Pretty, but was trained to skate, not to act.
Hiring of a big celebrity in a starring role in a movie, play or TV show. Only, this celebrity isn't known for acting. In fact, this may be the celebrity's first acting job. A close cousin of
Stunt Casting, only with a bit more risk, since the stunt castee doesn't have much experience (if any), and is practically carrying the project despite that experience.
So why is it done with such risks? Well the fact is that
this sometimes works. Also even if the vehicle is a failure, the ingenue may still have a career afterwards.
You are most likely to see
I Am Not Leonard Nimoy play throughout the movie.
Examples:
- Sonja Henie in One in a Million. She made quite a few films after that.
- Swimmer Esther Williams started a similar screen career with a supporting part in Andy Hardy's Double Life. A series of star vehicles followed, starting with Bathing Beauty.
- Carol Heiss in Snow White And The Three Stooges was an attempt to make her the next Sonja Henie. It unfortunately didn't work out that well, probably due to the script failing to take real advantage of the titular concept.
- The Three Stooges weren't even brought in until the studio realized Heiss couldn't carry the movie.
- Will Smith in The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, which saved him from bankruptcy and launched his blockbuster acting career. Definitely one of the best points in favor of this trope.
- Britney Spears in Crossroads.
- Cindy Crawford in Fair Game.
- Kylie Minogue in the Doctor Who Christmas story. She had acted in soaps before, and the occasional movie, but she was likely cast for her fame as a singer.
- Also in Doctor Who, Billie Piper.
- Billie Piper had already appeared in the modern adaptation of The Canterbury Tales, and went to stage school before her music career.
- David Bowie "perfectly cast as an androgynous extraterrestrial" (Joe Queenan) in The Man Who Fell to Earth.
- Dwayne Johnson in The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King partially counts - wrestling being acted, it was more of a 'breakthrough to non-wrestling fans' rather than a direct example of this trope. He's had a decent acting career since then, to the point that he's not even credited as "The Rock" anymore.
- Randy Couture in the straight to DVD sequel to The Scorpion King, subtitled "Rise Of A Warrior".
- Sting as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in David Lynch's Dune.
- Roddy Piper in They Live!
- Hulk Hogan in No Holds Barred.
- Howie Long in Firestorm.
- Jenny McCarthy in The Stupids.
- Almost everybody in the last Asterix movie. It bombed.
- Harry Houdini in The Master Mystery.
- Kurt Thomas in Gymkata.
- Neil Diamond in The Jazz Singer.
- Luciano Pavarotti in Yes, Giorgio.
- Michael Jordan in Space Jam.
- Shirley Manson in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
- Paris Hilton in every movie/show she was cast in. (Yeah, even that one)
- Whichever wrestler is starring in any given WWE Films project.
- Mariah Carey in Glitter. So bad, everyone forgot it until now.
- Shaquille O'Neal in Blue Chips.
- Ray Allen in He Got Game.
- Survivor contestant Colleen Haskell in Rob Schneider's The Animal.
- Mick Jagger in Performance and Ned Kelly.
- Vanilla Ice in Cool as Ice.
- Eminem in 8 Mile.
- NFL star Brian Bosworth in Stone Cold. He's done a fair amount of supporting roles since then.
- Brazilian soccer star Breno Mello in Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus).
- Track & field athlete Adhemar da Silva appears in that one as well.
- Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard.
- Olivia Newton John in Grease.
- Anime example: woman pro-wrestler Cutey Suzuki as the voice of Iczer-3. Also happens with (many) singers who take a turn as voice actors/actresses.
- Bono in Across The Universe and The Million Dollar Hotel.
- Olympic Swimming champion and male model Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan: the Ape Man. His performance proved so successful that he was cast in the same role eleven more times.
- Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby took a turn playing the title character in the Peter Pan stage musical in 1974 — and did so well that she returned to it in The Nineties and again in a Branson, MO production in 2009.
- Cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the Atom Egoyan film Sarabande
.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger is the god-king of this trope. Curiously, his vehicle Conan The Barbarian also had Gerry Lopez (surfer) and Sandahl Bergman (dancer). And the best-forgotten sequel had singer Grace Jones and basketball superstar Wilt Chamberlain.
- Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story.
