10 Best Acting Performances By Musicians

10. Meat Loaf - Fight Club

He would do anything for love – but he won't talk about Fight Club. The doughy Canadian balladeer turns in a performance both hilarious and heartfelt in David Fincher's ode to a lost generation, while never attempting to steal the show or throw his (not inconsiderable) weight around.

His name is Robert Paulson, and he is a cancer survivor and former steroid abuser who, as a result of his illness, has grown a pair of full on breasts. As one of the first characters to share a scene with The Narrator, the Bat Out Of Hell singer has an important role to fulfil – as a once manly man who has developed feminine features, he is an early encapsulation of the crisis of masculinity that makes up much of Fight Club's subtext. Fincher is an exacting and calculating director; he wouldn't cast Meat Loaf just for the novelty or shock value, and the singer does a great job with the surreal material.

This was far from the start of Loaf's acting career, having previously appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Wayne's World, among others. But as far as character work goes, he turns in as measured and mature a performance as you could expect from any longtime character actor.