10 Actors Who Play Piano

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While they are already talented and recognized in their field, it’s sometimes surprising to discover the hidden talents of our favorite celebrities. In addition to being screen legends, the stars we’ve selected for you are brilliant pianists.

Jack Nicholson

Having been nominated for Oscars over five consecutive decades, Jack Nicholson is undeniably one of Hollywood’s most esteemed actors. Primarily known for his role in The Shining, the American actor has distinguished himself since the late 1950s in dark roles, unstable anti-heroes, misfits in society, or even psychopaths. Whether as the Joker in Batman, a mental patient in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a mob boss in The Departed, or a juvenile delinquent in The Cry Baby Killer at his beginnings, it’s difficult to see his music-loving side emerge with such dark roles… This actor, director, and screenwriter surprised us in the film Five Easy Pieces released in 1970. The title refers to the piano exercise manual that was used by Nicholson’s character when he was a child. He portrays Bobby Dupea, an oil driller and former piano prodigy. To prepare for his role, Nicholson took his first piano lessons with teacher Joseph Pacholczyk in 1969. We see him play Chopin several times in the film, including in the film’s most iconic scene where he performs “Prelude 4 (Op.28 No.4)” on a piano in the back of a truck on the highway.

Bradley Cooper

We’re all thinking the same thing. What can’t Bradley Cooper do? Born on January 5, 1975, in Philadelphia, he embraced a career as an actor, director, producer, and singer. After taking drama courses in New York, he made himself known in theater and then with an appearance in Sex & the City. He strung together small roles until 2009 when he played Phil Wenneck, a charismatic and laid-back teacher in the well-known The Hangover. The role launched his career and propelled him to sex-symbol status thanks to his advantageous physique. Following this success, he distinguished himself in other genres and was able to show his versatility, whether in romantic comedies or as a former SEAL member in American Sniper. Bradley Cooper was forced to learn piano for the romantic drama A Star Is Born which had resounding success in 2018. He revealed having had a very strict schedule for six months to prepare for the role, with piano, singing, and guitar lessons. He dazzled nearly 2 million viewers in France alongside Lady Gaga in his role as a declining country star. Bradley performed on camera with piano-voice songs from his character including the song Shallow which has been viewed more than 1 billion times on YouTube. The title sold more than seven million copies and became the most awarded song of all time in 2019, including the Oscar for best original song. Although it was his first role as a musician, he conquered hearts and critics and pushed the film to make a place among musical films. His simple and moving performance at the Oscars alongside his partner won over the few stragglers.

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Adrien Brody

Born and raised in New York by his Hungarian-born photographer mother, Adrien Brody was encouraged by her to pursue an artistic career and she enrolled him in classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He landed his first roles very young, around the age of 12, but until the early 2000s, he was confined to supporting roles in American B-series. After being noticed by many directors in The Thin Red Line, his ascent was marked by his lead role in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist. Brody distinguished himself as a virtuoso musician. The story of the journey of this Polish Jew confined in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II deeply moved the public. To embody the role of Wladyslaw Szpilman and be credible in his role, he invested himself enormously. Adrien Brody practiced piano four hours a day and learned to play a variety of Chopin passages at Polanski’s request. He performs Chopin’s “Ballade No. 1 in G minor” for a German soldier who was about to kill him. One of the film’s most moving scenes shows him playing the piano silently, his fingers floating passionately above the keys. The film concludes emotionally as he performs Chopin’s “Grande Polonaise Brillante” before a large prestigious audience. For this role, he inflicted an extreme physical transformation on himself by losing nearly 15 kilos in six weeks to be more convincing. This hard work was rewarded with the Oscar and César for best actor. This poignant role, his striking physique, and his moving piano performance marked his rise in Hollywood. Here’s proof that you don’t need to start piano in the cradle to have a good level; you can start at any age, the most important thing is to be determined and practice regularly.

Timothée Chalamet

In 2022, it’s impossible that you missed this actor. In very few years, he established himself as the It-boy in many successful films. Born in 1995 in New York to a French father and an American mother who is an actress and Broadway dancer, he wasted no time. Despite his young age and with less than 10 years of career behind him, he has already been noticed by the greatest Hollywood directors like Woody Allen, Christopher Nolan, or Wes Anderson. Everything has moved very fast for him since his beginnings; after debuts in Interstellar, he strung together successes with Lady Bird, The King, The French Dispatch, or more recently in the blockbuster Dune. Nevertheless, it’s in Call Me by Your Name that he was truly discovered by the general public. This lead role earned him a nomination in 2018 for the Oscar for best actor. Chalamet plays Elio, an Italian teenager who falls in love with an older student on vacation in his village. For the needs of the role, in addition to learning Italian, he learned to play guitar and the piano pieces that appear in the film. He could only do one rehearsal behind the villa before filming. On screen, we see him play numerous pieces to impress the man he loves, such as an improvisation on “Hommage à Edith Piaf” by Poulenc, part of Erik Satie’s “Sonatine bureaucratique”, Ravel’s “Une barque sur l’océan”, and finally Bach’s “Caprice on the Departure of a Beloved Brother”. He’s even more stunning in A Rainy Day in New York where Woody Allen exploits his talent by pushing him to practice piano-voice. He sings on the keyboard “Everything Happens To Me” by Matt Dennis.

Ryan Gosling

While it already seemed impossible to find faults in him, Canadian actor Ryan Gosling amazes us with his artistic versatility. Born in 1980, he started his career at only 11 years old in the Mickey Mouse Club where he took his first steps as an actor, but also practiced as a dancer, singer, and host. Since the 2000s, he has distinguished himself in romantic dramas that made more than one cry: The Notebook in which he marked minds, or more muscular roles like in the tortured biker of The Place Beyond the Pines and the mysterious driver in Drive. A musician outside of acting, he himself wrote and played two songs that appeared in Blue Valentine, and he’s part of the independent rock band Dead Man’s Bones as a singer and guitarist. In 2009, they even released an album. This passion for music explodes in the very famous musical comedy La La Land released in 2016. Our handsome blond portrays a jazz-passionate pianist who falls in love with a coffee waitress. He writes and performs the songs A Lovely Night and the melancholic City Of Stars which won a Golden Globe. After intensive learning of 3 months of singing, dancing, and piano, he offered an acclaimed performance rewarded with a Golden Globe for best actor. With more than four hours a day of piano training, six days out of seven, he perfectly slipped into the skin of his role. His piano-voice performances can’t leave anyone indifferent, with his slightly raspy voice tone. Although the music is added over the scenes, his work at the keyboard is real. People from the filming had to confirm to the press that no double had been used. Enough to even make singer John Legend jealous, who joked about his incredible piano learning abilities.

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Rami Malek

And yes, another actor who had to learn to play piano to get into the skin of his character! Rami Malek had everything to get noticed by the public. This American actor always dreamed of cinema even though his parents saw him as a lawyer. After studying theater, audiovisual, and fine arts, he’s interested in everything, both special effects and dramatic arts. If you think you’ve never seen him, you’re wrong; he scoured small roles in successful films like in the Night at the Museum franchise, Twilight, and even under the direction of Tom Hanks and Spielberg. His acclaimed role as Elliot, the solitary hacker in Mr. Robot, reveals him to the world, but it’s in the skin of Freddie Mercury that he dazzles Hollywood and wins nearly 15 awards for this film. In the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, he’s credible in the skin of this exceptional musician because he took piano, singing, and movement lessons four hours a day to immerse himself in the role. Under a teacher’s direction, he trained in accompaniment piano to play piano and sing at the same time, in other words, practice piano-voice, a discipline in which Mercury was exceptional. For the camera to capture him playing, he launched into learning the first verse of the song Bohemian Rhapsody which he performs in the film when his character discovers his bisexuality. One of the film’s most memorable scenes is the upside-down piano where… yes, you understood correctly, he simply plays piano lying on his back, arms stretched back.

Clint Eastwood

Do we really need to introduce him? This American actor, director, composer, and producer is among the greatest legends of cinema. He’s considered one of the last witnesses of Hollywood’s golden age. In spaghetti westerns like A Fistful of Dollars or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as in dramas like Million Dollar Baby, the nonagenarian has never left anyone indifferent with his minimalist acting and overwhelming presence. But this big-screen star is also a jazz lover! Coming from a family of musicians, he became interested in it from a very young age. A great record collector, he’s lulled by the music of jazzman Fats Waller that plays at all hours at his home. This pianist he admires naturally led him to begin learning piano. To perpetuate this tradition, his son Kyle himself inherited this attraction to jazz, since he plays double bass and had the opportunity to participate in the soundtrack of some of his father’s films! Jazz will follow him throughout his career, whether in his role as a jazz radio host in Play Misty for Me or the release of the biopic Bird on iconic jazzman Charlie Parker. This attraction doesn’t date from yesterday, since he released his album Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites in 1962. Music takes a prominent place in his artistic process. According to him, a film’s music is as important as the story or characters. With a total of forty films directed and more than seventy films to his acting credit, this hard worker also composes music. Eastwood trades his music enthusiast cap for that of composer of soundtracks for his films: Mystic River, The Bridges of Madison County, or Million Dollar Baby. His ability to go from behind the camera to behind a piano can only command respect.

Gad Elmaleh

One of the pillars of French humor, Gad Elmaleh, can be considered a complete artist. Comedian, actor, director, and singer, he accumulates several strings to his bow that allow him to be so popular. He got a taste for the world of entertainment by watching with his child’s eyes his father who practiced the art of mime. He was already on stage at five years old to help him hold signs. Fascinated by the stage, he wants to become a new Michael Jackson. Before starting his career as a comedian, he worked as a singer in a piano bar. He reveals in an interview that he didn’t want to be a comedian when younger, but a singer. He regularly took piano and percussion lessons. He played song covers on double keyboard with his small music group called Mélody. Gad Elmaleh revealed in an interview that one of his first big purchases was a Steinway piano. In his career as a comedian, music has always had an important place. Indeed, his shows have always been very energetic, with a point of honor placed on body work, gestures mixed with music and piano-voice. Among his best-known performances are: Petit oiseau or Une chèvre bleue which he sings at all his shows accompanied by his piano or guitar in L’autre c’est moi and Papa est en haut. In 2012, during Marrakech du rire, he made a piano-voice improvisation with the name of a woman from the audience and showed everyone his pianist talents. In early 2021, he surprises his audience with his first album with jazz sounds Dansez sur moi on the Blue Note label.

Alice Taglioni

The French actress and former Miss Corsica Alice Taglioni is recognized and confirmed for her many roles in Lies & Betrayals, The Valet, or in The Last Madness when she portrays a young Catherine Deneuve. If her acting career hadn’t taken off, Alice Taglioni wouldn’t have been completely helpless. She very regularly shows on her Instagram account her brilliant pianist talents that she considers a first passion. After starting piano lessons at the age of four in a family universe bathed in musical passion, she intended to make a career of it. An admirer of Rachmaninoff, she oriented herself towards a high school with a “piano study” option where she could practice every afternoon. The Paris National Conservatory of Music opened its doors to her in her ambition to become a concert pianist. Nevertheless, it’s a demanding path that involves sacrifices, and after hearing an 11-year-old child play with precision a piece she couldn’t appropriate, she decided to stop. Seeking more freedom, she decided to get on stage. As we see on Instagram where she displays her virtuoso side, she didn’t give up anyway, and in 2012, she accompanied singer Nadeah’s concert on piano. Even if she didn’t become a professional, she describes piano as a refuge, “her anti-stress thing”.

Jamie Foxx

Actor, comedian, singer, songwriter, record producer… Jamie Foxx has no gaps; he masters everything! He made himself known doing stand-up in a Comedy Club, and his acting career started a decade later in some appearances in films and a sitcom. The actor marked a turning point by sharing the bill with Tom Cruise in Collateral and portraying Ray Charles a few months later in the biopic Ray. A confirmed musician, he conversed with the famous pianist during the preparation of his role, and they played piano together. In the film’s final version, Ray Charles’s voice is added in dubbing, but all the pieces on piano are performed by Foxx. He took Braille lessons for his role. These musician and actor talents allow him to blend into the character perfectly, and he won the Oscar for best actor in 2005. Music isn’t just a hobby for him, and his journey shows it. An exceptional pianist, he studied it for five years and enrolled in university with a piano scholarship. Studying classical piano at the prestigious Juilliard music school, he unfortunately left without a degree. A good singer, he seems as comfortable singing a ballad as rap. It’s easy to forget he has a beautiful voice because it’s often used to make jokes in his shows, but he remains irredeemably an excellent singer. Whether in his stand-ups or on TV sets, Jamie Foxx impresses with his impersonations and his ease at piano-voice.