Five Celebrities Who Enjoy Revealing Their "Secret" Talents

In order to be successful, celebrities, movie stars, theater greats, artists, usually have to focus on one particular skill or talent. Hugh Laurie is now a well-known actor. Steve Martin has been a successful comedian, actor and writer for some time. Bruce Willis has long been a house-hold name in action movies.

However, these, and many other stars, after finally feeling comfortable with their level of success, allow themselves to indulge in some other talents or skill. Many of them already have another great talent or skill. Some at least allow themselves the luxury of trying new skills out on the public. Any creative, talented person often has more than one strength to call on, especially for performance.

1) Steve Martin plays a mean banjo. Seriously. Martin did occasionally use the banjo in his early stand-up comic days, but he has excellent skills and has even recorded an album. Martin has been playing the banjo since he was about seventeen years old. But it's something he kept in the background until relatively recently. This summer he is touring the festival circuit with his backup band, The Steep Canyon Rangers. They are the opening act for the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.

2) Hugh Laurie is well-known as the acerbic Dr. Gregory House in the Fox television series "House". Laurie had an acting career on the BBC in England before coming "across the pond" for "House". But he is an accomplished pianist as well. We see Dr. House play the piano on his television series, and it does not have to be faked as for other actors. Laurie has gotten together with a few other show business pals to form "Band from TV" (for a bit of a pun), who perform publicly and give all the proceeds to charity. The group also includes Jesse Spencer (Dr. Chase), Adrian Pasdar, Greg Grunberg, James Denton, Bob Gulney and Scott Grimes.

3) Bruce Willis cemented his reputation as an action movie star long ago with the "Die Hard" series and other blockbuster films. But Willis has the soul of an R & B singer. As a young adult, Willis played harmonica in bars with an R&B band called Loose Goose. However, the pull of acting was stronger and he put music on the back burner for an acting career. But music has always been a part of Willis and he has a band now called The Accelerators. Willis even had a top ten hit in 1987 with a cover of "Respect Yourself", part of a hit LP titled "The Return of Bruno".

4) Kevin Bacon, yes the one who is the subject of the "Six Degrees" game (which he turned into a charitable organization) and the actor fondly remembered for dancing in "Footloose", is also a musician. So is his brother Michael. Together they perform as The Bacon Brothers. Older by nine years, brother Michael is a seasoned musician and composer for film and television. A little known fact is that the brothers have been performing as The Bacon Brothers' Band since 1995 and have put out six albums of music. While younger brother Kevin started out as a bit of a "tag-a-long" singer at gigs, he became a fully vested musician and continues to gain followers for his music as well as acting career.

5) Jamie Foxx is not a surprise in the multi-talented pool. But the revelation is still relatively new. Foxx started out as a stand-up comic and actor and made his way in show business for years with those skills. But in 2005 Foxx showcased his amazing vocal and keyboard skills in the biopic "Ray" portraying the great Ray Charles. Most fans were stunned when they found out that Foxx had done all the actual singing and keyboard playing. It turns out Foxx had been singing and playing since he was very young and had even earned a piano scholarship to college. Foxx won the Best Actor Award for his acting performance in the film, "Ray" and is now known as much for his musical abilities as his acting "chops".