, which would lead to a very successful movie career, including her Oscar-nominated role in Chicago from 2002. The actress recently returned to television in CBS’ reboot of The Equalizer (not to be confused with Antoine Fuqua’s two cinematic adaptations with Denzel Washington) which she also produces - a position she also took for Lifetime’s Salt-N-Pepa biopic, which aired in January 2021.

Queen Latifah has many projects in progress in both the acting and producing departments (such as the upcoming film adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s book The Tiger Rising). And, according to her former record producer Dante Ross, she still makes music, but whether or not it will see the light of day is uncertain.

Kim Coles (Synclaire James-Jones)

Comedian Kim Coles played various small roles on the legendary sketch comedy series In Living Color and appeared on an episode of Martin Lawrence’s hit sitcom Martin, as Sheneneh’s friend Bonquisha, before playing Queen Latifah’s onscreen cousin, Synclaire James in the Living Single cast. Among her most notable TV appearances following the show’s end was a series regular spot on Geena Davis’ short-lived sitcom, The Geena Davis Show, in 2000, hosting the BET original game show Pay It Off for one season in 2009, and showing up on various reality TV shows, including VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2010. Coles most recently had a role on the Season 2 premiere of the Emmy-nominated HBO original comedy A Black Lady Sketch Show, on which her good friend, former Community star Yvette Nicole Brown, also had a role.

John Henton (Overton "Obie" Wakefield Jones)

Kim Coles’ character would be renamed Synclaire James-Jones after marrying Obie, who was played by John Henton - a Cleveland-based comedian whose big break came with a The Tonight Show performance which earned host Johnny Carson’s approval, leading to a second appearance on the show and his own stand-up special on Showtime in 1993.

Following the success of Living Single, the actor’s next taste of sitcom stardom was on star and co-creator D.L. Hughley’s hit The Hughleys, which ran on ABC for its first two seasons before moving to UPN (before it merged with The WB to become The CW) for its final two years. He has not done much acting since, outside of appearances on The Parkers and on Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana as a Randy Jackson doppelgänger, but, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune, he managed to coast through quarantine pretty well.

Erika Alexander (Maxine "Max" Felice Shaw)

Since playing Max on Living Single (her most famous TV role outside of playing Pam Tucker on the finale two seasons of The Cosby Show), Erika Alexander has gone on to lead a very eclectic career, appearing in some of the most popular hit movies and TV shows in recent memory. She played a detective who does not believe Rod Williams’ (Lil Red Howery) story about Chris Washington’s (Daniel Kaluuya) disappearance in Get Out, and has landed recurring roles on Insecure (an award-nominated HBO original comedy created by and starring Issa Rae) and The CW’s Arrowverse-canon drama, Black Lightning, as a telepathic therapist for meta-humans. Alexander recently produced civil rights documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble, and you will, apparently, be able to see her on The Roku Channel’s series adaptation of 1994’s Swimming with Sharks, which was originally developed for Quibi in 2020.

Terrence "T.C." Carson (Kyle Barker)

On Black Lightning, Erika Alexander would also reunite with T.C. Carson, whose character, Kyle Barker, would later have a child with Max. Carson’s biggest claim to fame after the sitcom ended in 1998 has been his prolific voice acting career, most notably as the original voice of Kratos in the God of War video games, Mace Windu on the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars since 2008, Batman Ra’s Al Ghul in 2016’s Justice League vs. Teen Titans, and even the video game adaptation of Grey’s Anatomy from 2009. The now 62-year-old actor and jazz musician has a number of big screen and small screen projects on the horizon, including The Forgettable Life of Liam White, which is expected to appear as part of the upcoming 2021 movies schedule.

Kim Fields (Regine Hunter)

Playing Regine Hunter on Living Single saw the resurgence of Kim Fields’ sitcom stardom just five years after her stint as Dorothy “Tootie” Ramsey on The Facts of Life ended in 1988. That reputation would reignite once more, in 2021, after she joined the Upshaws cast for Netflix, alongside series co-creators and renowned comedians Mike Epps and Wanda Sykes.

Outside of notable guest appearances on fellow Netflix original series Cobra Kai and the aforementioned HBO comedy Insecure, Fields has done, and still does, a lot of work from behind the camera directing such series as Nickelodeon’s Kenan & Kel, Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and House of Payne, and the upcoming Urbanflix TV drama Vicious, which is currently filming.

There was a time, back in 2017, when a reboot of Living Single produced by Queen Latifah was announced. The show never came to fruition, however, and I think the sitcom’s biggest fans would agree that rewatching the original series with the original Living Single cast is good enough. Besides, who could ever replace the talent above?

Many Queen Latifah fans were a bit surprised a couple of years ago when it was announced that the Oscar nominee and former Star and Living Single lead was planning a return to TV in the drama The Equalizer. But, it didn't take long for the project to get off the ground and hit our TVs (right after this year's Super Bowl), and prove to be a great move for the multi-hyphenate star. The Equalizer connected with audiences right out of the gate, and now it's led Queen Latifah and more stars of the freshman hit to celebrate the show's Season 2 renewal.

CBS fans love a procedural, and they've been given a rebooted property with a lot of new angles in The Equalizer. The series, which is based on the popular '80s hit of the same name which starred Edward Woodward, now follows Queen Latifah's Robyn McCall as a former CIA operative who's decided to use her considerable skills to work secretly as a vigilante, fighting for people who've been wronged and usually have no way to fight back on their own.

After only four episodes, The Equalizer is now the number one scripted show in viewers, adults 25-54, and adults 18-49, averaging 14.6 million eyeballs per week, and Queen Latifah took to Twitter to share her excitement at the early renewal:

There's no doubt in my mind that Queen Latifah is truly excited at the Season 2 renewal for The Equalizer. Sure, this might not be the most effusive tweet ever when it comes to posting good news, but Latifah is both the star and an executive producer on her new hit series, so she's probably already very aware of the amount of work she's about to embark on to help deliver both the rest of this season and a new season which will satisfy fans.

One of her executive producing partners on the series, Debra Martin Chase (The Princess Diaries, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), had much more to say on the renewal, and thanked the fans for "embracing" the show, a sentiment which actor Tory Kittles (who plays Detective Marcus Dante, a cop tracking Robyn's vigilante activities) echoed on Instagram:

season2 of #theequalizer is coming!!!! you all made this happen, and i’m extremely grateful and humbled that we get to continue the story. thank you - thank you - thank you. keep tuning!!!! #theequalizer

Kittles amplified his message with the use of three heart emojis to show how much he (and probably everyone involved in The Equalizer) appreciates the support of the fans, which star Lorraine Toussaint (Robyn's Aunt Vi), also shared, along with one of her signature looks from the show:

Aren't you glad we're going to get more of these looks every Sunday night? Fans likely love Aunt Vi as much as Toussaint loves the fans. People tuned in for The Equalizer's post-Super Bowl premiere to the tune of 23.8 million viewers, meaning it was able to keep 40% of the audience for the post game show, the best numbers since New Girl's half hour showing in 2014 (40%) and the best hour-long retention since Glee's post-game spot in 2011 (41%).

Liza Lapira, who plays Mel Bayani, a bar owner and former colleague from Robyn's past who helps her with her modern day missions, posted her thanks on Instagram, and kept fans pumped for what's to come, saying:

Lapira wrapped her post with the two heart emoji to help show her love for the fans and all the episodes to come of The Equalizer which they helped to make a reality. And, you can bet that she, Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Lorraine Toussaint and the rest of the cast and crew are all looking forward to bringing fans more intriguing cases where Robyn and her friends help the helpless while trying to stay several steps ahead of the cops.

The Equalizer airs Sundays on CBS at 8 p.m. EST.

Fans were a bit surprised when it was announced that Queen Latifah was all set to take over the badass, justice-finding shoes of The Equalizer in a new CBS show. Obviously, we all love us some Latifah, but for those who were thinking we'd be treated to someone closer to Denzel Washington's film version or Edward Woodward's '80s TV version of the do-gooder, the move probably came out of left field.

Luckily, the Oscar nominee is more than capable of righting the many wrongs done to the oppressed and exploited, and The Equalizer cast is similarly filled with other talented, familiar faces (like Chris Noth) to help her in those efforts. So, let's take a look at where you've seen all of the major players before!

Queen Latifah (Robyn McCall)

As our exceedingly skilled former CIA operative who's now dedicating her life to helping those with nowhere else to turn, is Queen Latifah. It would be a true shock if you've never seen this dynamic multi-hyphenate before, as she's been making moves in the entertainment industry as a rapper/singer/actor/producer/talk show host since she burst onto the scene with her debut album, All Hail the Queen in 1989.

Since then, Latifah has lent her considerable talents to appearances in properties like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jungle Fever, House Party 2, and The Bone Collector. She transitioned to leading roles in the hit sitcom Living Single, and the recent Fox drama Star, and films like Set It Off, The Perfect Holiday, Beauty Shop, Hairspray, The Secret Life of Bees, Just Wright, and the Ice Age franchise. In addition, Queen Latifah got an Oscar nomination for Chicago in 2003, and won an Emmy in 2015 for Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for HBO's Bessie.

Chris Noth (William Bishop)

Robyn's former CIA handler and long time friend, William Bishop, helps her in her new mission on The Equalizer, and he should easily be recognized by fans of the original Law & Order and Sex and the City, as Chris Noth played major parts in each of those iconic television shows. But, his parts as Detective Mike Logan and Mr. Big, respectively, are far from the only places where you could have seen him.

Noth had short runs in the mid-80s on both the soap opera Another World, and the long-running cop drama Hill Street Blues, and soon moved on to TV movies and mini-series like I'll Take Manhattan, At Mother's Request, and Nothing Lasts Forever. Of course, Noth also reprised his role as Detective Logan for Law & Order: Criminal Intent from 2005-2008, and appeared more recently in Tyrant, Catastrophe, and Doctor Who, but is also known for his seven season stint as a very bad husband on the CBS legal drama The Good Wife.

Lorraine Toussaint (Viola “Vi” Marsette)

This time around our Equalizer has some family to deal with. As Robyn's Aunt Vi, we have stage and screen veteran Lorraine Toussaint, who is probably most recognizable from her short, but impactful, stint as inmate Yvonne 'Vee' Parker on Orange Is the New Black.

Toussaint's career, though, goes way back to before her time on the Netflix hit. Her first screen credit was the in TV movie The Face of Rage in 1983, and she's gone on to appear in over 100 film and TV projects. These include 227, Dangerous Minds, Any Day Now, Crossing Jordan, Law & Order, CSI, Ugly Betty, Friday Night Lights, Rosewood, The Fosters, and Into the Badlands. Lorraine Toussaint has also voiced a few video game and animated characters, including the Shadow Weaver on Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Liza Lapira (Melody “Mel” Bayani)

Everyone needs friends they can trust, and Liza Lapira's edgy bar owner, Mel, is that for Robyn as she helps in her mission to find justice for the downtrodden. Lapira has mostly been known for her roles in sitcoms over her 21 year career, with parts in series such as Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23, Royal Pains, Super Fun Night, Battle Creek, Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life, and Con Man.

Lapira has also been featured in more dramatic work like Law & Order: SVU, Dexter, NCIS, Fast & Furious, Cloverfield, Dollhouse, and most recently, The CW's Nancy Drew.

Adam Goldberg (Harry Keshegian)

You might not immediately recognize Adam Goldberg as paranoid, white-hat hacker Harry Keshegian when you see him on The Equalizer, but you have definitely seen the veteran of nearly 100 film and TV projects during his 31 years on screen. Because of repeats and binge-viewings, Goldberg might always be best known for his three episode stint as Chandler's irritating and excessively weird non-Joey roommate, Eddie, on Friends.

But, Goldberg has been in a wealth of other projects over the decades, including Saving Private Ryan, A Beautiful Mind, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Joey (where he did not reprise his role as Eddie), Entourage, the first season of Fargo, NBC's Taken series, and, most recently, God Friended Me.

Tory Kittles (Detective Marcus Dante)

Every vigilante like Robyn McCall needs a dogged law enforcement officer who's hot on her trail, and The Equalizer has that in Tory Kittles' Detective Dante. His appearance here is actually a reunion of sorts, as he's worked with Queen Latifah twice before, in Bessie and the 2012 TV movie Steel Magnolias. However, Kittles has plenty of credits besides those, and has lent his talents to projects such as Tigerland, Phone Booth, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Miracle at St. Anna, Sons of Anarchy, Olympus Has Fallen, True Detective, Colony, and recently portrayed Frederick Douglass in Harriet.

Laya DeLeon Hayes (Delilah)

Robyn's teenaged daughter, Delilah, may be too smart and observant for her mom to keep her mission secret from her for long, and any doubts we see Delilah have will surely be well-communicated by Laya DeLeon Hayes, who got her first acting credit for voicing a character in the League of Legends video game in 2009. Since then, the young star has been on Grey's Anatomy, Cougar Town, Chicago Fire, Liv and Maddie, Quantico, Code Black, Raven's Home, and Just Add Magic. DeLeon Hayes is also known for her voice work in Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, and for playing the title character in Doc McStuffins.

Now that you know where you've seen (and heard) the main cast of The Equalizer before, here's hoping you enjoy the new show even more!

Adam Sandler’s not taking a break after Hubie Halloween. The famous actor/comedian is already filming his next big movie for Netflix, and he won’t be alone. This feature is adding some pretty huge names to its cast.

The Sandman's new movie is called Hustle (not to be confused with Anne Hathaway’s The Hustle), and it's about a washed-up basketball scout who discovers an incredible street basketball player in China, lifting his hopes that he could make it back in the NBA. Netflix has taken to social media to announce Hustle's all-star cast. Check it out:

While these aren't the typical actors Adam Sandler works with, it’s still a killer cast that should help raise the profile of the movie a bit. Hustle is being directed by Jeremiah Zagar, written by Taylor Materne and Oscar nominee Will Fetters, and produced under Adam Sandler’s banner, Happy Madison Productions, as well as Lebron James’ and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Entertainment.

After Netflix acquired Hustle from Legendary, the company pitched it to Adam Sandler, who came on after Will Fetters cleaned up the script and Jeremiah Zagar signed on as the director. As you might already know, Adam Sandler and Netflix have a strong working relationship together. This will be Adam Sandler and Lebron James' first time working together, although Uncut Gems did see Sandler starring opposite Kevin Garnett, another NBA all-star.

It’s hard to say if Hustle will lean more toward drama, like Uncut Gems, or if it’ll be a solid mix between comedy and drama. It certainly doesn’t look like his latest goofball comedy Hubie Halloween. Considering the dramatic cast, I’m betting Adam Sandler will play the comedy part, while Robert Duvall, Queen Latifah, and Ben Foster will lean into the dramatic roles they’ve been known for.

Queen Latifah has primarily been working on a variety of TV series, with the latest being the mini-series Hollywood. For Robert Duvall’s part, this will be his latest movie since 2018’s Widows. Ben Foster had recently been seen in the movies Galveston and Leave No Trace.

One thing you might have noticed from the photos above is Adam Sandler suddenly rocking a full beard. He’s had facial hair before, of course, but this beard takes it up a notch. We reported earlier this month that Adam Sandler admitted no one liked his beard very much, but he was doing it for an upcoming role. Well, now we know the beard is for his role in Hustle.

There’s no word yet on when Hustle will be available on Netflix. Considering they’re just getting started filming now, it’s likely not going to land anytime soon. For more updates on Hustle, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

Rapping and acting may seem world’s apart, but many successful actors started off as rappers (and some still do both). Ice-T has been on the hit series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit since it began, Ice Cube has been a co-star of several hit franchise movies, including the Ride Along movies, and former rappers Queen Latifah and Will Smith have made a very successful transition from rappers to respected actors. Rappers have created a lot of great hip-hop music, but they have also made some pretty entertaining movies as well.

For this list, I have selected a few great movies with rappers in a supporting or lead role, and usually movies during an important time in their rap careers. Let’s drop a beat (sorry, bad joke) and look at some of the iconic films featuring rappers.

Set It Off - Queen Latifah

Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise star in Set It Off, a film about four women who decide to rob a bank.

Frankie (Vivica A. Fox) used to work as a bank teller, and gets fired, which leads to her working janitorial duties with her three friends. She and her friends are fed up with how life treats them and (after some hesitation) start to plan a bank robbery. Set It Off premiered in 1996 and Queen Latifah was still very much a successful rapper. She released an album a few years prior, entitled Black Reign, and had already appeared in a few films, like Juice and House Party 2. Queen Latifah appeared in Set It Off while being the series lead of the sitcom Living Single.

Poetic Justice - Tupac

Regina King, Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, and Joe Torry star in Poetic Justice, a movie about two people forced on a road trip together by their friends. Their relationship starts combative, but eventually, they start to get to know each other and fall in love.

Poetic Justice is a great romantic drama because of the chemistry between Janet Jackson and Tupac. The film was released in 1993, and Tupac had just released his second studio album Strictly 4 My Life N.I.G.G.A.Z. Poetic Justice was his second major starring role after 1992’s Juice. The film was released during Tupac’s rising period as an artist.

Friday - Ice Cube

Chris Tucker and Ice Cube star in Friday, a comedy about the misadventures of two men living in South Central LA. It gives a more lighthearted, comedic look at the hood. Friday includes an all-star comedy cast that includes Bernie Mac, Regina King, Nia Long, and John Witherspoon. Friday would eventually lead to two other sequel movies. The film was co-written by Ice Cube. Apparently he and co-writer DJ Pooh wanted to create a film that showed a lighter side of hood life. Ice Cube was in the middle stages of his solo career, releasing four albums before Friday hit theaters. The most recent one was 1993’s Lethal Injection. Ice Cube had also done some television and movies before Friday, including Boyz n the Hood.

8 Mile - Eminem

8 Mile is a semi-biographical movie about B-Rabbit (Eminem), a white battle rapper living in Detroit. The film follows B-Rabbit as he tries to raise his sister, deals with an unstable mother, and tries to be taken seriously as a battle rapper. 8 Mile’s cast includes Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger, Anthony Mackie, and Michael Shannon. 8 Mile’s song “Lose Yourself” won the 2003 Academy Award for best original song. In the same year as 8 Mile’s release, Eminem released his fourth studio album, The Eminem Show. The album went on to become the best selling album of 2002.

Bad Boys -Will Smith

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence star in Bad Boys, a buddy cop film directed by Michael Bay. The first film was released in 1995, and then had two sequel films Bad Boys II and Bad Boys for Life, with possible plans for another movie. Will Smith was beginning his major transition to mega film superstar during the release of Bad Boys. He had already appeared on the hit TV-show The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, but Bad Boys was his first major box office success, and it led to another one with Independence Day. Bad Boys was really the film that kicked off his movie career, but he was still recording rap albums after Bad Boys as a solo artist, like his 1997 album Big Willie Style.

Girls Trip - Queen Latifah

Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah reunite in Girls Trip, the movie also stars Regina Hall and Tiffany Haddish. This comedy involves four best friends who have started to drift apart going on a trip to New Orleans to reconnect. Crazy antics ensue. Girls Trip was released in 2017, and Queen Latifah hadn’t released a rap album in over seven years. Instead, she was a pretty big film and TV name in 2017. During Girls Trip release, Queen Latifah was a main character on Fox’s TV show Star.

Boyz N The Hood - Ice Cube

Boyz N the Hood stars Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King, and Angela Bassett. The film follows Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as he’s sent to live with his father in South Central, LA. It’s about Tre’s personal journey and the violence and devastation he, his family, and friends witness living in an area plagued with violence and gangs. Boyz N the Hood was Ice Cube’s first feature film.

Boyz n the Hood was directed by John Singleton and earned him an Oscar nomination, making him the youngest director nominee in Academy Award’s history. In 1991, Ice Cube released his second studio album Death Certificate. N.W.A also released their second and final studio album that year, Niggaz4Life, but Ice Cube had already left the band.

House Party - Kid ‘n Play

Hip hop group Kid ‘n Play star in House Party. The film follows one crazy night leading up to a big party, during it, and the events after the party. Robin Harris, John Witherspoon, Martin Lawrence, and Tisha Campbell also have supporting roles in House Party. The film spun four additional sequels, all but one features Kid N’ Play. In 2018, it was announced that LeBron James planned to add another House Party movie to the franchise. House Party was released in 1990, the same year that Kid ‘Play released their second studio album Funhouse.

ATL - T.I.

ATL is a coming of age dramedy about teen Rashad (T.I.) growing up in Atlanta. It deals with Rashad and his friends and family facing obstacles on their quest to move past the barriers of their high school lives. ATL’s cast also includes Evan Ross, Lauren London, and Big Boi from hip hop group Outkast. ATL marked T.I.’s film debut. He later went on to appear in major Hollywood films like Ant-Man and the Wasp, Entourage, and Sleepless. T.I. released his fourth studio album King during the same year as ATL’s release. That same year, he received several Grammy award nominations, including for Best Rap Album and Rap Artist Of the Year.

Juice - Tupac

Omar Epps, Tupac Shakur, Khalil Kain, and Jermaine Hopkins star in Juice, a 1992 drama about four young men living in Harlem. Their daily activities involve disputes against rival gangs and police harassment. Juice marked Tupac’s film debut. It was another film released during the peak of Tupac’s rap career. A year prior to the film’s release, Tupac released his first solo studio album 2Pacalypse Now. In 1992, he also released the single “If My Homie Calls,” which peaked on the Billboard charts at number 3.

Den Of Thieves - 50 Cent

Den of Thieves is a 2018 crime drama starring Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Ice Cube’s son), 50 Cent, and Pablo Schreiber. Detective Nicholas (Gerard Butler) is in charge of stopping the crime team planning to rob the Los Angeles Federal Reserve bank. Ray (Pablo Schreiber) is the crew’s leader.

In 2018, it was announced that Den of Thieves would have a sequel that could include the return of Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s characters. Rapper 50 Cent had made the successful transition from making music to making films by the time of Den of Thieves release. He was playing a main character on the show Power during the release of Den of Thieves. 50 Cent’s last studio album was in 2014, but, as of 2020, he has still been working on an upcoming album called Street King Immortal.

There are a lot of great films featuring rappers out there, Will Smith alone has a pretty big selection, but if you want some lesser-known suggestions: Disorderlies featuring the group The Fat Boys, Vengeance featuring 50 Cent, Dope featuring ASAP Rocky, and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai featuring RZA.

Many of the films on this list are available to stream or rent, so if you like your rappers with a little side of acting, these films should interest you.

Queen Latifah has a couple of series regular roles on television shows under her acting belt, and now that Fox's Star has been over for several months, it looks like she might have found her next big TV gig. And, it's a pretty surprising one, considering that she's signed on as the lead of the CBS reboot of The Equalizer. What? Yeah, I know. Let's dig into this.

CBS has just given The Equalizer a pilot production commitment, with Queen Latifah set to star as the one who equalizes, along with executive producing the reboot of the CBS classic. The Equalizer initially ran for four seasons, from 1985-1989, and starred Edward Woodward in the titular role, but the property was recently taken to the big screen in two films, with Denzel Washington in the lead. And, if you're afraid the new series will veer too far from the original, you can take solace in the fact that Richard Lindheim, who co-created the first series, is also acting as an EP.

As with the original show and the Denzel Washington movies, The Equalizer will feature Queen Latifah as a mysterious figure who uses her wealth of knowledge and skills to help people with some big problems who feel they have nowhere else to turn when it comes to getting out of tricky, or just plain dangerous, situations. According to Deadline, The Equalizer comes from Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller (both of ABC's Take Two), Flavor Unit, Martin Chase Productions, Davis Entertainment, Universal Television and CBS TV Studios. Marlowe and Miller will also write and act as showrunners.

Obviously, this will be a big departure for The Eqalizer, as only men have played the leading equalizer of wrongs in the past. Both the previous show and the movies set their main character as Robert McCall, who was a retired intelligence agent with a mysterious past. There's no word right now what moniker Queen Latifah's version of the character will go by, or how she's come by her many skills, but who can really argue that Latifah is wrong for this part?

Truthfully, I don't believe we've ever seen Queen Latifah in a role where she wasn't a take charge, authoritative individual. She's not known for playing badasses in a Robert McCall / Liam Neeson in the Taken franchise kind of way, but her characters always work towards their goals with the kind of fierce determination that we need to see from The Equalizer. There's no doubt in my mind that she could solve any number of problems for those in need. Hell, I wouldn't mind giving over some of my issues to the real Queen Latifah. I'm sure she'd tell me what to do in good faith.

Along with Star (which was cancelled after Season 3), Queen Latifah has been in a host of TV shows and movies. These include Living Single (sounds like we might have to wait for that revival), House Party 2, Set It Off, Beauty Shop, Hairspray, Just Wright, Girls Trip and Chicago (which netted her an Oscar nomination in 2003). Plus, she'll be in the upcoming live TV musical version of The Little Mermaid on November 5.

Universal TV, which produced the initial television show, has been trying to bring the property back to the small screen for about five years, with several attempts to lock down a new take falling through. I'm sure those behind The Equalizer are bolstered by the show of faith they've gotten from CBS with this pilot commitment.

The Equalizer is still in the very early stages, but stick with CinemaBlend and we'll let you know as things develop. In the meantime, be sure to see what else you can watch by perusing our 2019 fall TV premiere guide!

While Disney has cornered the market on live-action feature remakes, The Little Mermaid is also getting a stage adaptation that'll go under the sea in November for a live musical adventure on ABC. News about the live television musical came not long after Halle Bailey was cast to play Ariel in the live-action adaptation of the beloved Disney animation. With The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live! set to debut soon, ABC has finally offered some visual magic by releasing a new behind-the-scenes video showcasing the spectacular musical dances.

“It’s never been done before!” So says Shaggy, who will be portraying Sebastian in The Little Mermaid Live!, and it’s true. The staged version of the animated classic will be different from previous live television musicals, as the movie will be playing in the background throughout the special, and it will be split into a dozen choreographed musical numbers. This hybrid is definitely unique and should make for an interesting live show.

You can watch the behind the scenes video from the television musical below!

Fuller House's John Stamos, who is playing Chef Louis, claims that fans will see all of the beloved characters popping out of the action and coming to life. The television musical will include twelve songs showcasing detailed costumes, daring dance numbers, and impressive high-flying feats. At one point, Auli’i Cravalho’s Ariel is on a wire and spinning while looking upwards, which is mostly likely taken from the scene where Ariel sings “Part of Your World” in her own version of the Cave of Wonders.

Moana star Auli’i Cravalho will also be joined by Queen Latifah as the villainous Ursula. I’m going to be honest, Queen Latifah is one of the best Disney castings of all time for Ursula, and she’s no stranger to musicals, either. While the live-action adaptation hasn’t yet found its Prince Eric, The Little Mermaid Live! version of the character will be played by Graham Phillips of The Good Wife.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time John Stamos is set to play Chef Louis, as he'll be reprising the role he played in a performance of The Little Mermaid at the Hollywood Bowl.

The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live! marks the first time that Disney is venturing into the live television musical arena. NBC was the first network to air and popularize live musicals and released The Sound of Music and The Wiz, among others.

Fox followed suit not long after, with their most popular live musical event being Grease. Earlier this year, however, the live musical version of Rent proved to be a disaster after one of the actors broke his foot hours before the show went live. Fox decided to air the pre-recorded dress rehearsal instead of using an understudy and later received backlash over their decision. But, as they say, the show must go on and it did.

The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live! Airs Tuesday, November 5 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. To see what else is coming to television in November, be sure to check out our complete guide for every new and returning show.

The classic animated Little Mermaid movie was released in theaters in November 1989, and we're getting multiple projects in honor of the 30th anniversary. This is the one with John Stamos laying it on thick with the French cheese. He's part of the cast of The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live!, which will air live November 5 on ABC.

This live musical should not be confused with the live-action Little Mermaid movie that was still looking for a Prince Eric last time we checked, after Harry Styles passed. This ABC live musical has a Prince Eric, in addition to a beloved Disney star as Ariel and a perfect diva as Ursula. Plus, Shaggy? I'm down!

ABC showed off the cast as their characters in a little preview video. We see Moana star Auli’i Cravalho as Ariel, Queen Latifah as Ursula, Shaggy as Sebastian, The Good Wife alum Graham Phillips as Prince Eric, and Full House alum John Stamos as Chef Louis.

Auli’i Cravalho looks like a beautiful Ariel. But have mercy on the poisson, Louis! You remember his song, right?

John Stamos is reprising his role as Chef Louis after his performance in the Hollywood Bowl production of The Little Mermaid. ABC's The Little Mermaid Live! is going for a never-before-seen hybrid format -- live musical performances by the cast will be interwoven into the broadcast of the original feature film.

The live musical event will feature intricate sets and costumes by Emmy Award-winning designer Zaldy, with music from the original animated film and the Tony Award-nominated Broadway stage version. Here's a look at the set:

Director Hamish Hamilton called the half-live musical/half-original animated movie an "interesting hybrid." He also said during the TCA press tour (via Deadline) that fans are invited to the Little Mermaid theater on the Disney lot where the 1989 movie will be projected.

Here's an interesting note: Hamish Hamilton said they don't have understudies for The Little Mermaid Live! So you never know if we'll get a repeat of the live version of Rent, which also didn't have understudies and was mostly not "live" after a star's major injury during rehearsals.

Shaggy noted, during the TCAs, that this is his second time with The Little Mermaid since he recorded a rap version of "Under the Sea" back in 1996.

ABC's preview shows Auli’i Cravalho wearing a red wig, to match the Ariel fans are used to seeing from the animated movie. She spoke at the TCAs about her love for the character:

The Little Mermaid Live! airs Tuesday, November 5 from 8 to 10 p.m. on ABC. Don't forget that the new streaming service Disney+ is launching the very next week on November 12, and I'm sure that will be mentioned during the live broadcast.

As Disney prepares to bring The Little Mermaid to the big screen, the Mouse House is also primed to revive another Little Mermaid project that's been on the back burner for quite a while. ABC is planning a live tv special stage production based on the animated classic, and has announced the cast for its production.

So, who does Disney have on the cast so far? There's already been a fair few musical talents tapped for the production, and while we only know a few key roles at this time, it's safe to say this is shaping up to be an event many may want to tune into come Tuesday, November 5.

Auli’i Cravalho - Ariel

Some may recognize her from the short-lived NBC series Rise, while others may recognize the voice of this Disney princess. Auli'l Cravalho was the voice of Moana, and will now portray yet another princess in the Disney brand by playing the mermaid Ariel. The casting is a strong show of faith by Disney, who will put the young and relatively new actress at the front of this production.

Auli'i Cravalho does not have the look of the red-headed animated Ariel, so one has to wonder if audiences will react to the casting the same way some did when Halle Bailey was announced as Ariel for the live-action movie. Disney knew that reaction could happen going in, so one would imagine it's ready and willing to step up and defend Cravalho should any haters have something to say.

Queen Latifah - Ursula

Queen Latifah (who actually has a connection to the live-action movie's Ariel) has been a staple in the world of music, television, and movies since the early 90s, and she isn't slowing down at all in 2019. Disney tapped her to take on the evil Ursula, and while some may be sad Lizzo didn't get the gig, who doesn't love a great role for Latifah?

This will be the second time in recent memory Queen Latifah has been a part of a televised stage musical. Latifah appeared in NBC's live production of The Wiz, in which she played the title character. Her performance there was pretty great, so we're eager to see if she can bring that same energy to the tricky Ursula.

Shaggy - Sebastian

That's right, Mr. Bombastic himself is making a rare on-screen appearance to play one of the most-beloved Disney sidekicks of all time. Shaggy will play Sebastian the Crab, and we're assuming, will be singing "under the sea," more than "it wasn't me."

As mentioned, seeing Shaggy in television or film as an actor is not at all a frequent thing. His most recent appearance was in the Netflix movie comedy Game Over, Man! in which he played himself. It will be interesting to see what acting chops Shaggy brings to the table in The Little Mermaid, and whether he'll elevate the role of Sebastian with his presence.

Disney's Live Action Little Mermaid Has Found Its King Triton

Get ready for ABC's live stage production of The Little Mermaid, which is set to air Tuesday, November 5 at 8:00 p.m. ET. CinemaBlend will keep an eye out for additional castings, and continue to keep an eye out for the latest news in television and movies.

Rebel Wilson has been out and about lately promoting her new flick Isn't It Romantic. The new movie is a rom-com that pokes fun at traditional rom-com tropes and Wilson plays the lead character in the movie. However, she came under fire recently for stating she's "the first plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy." Now, she's apologizing for her former words, taking to Twitter to note:

Recently, Rebel Wilson dressed up for Halloween and popped over to The Ellen Show, where she and Ellen DeGeneres shared a few laughs and talked about Isn't It Romantic. Most of the conversation was innocuous, but then she mentioned that she was the first woman who identifies as plus-size starring in a romantic comedy, also noting she has been "proud" of the accomplishment. People who saw the episode called Wilson out soon after on social media, mentioning some of the ladies above. You can take a look at the full clip, below.

Rebel Wilson actually eventually had a conversation about the topic with Mo'Nique on Twitter, where the two discussed the nature of being plus-size in Hollywood. Soon after the conversation, Rebel Wilson took to the social media site to talk more about the debate, her response and her feelings on the matter, noting,

When Isn't It Romantic hits theaters next year, it will join a set of romantic comedies that do star women of all shapes and sizes. (It will also reunite Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine on the big screen, but that's a story for a different day.) Rebel Wilson will be following in the footsteps of women like Just Wright's Queen Latifah with her latest project, and while she might not be the first plus-size woman to step into the genre, hopefully she will make her own mark.

If you are a sucker for rom-coms, you'll be able to catch Isn't It Romantic when it hits theaters on February 14, 2019. The movie will be one of the flicks competing for attention during the Valentine's Day holiday next year, with Happy Death Day 2U and Alita: Battle Angel also coming out that week. We'll keep you updated in regards to how each of those fares on that traditional date weekend and to see what all is hitting the schedule next year, be sure to take a look at our full guide.

We've all noticed by now that reboots and revivals of popular TV shows from the past have become a major deal on television in recent years. So, what are the chances that Queen Latifah's '90s sitcom Living Single could come back? Well, she has an answer for you, and it looks like the chances are actually pretty good.

I can hear the studio audience now, as a round of "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH" works its way into uproarious applause right before we head to a commercial break. Well, this does come as a bit of a shock, doesn't it? Unlike most of these recent reboots/revivals, there have been no rumors of something new in the works for the Living Single team. So, Queen Latifah's words on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen when a fan calls in and asks about the possibility, are the first we've heard that the folks behind the show are trying to bring it back in some capacity.

In case your memory is fuzzy, Living Single aired for five seasons on Fox from 1993 through 1998, and it was a huge hit, especially for African American audiences. The show focused on two households occupying a Brooklyn brownstone as the six friends shared professional and personal trials and triumphs. The first apartment was shared by Khadijah (Queen Latifah), the editor and publisher of a fictional urban magazine, her sweet and naive cousin Synclaire (Kim Coles), who works as her receptionist and Régine (Kim Fields), a boutique buyer who's a childhood friend of Khadijah's and is always on the lookout for a rich man to marry. Max (Erika Alexander) was a lawyer and college friend of Khadijah's who often stopped by to spend time with the ladies and the guys who shared the apartment next door, stockbroker Kyle (T.C. Carson) and brownstone handyman Overton (John Henton).

The show was popular enough that it was able to book many guest stars for appearances in episodes. Stars such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dean Cain, Morris Chestnut, Joyce DeWitt, Will Ferrell, Lou Ferrigno, Arsenio Hall, Eartha Kitt, Shemar Moore, Rosie O'Donnell and many more showed up on the series during its time on the air. Living Single also gave Queen Latifah, who was mostly known as a rapper before the show, a weekly outlet for her acting talents, which helped lead to her long career in movies and on TV.

Queen Latifah didn't lead on as to what, exactly, the new version of Living Single would be about. But, considering that she mentioned that the ultimate goal would be to get all the original principal players back on board, it sounds like this would be a revival as opposed to a reboot with new actors. The series ended with many of the original characters pairing up with their significant others and moving out of the brownstone, so it would be interesting to see how a revival would bring everyone back together and continue the characters' stories around 20 years after the show left the air.

We'll keep you updated on Living Single revival news as it becomes available. For now, check out our midseason premiere schedule to see what you can watch in the coming weeks.

In Kevin Smith's Clerks II, there's a scene where Randall, one of Smith's most iconic characters, derisively described The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a lot of walking, only to drop a ring into a volcano. If he were to sum up the Ice Age films, he'd have basically done the same thing, except he'd still be walking, and there'd be no closure in a ring being destroyed. Indeed, Ice Age: Collision Course is just more of the same for the franchise that spawned it: travel from here to there, make some jokes, and once and awhile check in on Scrat. Suffice it to say, this movie only really serves one purpose: to prove that the franchise needs a swift and sudden ending.

With a series of meteors threatening life as they know it, Manny (Ray Romano,) Diego (Denis Leary,) and Sid (John Leguizamo) must lead their group, including Ellie (Queen Latifah,) Shirah (Jennifer Lopez,) Peaches (Keke Palmer,) and Julian (Adam Devine) to safety. Of course, the road to safety is really a path to danger, as Buck (Simon Pegg) has convinced the team to head to where the largest meteor is supposed to hit, in an effort to somehow avoid their historically dictated fate.

If you're looking for an animated film that tests the boundaries of storytelling in the medium of children's films, then you'd better go see Finding Dory again, as Ice Age: Collision Course is pretty much your standard, all-star kids comedy. With glowing nipples, dangerous yoga contortions, and a marriage subplot that plays it so safe it requires a combination to unlock, you basically know where this film is going at least 20 steps ahead of time. I wish I could say that there's at least enough humor to keep the audience past the age of 6 entertained, but unless you're really hankering for jokes referencing Armageddon, then I really can't say that. In fact, it seems that the Ice Age series has mistaken adding characters to its already hefty dramatis personae as a tactic for making things funnier. As you can tell by the constantly unfunny Crash and Eddie, it's not.

All's not lost though, as there are a couple of bright spots that save Ice Age: Collision Course from itself. Scrat, as per usual, gets some of the funniest gags involving zero dialogue, but a Looney Tunes sensibility. Also, Simon Pegg's Buck continues to be a character that deserves his own spin off, as his adventures and witty repartee are an oasis from the cloying wedding subplot this film contains. And last, but not least, Neil deGrasse Tyson's minuscule cameo kind of makes me wish Fox would commission a Cosmos for Kids series, using his character, Neil deBuck Weasel as the storyteller. But considering Scrat has always been the crutch of the Ice Age series, and the roles of Pegg and Tyson are so small, they can't overcome the crushing pall of unfunny material that makes up the meat of the film.

The fact that Ice Age is on its fifth sequel, and still hasn't resolved itself into an ending, is enough to make you apologize to The Land Before Time franchise for complaining when it crossed the threshold of ten films. It would be best if Fox just feeds this languishing franchise to the nearest predator, in order to give Scrat, Buck, and Neil deBuck Weasel their own buddy comedy. Alas, the chances of this happening are the same as an asteroid wiping out the animated cast of Ice Age: Collision Course, so I wouldn't recommend holding your breath.

When we think of actors, we often put them in many different categories of performance. It makes sense considering these men and women make a career out of encapsulating a slew of different characters. It’s common to see many actors go on to perform in the musical variety whether it be on stage or in recording. But, it is particularly special when we see the move from the other direction, and a successful move at that.

There are a number of musicians who have taken a stab at acting, whether it be in playing themselves on screen, or a different role. But there are few that do so successfully. Here we pay tribute to those musicians-turned-actors. While many of them could have stuck with the music industry entirely, these 11 musicians-turned-actors showed off an entirely new set of skills, and left us all immensely impressed.

Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake began acting with a pretty boy role in a Disney Channel Original movie around the same time his boy band NSYNC had taken off. But within time, the musician-turned-actor began taking more interesting and unexpected roles that would set him apart as an actual actor. The move towards actor came after the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, when Timberlake was gaining a lot of negative media attention for his role in the incident. Afterwards, he began landing bigger roles in a few feature films including the direct-to-video movie Edison Force as well as a few appearances in popular films such as Alpha Dog and Southland Tales.

While Timberlake continued to produce music, especially in collaboration with other artists, his acting career started to take off when he settled down with his music career. Going from starring roles in Mike Myers’ The Love Guru and the Mike Meredith drama The Open Road, Timberlake soon landed the role of Sean Parker in the critically acclaimed Facebook-drama The Social Network. His acting chops truly began to shine, and on top of the continuing roles in comedy pictures the musician-turned-actor continues to shine in dramatic roles such as his character in Inside Llewyn Davis.

Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby still stands as one of the most popular musical acts of the 20th Century, but that even seems small compared to his popularity as an actor. Crosby is measured as the third most popular actor of all time based on ticket sales, behind Clark Gable and John Wayne. His most popular film White Christmas in 1954 was a monumental success commercially, but it wasn’t just Crosby’s popularity as a musician that was filling seats at the theater. The musician-turned-actor was a performer at heart, and it translated on screen just as much as it had off. Crosby made his film debut in The King of Jazz in 1930 and by 1945 he won an Academy Award for Best Actor in Going My Way.

Crosby would go on to gain even further critical acclaim, with Academy Award nominations for The Bells of St. Mary’s and The Country Girl, and a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Here Comes the Groom. He starred in seven Road to musical comedies with Bob Hope and actress Dorothy Lamour between 1940 and 1962, which made the trio an unstoppable commercially successful team. Crosby would appear in everything from cameos to Disney animated films to comedies. His acting career probably takes top as the most successful on this current list.

Will Smith

Though Will Smith is universally known for his acting resume, the star began his career as the MC of hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The trio quickly rose to critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category in 1988. But, by 1990, Smith was nearly bankrupt, so he decided to sign on with NBC to build a sitcom around him. From The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the young star’s acting career took off.

Will Smith bounced from blockbuster to blockbuster, with films ranging from Bad Boys to Men in Black to Wild, Wild West. Smith soon became a blockbuster draw, and fans flocked to theaters to see his films. But the actor continued to hold critical acclaim as well, and was even nominated for Best Actor for his roles in Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness. He continues to spit out hit after hit, and though some of his movie choices as of late have been rocky, the actor is already set up for his big comic book debut as Deadshot in Suicide Squad.

David Bowie

David Bowie pretty much invented the idea of playing a character in pop music. But the beginnings of his acting career come before his music made an real commercial success. The musician started his acting career studying avant-garde theater and mime with his first landed role in a 1967 theatrical production of Pierrot in Turquoise. He followed up his theatrical debut with a brief film appearance and short, but his first major role portraying Thomas Jerome Newton in The Man Who Fell to Earth immediately generated critical acclaim. Bowie would then take the lead role in Just a Gigolo and the 1980 Broadway production of The Elephant Man. He was noted for his expressive performances, a quality often defining his musical performances as well.

Bowie’s acting career continued on with great strength, as his music career skyrocketed ahead as well. He would go on to play major roles in a number of genres ranging from supernatural to biopics. He is often most remembered for his role as the king of goblins in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, but has also scored roles in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and even Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.

Mark Wahlberg

It’s easy to forget that Mark Wahlberg started out as the frontman for Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. It seems that his acting career has been what takes center stage. But the musician-turned-actor made his mark in the early ‘90s with his debut album Music for the People. A couple years later, Wahlberg made his acting debut in the TV film The Substitute, and subsequently dropped the name Marky Mark. His big screen debut followed with Renaissance Man, and started gaining critical attention after his appearance alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Basketball Diaries.

His acting career blew up, with much critical praise from successful movies such as Boogie Nights, The Perfect Storm, Three Kings, The Italian Job and Four Brothers. His critical praise wouldn’t end there though, as the actor started to hone in on choice roles such as his Academy Award nominated supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed and The Fighter. There have been a few odd choices here and there for Wahlberg as of late, as he has been featured in a few comedies as well as a Transformers film, but overall, the successful actor is far from done filling in his already lengthy resume.

Queen Latifah

Another musician turned actor that’s acting career seems to now take center stage is Queen Latifah. Beginning her artistic career with beat boxing in the hip-hop group Ladies Fresh, Queen Latifah went on to make an important mark in the hip-hop industry by covering feminist topics. A few years after her first album, Latifah scored a starring role on a FOX sitcom which she also wrote and performed the music for. She began her film career with with many supporting roles, and would break out with the 1999 role of Thelma alongside Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie in The Bone Collector.

While The Bone Collector gained Queen Latifah critical acclaim, her commercial acclaim would come a few years later in the Academy Award-winning musical film Chicago. Latifah was even nominated for best supporting actress for the film. That then began her truly extensive acting career. Ranging from her role alongside Steve Martin in Bringing Down the House to her Golden Globe award-winning role in Life Support, Latifah has been the center of both critical and commercial hits.

Tom Waits

Tom Waits is predominately known for his work as a singer-songwriter and composer, but his performances on the big screen are nothing to scoff at. The man has talent. And whether or not he is at starring capacity in many of these features, his performance tends to shine through. First appearing in the 1978 film Paradise Alley, Waits had already been deep into his music career. But soon after, Waits married his screenwriter wife Kathleen Brennan, and began appearing in more movies in minor roles. He had also begun a relationship with Francis Ford Coppola after providing music for One from the Heart and the two continued collaboration with a number of Tom Waits cameos.

Waits spent some time on stage as well, but also continued to cameo in a number of large films. The musician turned actor continued to split his time between both the world of film and music, but his acting was increasingly becoming more impressive. Waits is best known for his supporting roles in Paradise Alley and Bram Stoker’s Dracula and my personal favorite, Wristcutters: A Love Story. He’s worked aside a slew of critically acclaimed actors ranging from Denzel Washington to Colin Farrell and Christopher Walken, and with every performance is distinctively impressive.

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra saw a full and successful music career before he got into the acting game. His music career had taken a stall by the early 1950s, but was completely reborn when the musician-turned-actor won an Academy Award for his supporting role in From Here to Eternity. In his earlier filmography, he often appeared as himself, such as in the 1944 film Higher and Higher, 1945’s The House I Live In, and 1946’s Till the Clouds Roll By. After his Oscar win though, the legend took on more interesting and in depth roles, following up with another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in The Man With The Golden Arm.

Sinatra’s film career didn’t let up either. The actor was filming a tiresome amount of movies, but continuing to gain more and more critical acclaim as the years went on. The Manchurian Candidate gained particular critical attention for his performance. Then, in 1963, Sinatra took home a Golden Globe for Best Actor for the comedy Come Blow Your Horn and continued to appear in a number of movies up through the ‘80s. His musical career didn’t stop either, as many of the films he worked on also featured many of his original songs, many of which won Academy Awards for Best Original Songs.

Jennifer Hudson

With a voice like Jennifer Hudson’s it almost doesn’t make sense that she’d go on to become such a successful actress as well. After rising to musical fame from her time spent on American Idol, Hudson quickly followed up with her film debut in the musical drama Dreamgirls. The film gave Hudson the opportunity to not only show off her insane musical chops, but also featured a critically acclaimed performance from the actress that won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe. Hudson’s acting career is probably one of the youngest on this list, but the actress resonates impressive talent.

Hudson followed Dreamgirls with another impressive performance in The Secret Life of Bees alongside other musicians turned actors, Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys. She’d go on to boast another outstanding performance in Winnie Mandela, all while continuing to top the charts with her singing career. Hudson continues to stack up her acting resume with Black Nativity, Lullaby and is currently filming the upcoming Spike Lee film Chiraq.

Elvis Presley

The King of Rock and Roll was no stranger to the big screen. Just a couple years after his musical career began, Elvis Presley made his film debut in the 1956 Western Love Me Tender. A couple years later, Presley was drafted, and upon his return, dedicated his time to producing some of his most commercially recognized music. But, for the majority of the 60s, Presley decided to devote his time to making Hollywood movies. His musical comedies were commercial successes, and though Presley tried to move toward more serious roles with Flaming Star and Wild in the Country which saw more dramatic performances from the musician-turned-actor, he tended to stick with his successful formula.

The King started off strong with impressive performances in Jailhouse Rock and King Creole, but as his films started to gain easy commercial success, many started to be made more cheaply to increase overall profit. Presley starred alongside a number of established actors at the time including Walter Matthau, Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Bronson and more. He also worked with young Kurt Russell in the actor’s screen debut in 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair. Though Presley’s commercially successful films were critically panned throughout, his early debuts featured notable performances.

Madonna

One of the biggest pop stars of all-time also happens to be an incredibly impressive actor. Madonna, is, and always will be, predominately known for her music career as the Queen of Pop, but the performer skill-set is anything but limited to that category. Madonna started her artistic career as a modern dancer, and soon went on to release her debut album and commercially successful hits. Madonna’s filmography begins in the early 80s with the oddball indie film A Certain Sacrifice which the singer was not particularly happy with the turnout. But from there Madonna went on to be featured in a variety of different films that were more often than not panned by critics, but by the ‘90s her acting saw a huge improvement.

Madonna’s starring role in Warren Beatty’s 1990 film Dick Tracy took in positive reviews, as well as her role in A League of Their Own. She took on roles in a range of smaller films as well including Blue in the Face, Four Rooms and Spike Lee’s Girl 6. But it was Eva Peron’s Evita adaptation that would show how truly talented Madonna had become as an actress. The performance gained the major pop star a Golden Globe for Best Actress. Madonna definitely had her up-and-downs, with arguably more negative reviews than positive, but for her few strong performances, they shone extra bright.

One of the last times L. Frank Baum’s cherished Oz universe make its way to our eyeballs was in 2013 for Sam Raimi’s visual feast Oz the Great and Powerful. Our next yellow brick road trip with Dorothy and the gang will take place on NBC for the upcoming musical The Wiz Live!, the latest in a line of live musicals on the network, as adapted by Harvey Fierstein and directed by Kenny Leon.

So who will take on these roles made famous by Stephanie Mills and Hinton Battle on the stage, and by Diana Ross and Michael Jackson on the big screen? We’re rounding up the cast members as they’re announced for a list that not even the Scarecrow would need a brain to figure out. And let’s start with that most important role of all.

Dorothy – Shanice Williams

If you don’t know the name Shanice Williams at this point, you definitely will soon. The 18-year-old New Jersey native was chosen from hundreds of young women who auditioned for the lead role of Dorothy, and she’s got years of musical training and stage experience behind her. She co-starred in local performances of such popular musicals as Seussical, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and West Side Story, among others, and this high-profile role will hopefully put her career into a tornado that never stops turning.

The Lion – David Alan Grier

A quick-witted comedy stalwart who first got his big break on the sketch series In Living Color, David Alan Grier knows no boundaries when it comes to making people laugh, and he should be excellent as the cowardly lion. He’s got stage experience, starring in Broadway productions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Porgy and Bess (among others), the latter of which earned him nominations for both a Tony and a Grammy. He was in a revival production of The Wiz some years back, and he’ll soon be seen in the NBC comedy The Carmichael Show.

The Wiz – Queen Latifah

Taking on the role of the seemingly all-powerful wizard will be the Grammy nominated Queen Latifah, who is no stranger to music and musicals. With a career that started out in hip-hop, Latifah honed her acting chops on the sitcom Living Single and solidified her talents in the 2002 musical Chicago, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Also starring in Hairspray and Joyful Noise, Latifah actually played the role of Aunt Em in the TV movie The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, which also starred David Alan Grief as Uncle Henry.

Aunt Em – Stephanie Mills

This won’t be the Grammy-winning R&B and gospel singer Stephanie Mills’ first trip into the world of The Wiz, as she took on the role of Dorothy back in the mid-1970s, a part she returned to for a revival in 1984. Seeing her as Aunt Em will be a treat for fans, although it might make everyone feel their age a bit too much. Mills was also in performances of Children of Eden and Funny Girl. Beyond appearances as herself on talk shows like The Mo’Nique Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show, Mills’ last trip to the small screen was for a 1985 episode of The Love Boat.

Evillene – Mary J. Blige

Another artist whose fame rose through radio hits, Mary J. Blige will be the monkey-leading antagonist in The Wiz Live! as the wicked witch Evillene. With a little Off-Broadway experience behind her, Blige has built up her acting career in the last few years with roles in musicals like Rock of Ages and Black Nativity. She was last seen belting out a tune in Season 1 of Empire.

Glinda, the Good Witch of the South – Uzo Aduba

Though she broke out on the Netflix dramedy Orange is the New Black as the mentally unstable Crazy Eyes, the Emmy-nominated Uzo Aduba is no stranger to the theater. She’s been on Broadway in Coram Boy and also performed in other stage versions of Godspell and Translations of Xhosa. She’ll be playing a good witch opposite Queen Latifah’s evil one, in a role first made famous by Dee Dee Bridgewater in the original play, and then the iconic Lena Horne in the film.

Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North – Amber Riley

Amber Riley first rose to fame on Glee as the diva-ish Mercedes Jones, and she’ll definitely use her performing talents in The Wiz, not to mention the fact that she’s got a recording career and was also the winner of Season 17 of Dancing with the Stars. As Addaperle, she’ll follow in the footsteps of such stars as Clarice Taylor and Juanita Flemming.

Tin Man – Ne-Yo

If you’re going to follow Nipsey Russell in a role, you’d better have the talent to do it. And I’m pretty sure that R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo can do it, though his comedic chops haven’t exactly been showcased over the years. As a writer and producer for everyone from Celine Dion to Beyoncé – not to mention his own 6 albums – Ne-Yo knows music, and he should be able to make the Tin Man role memorable here. Listen for his stuff on Season 2 of Empire later this year.

The Gatekeeper of Oz – Common

As a Grammy-nominated rap artist, Common knows a thing or two about music, something he showed off with John Legend in winning the Oscar for Best Original Song for Selma’s “Glory.” But apparently The Wiz producers are more interested in showing off his acting musle, as he’s been cast in the role of Oz’s gatekeeper, which is apparently a non-singing part. That’s fine, though, as his work on Hell on Wheels, Selma and more have proven he’s good for it. Now we just wonder if he’ll be singing in Suicide Squad.

The Scarecrow – Elijah Kelley

First portrayed by Hinton Battle in the stage production, the role of the scarecrow then went to Michael Jackson in the film version, which was a magically oddball slice of pop culture. And now we’ll see what Lee Daniels’ The Butler star Elijah Kelley can do with it. He doesn’t have a ton of acting credits, though he’s got several musical films under his belt, such as Hairspray, Take the Lead and Rome & Jewel. We think he’s got the brains to do it.

Stay tuned for more casting info, and don’t forget to grab your ruby red slippers for the premiere of The Wiz Live! on NBC on Thursday, December 3, at 8 p.m. ET.

Pharrell William’s “Happy” was one of the biggest songs of the summer a couple of years ago, and it’s actually a little startling that no one has tackled the track on Lip Sync Battle thus far. Luckily, that’s changing this week with a performance from Marlon Wayans. Unluckily for his lip sync battle partner Queen Latifah, the actor decides to get really creepy and invade her personal space during the interaction. Check out the performance, below.

“Happy” is such a delightful song, it’s hard to believe that anyone could take a rendition of it to an awkward and uncomfortable level, but that’s exactly what happens when Wayans takes the stage. At first he proves he does have some prowess and swag on the dance floor, even donning the ridiculously tall hat Pharrell frequently wears. However, things get weird when he sashays over to the area where Queen Latifah and host LL Cool J are hanging out.

At first, Queen Latifah seems alright with the attention, but as Wayans gets closer and closer the look on her faceless grows a little more disturbed. Seriously, this look is priceless.

She eventually can’t take it anymore, choosing to get up to avoid the man’s attention. Honestly, though, it could have been worse. At least he wasn’t wearing the chaps Stephen Merchant put on during his rendition of “Dirrty.”

Lip Sync Battle has been a huge buzz bringer for Spike in the weeks during it’s release. The show has seen contestants attempt some wild performances so far, including the aforementioned chaps segment, a barely clothed Anne Hathaway performing “Wrecking Ball,” and much, much more. Part of the creepy factor in Wayans' performance might stem from the fact he went a little too far, but part of the problem may simply be the person he was trying to goof around with. Other people have reciprocated more positively when lap dances and more have occurred on the series. If LL Cool J had been the big target, I think this whole goofy performance would’ve gone over a bit better.

Lip Sync Battle has already been renewed for a second season, but there are still plenty of episodes left during Season 1. You can check them out on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET. In the meantime, here’s what else is coming up this summer.

Queen Latifah has found her new daytime home. CBS has landed The Queen Latifah Show, a syndicated daily talk show that garnered plenty of interest among the networks. The show is being executive produced by Latifah along with power couple Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith and will offer more than just sit-down chats. It’s said to feature all of Latifah’s many talents and will blend comedy and music into the talk show format.

It’s been almost a year to the day since we brought you the news that Latifah was putting a talk show together. Today Deadline brought word that although things came close with NBC, Queen Latifah will be spending her days chatting it up on CBS. The Queen Latifah Show will feature the usual celebrity interviews and pop culture news, along with human interest stories and musical performances. The CBS deal is a big one; the network will be airing Latifah’s show across the board on all 16 CBS owned and operated stations.

This could fill a void in CBS' daytime syndicated lineup. They’ve got longtime hit Judge Judy as well as Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray, but Latifah brings a very different type of show to the network. The blend of celebrity interviews and musical performances is something CBS doesn’t currently have, and Latifah herself carries an element of cool few other talk show hosts can claim.

Set for a 2013 launch, The Queen Latifah Show will likely be the big news in daytime television next season. Bethenny Frankel’s talker Bethenny did manage to earn itself a spot in the Fox lineup after a successful summer trial run, but it will hardly enter the market with the same sort of splash. Incidentally, Queen Latifah is actually making her second run at a talk show. She ran two seasons with the very same title in syndication from 1999-2001. She’s come a long way since then, is more mature and has an Oscar nomination under her belt. This time it just might work.

When Jeremy Renner was cast as the lead in The Bourne Legacy last week, I was surprised not only because it will be his third on-going franchise, but because I learned that he is 40 years old. Not only could he pass for being in his late 20s-early 30s, but it's amazing that it's taken this long for him to get the notice he deserves. As a result, it's understandable that he would want to start taking on as many projects as he can. Fortunately, this one only requires him to stand in a sound booth for a few hours.

THR reports that Renner, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Keke Palmer, Aziz Ansari And hip-hop star Drake have all been added to the cast of Ice Age: Continental Drift, the third sequel in the long running series. The story also says Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck will all be back to reprise their roles from the previous films. While character details have not been released for all of the new actors, Renner will be playing " Gutt, a self-styled master of the high seas" (it doesn't say what kind of animal), while Lopez will play Shira, a sabretooth tiger who will serve as a romantic interest for Diego, Leary's character. The film is scheduled to be released on July 13, 2012.

Much like the Shrek franchise before it, the Ice Age movies have been getting worse and worse with each sequel, so I wonder if this is the one that finally drives it straight into the ground. Considering that it seems as though they're adding six new characters to an over-crowded cast, I'd say that it's a safe bet.