In honor of the first anniversary of Her Campus WPUNJ’s most successful article, 10 Celebrities You Might Not Know Can Sing is getting a sequel! That’s right; we’ve got 10 more celebs with voices that will shock and amaze.
Most famous for playing Loki in Marvel’s The Avengers and Thor movies, Tom Hiddleston is also a well-known Shakespearean actor. And he’s in that awesome bad-guy-Brit Jaguar commercial (seriously; who doesn’t want a Jag after watching that?). But Hiddles’s fangirls can love him even more now that it’s been revealed that he can sing, too – in addition to being super sexy. Voicing the character of James (yes, as in James Hook) in Disney’s latest Tinker Bell adventure, The Pirate Fairy, Hiddleston proves that he’s got the singing voice of a Disney prince! And if that’s not enough of his silky smooth voice, we’ve got a whole compilation of Hiddles singing (and rapping, too!) below – and in multiple languages!
Jennifer Garner is a true Hollywood sweetheart. She and longtime hubby, Ben Affleck, (who met on the set of Daredevil, by the way) are one of our favorite celeb couples! And while Ben gets all the credit for being a talented actor/director/producer/etc., very few people seem to acknowledge all of Jenn’s talents – like, for instance, the fact that she can sing! She’s got a voice like a Disney princess (perfect for a duet with Disney Prince Tom Hiddleston, might we suggest?) in her beautiful rendition of “My Heart Is So Full of You” from Unexpected Dreams: Songs from the Stars. But that’s not the first time she’s sung for the world to hear. On an episode of Alias, Jenn’s character, Sydney, sings the original song “Since I Fell For You,” shown below!
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is adorably cute, fantastically funny, and an incredibly talented actor. His appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon have proven that he’s hilarious – and that he can dance! But did you know that JGL is a triple-threat? That’s right. He can act, he can dance, and he can sing. He performed “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” alongside Lady Gaga for her Muppet Christmas Spectacular, and it was awesome. JGL’s also got his own creative project called HitRECord; this project lets him sing – a lot. But HitRECord is primarily for original material, like “You’re Not the Only One,” which we have below.
If you’ve ever watched a single episode of New Girl, then you know Zooey Deschanel can sing. Wait; you didn’t realize that she sang the opening theme? Well, she does. For those of you who didn’t know, America’s favorite Manic Pixie Dream Girl can sing. (In fact, she’s recorded multiple videos – some singing and some not – with our number three: Joseph Gordon-Levitt.) But Zooey is talented on her own merit. The girl’s got her own band – She & Him. They’ve got three regular albums, one Christmas special, and two singles, all of which are available to buy from their site, from iTunes, and from Amazon. And we’ve got one of our favorites – “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” from Volume 3 – below.
Gerard Butler is this list’s Bruce Willis. He’s an action star, most known for roles in films like 300, Olympus Has Fallen, Gamer, Shattered, and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. He’s also been known to dabble in the RomCom genre, having starred in P.S., I Love You, The Bounty Hunter, The Ugly Truth, and Playing for Keeps. But what he’s not known for? His awesome voice. Although he sang a little in 2007’s P.S., I Love You, his bigger vocal challenge came a few years earlier. In 2004, Gerry was in the film version of The Phantom of the Opera – as the titular character. Stepping into the same role as some of Broadway’s greats (like Michael Crawford, Howard McGillen, and Hugh Panaro, among others) must have been rough, but we think Gerry pulled it off splendidly. His voice as Phantom is haunting and just plain awesome. You can hear him perform “Music of the Night” in this scene from PotO below. (And if that’s not enough for you, make sure to check out the movie!)
6. Amy Adams
Amy Adams has been in a ton of movies recently – from American Hustle to Her to Man of Steel. The girl just does not stop! And while her three last movies (the ones we mentioned before) have all received some serious notoriety, her more musical endeavors were also Oscar-nominated (for “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song”). We’re talking, of course, about 2011’s The Muppets and Disney’s Enchanted. In the first of these two, Amy joins some of our favorite Jim Henson characters in a musical adventure, and she sings three songs: “Life’s a Happy Song” and its reprise, and “Me Party.” In Enchanted, Amy plays a displaced Disney princess named Giselle who finds herself in New York City and falls in love with Patrick Dempsey (who wouldn’t, though?). One of the typical Disney songs, “That’s How You Know,” is below – complete with Patrick Dempsey wondering how everybody knows the song.
Though Nathan Fillion’s most notable role is for his portrayal of the title character in ABC’s Castle, he’s really a huge geek. And we love that about him. Longtime buddy to Joss Whedon, Nathan’s been in many of Whedon’s projects – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Serenity, Much Ado About Nothing, and, most importantly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. If this is your first time hearing of Dr. Horrible, we feel sorry for you (but the whole thing’s on iTunes and YouTube, so you can check it out now; we’ll wait). In this fun and hilarious musical hero/villain story, Nathan plays Captain Hammer, the super-heroic antagonist who professes in a funny (albeit potentially-offensive) tune that “Everyone’s a Hero.” But Nathan’s performance in the introduction of his character (a song he shares with Neil Patrick Harris’s “Dr. Horrible” and Felicia Day’s “Penny”) can be seen below. Enjoy!
Wait; Batman can sing? Yes. Yes, he can. Though he’s not notable for his singing voice (and chooses to not talk about his musical pursuits when interviewed), Christian Bale has had a history of vocal talent. Long before he played Bruce Wayne or Irving Rosenfield or Alfred Borden or Patrick Bateman, Christian was in a little movie called Newsies. This Newsies is, as you may have guessed, the very same as the Tony Award-winning musical currently on Broadway. But way back in 1992, the movie was considered a flop, especially for Disney. Still, the music is pretty great. And when Christian Bale sings “Sante Fe,” we almost wish he hadn’t given up the musical game.
Blair Waldorf is a fan fave among fans of Gossip Girl, and it’s almost entirely due to how talented Leighton Meester is at portraying her. And now that we know she’s got such a great singing voice, we wish that GG had done a musical episode! Well, they sort of did – at least for Leighton. In “The Freshmen,” an episode from 2009, the show used Leighton’s duet with Cobra Starship. But that’s just the beginning. Leighton was also in 2010’s Country Strong, in which she sang a total of six songs. But our favorite song on Leighton’s repertoire is the cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” that she performed this year with Dana Williams. Watch below, and you’ll be humming it all day.
10. Nick Jonas
Okay, okay. We know what you’re going to say. Everybody knows Nick Jonas can sing. He was a Jonas Brother; duh! Just hear us out. Yes, Nick had a several-year run with his brothers, Joe and Kevin, in their family band, The Jonas Brothers. Nick even went on to have some mild success with his own band (Nick Jonas & the Administration) afterwards. But we’re not talking about that. We’re not even going to talk about the Camp Rock movies that the Disney Channel put out. No; Nick Jonas has singing talent far beyond being a teenie-bopper loveboat. In fact, he was on Broadway before becoming a JoBro. But we’ll look at his more recent musical endeavors. In the 25th Anniversary Concert Performance of Les Miserable, Nick Jonas sang for Marius Pontmercy, a challenging role that requires emotional and wide-ranging vocals. Nick aces it. And then Nick followed Daniel Radcliffe and Darren Criss in playing the lead role in Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Nick’s voice is all grown-up and belting out real Broadway notes – a far cry from the Disney pop sound of his band of brothers. We dare you to listen to the opening song of How to Succeed and still try to argue that Nick’s nothing more than a JoBro.
BONUS: Audrey Hepburn
We’ve included Audrey as a bonus here because we love her singing voice! One of the most prominent celebrity idols of the 20th century and the face of Her Campus’s Procrastinating Audrey memes, we think she definitely deserves a spot on this list, and even though she technically hasn’t sung in quite some time, we still celebrate her vocal talents – like this beautiful song (“Moon River”) from Breakfast at Tiffany’s!
Photo sources: imdb.com