The ones you probably already know…

1. Bill Murray for Groundhog Day
2. Ryan Gosling for La La Land
3. Bradley Cooper for A Star Is Born (and he learnt to conduct for Maestro)

Actors who learned an instrument for a role

1. Bill Murray

Phil Connors may have almost unlimited time to practise in Groundhog Day, but Bill Murray had to prepare within an ordinary filming schedule. As he couldn’t read music, he learnt part of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by listening to it repeatedly. 

Pianist Terry Fryer acted as Murray’s hand double for the close-ups, while the wider shots show the actor at the keyboard. Murray, therefore, wasn’t responsible for every note you hear, but he did enough to make Phil’s musical transformation believable.

2. Ryan Gosling

Learning the piano is one thing, but learning jazz piano is a whole new ball game. And yet there’s no hidden hand double in Ryan Gosling’s piano scenes from La La Land. Starting as a beginner, he spent six months working closely on “City of Stars” for hours a day. This allowed director Damien Chazelle to film longer takes in which Gosling’s face and hands remain visible together. 

The actual soundtrack was recorded by professional pianist Randy Kerber, but Gosling performs the correct movements at the keyboard. It’s an impressive feat that makes each scene authentic. 

3. Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper trained for months to play singer-songwriter Jackson Maine in A Star Is Born, comprising two hours of guitar practice and two hours of piano lessons per day. Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson’s son) helped him write songs and understand how an experienced musician behaves onstage. Cooper performed his own vocals, although Nelson recorded much of the guitar heard in the film.

For Maestro, Cooper spent six years learning to conduct as Leonard Bernstein. His preparation culminated in a live performance with the London Symphony Orchestra, recreating Bernstein’s famous performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony at Ely Cathedral.

4. Adrien Brody

For The Pianist, Adrien Brody needed to resemble concert pianist Władysław Szpilman. He practised for up to four hours a day and worked on pieces by Chopin, with four different instructors, studying the movement and expression behind the notes.  

The lessons gave Brody a physical understanding of piano performance and helped him connect with Szpilman as part of a wider transformation that earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.

5. Meryl Streep

Six weeks isn’t long to learn the violin, and it certainly isn’t long when you need to portray an experienced teacher. That was the task facing Meryl Streep when she replaced Madonna as Roberta Guaspari in Music of the Heart.  

Streep practised intensively and learnt the music her character teaches, including material by Bach. She also had to study how a violin tutor would demonstrate each passage to a pupil. She wasn’t intending to be presented as a concert soloist, but rather a teacher — and her posture and violin handling made the classroom scenes credible.  

6. Jenna Ortega

Wednesday Addams’ cello performances could easily have been covered with tight editing and a body double. Instead, Jenna Ortega began learning the instrument around two months before filming Wednesday. 

She worked on the bowing and left-hand movements required for pieces, including “Paint It, Black”, allowing more of her own playing to appear in shot. Ortega later said that her schedule made it difficult to continue practising regularly. Even so, the experience gave her a new appreciation for cellists and the amount of coordination the instrument demands.

7. Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. learnt to play the violin with his non-dominant hand for the 1992 biopic Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin himself played left-handed, so Downey followed the same approach to make the performance accurate. 

The instrument was just one part of almost a year’s preparation. He also adapted his movement and speech to capture Chaplin away from the silent screen, making the role a broad physical transformation rather than a simple impersonation.

8. Riz Ahmed

Riz Ahmed’s preparation for Sound of Metal had to look and feel forceful. His character, Ruben, is a punk-metal drummer whose life changes when he experiences sudden hearing loss. Ahmed started learning drums from scratch and trained for around seven months, often spending several hours a day behind the kit. 

Rather than stopping at a few simple patterns, he worked on the speed and physical intensity needed for the film’s live scenes. At the same time, he immersed himself in American Sign Language and Deaf culture for the role.

9. Russell Crowe

Learning the violin became one of Russell Crowe’s biggest challenges while making Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Australian Chamber Orchestra artistic director Richard Tognetti helped him prepare for the role of Captain Jack Aubrey, focusing on how a player holds and moves with the instrument. 

Crowe understood that copying the notes alone wouldn’t make the performance look natural. He trained for roughly three months and bought the violin he used during his lessons, giving him more opportunity to practise away from the set.

10. Rachel Weisz

Rachel Weisz had only two weeks to get to grips with several instruments for The Brothers Bloom. Her character, Penelope, races through an extraordinary collection of hobbies, including violin, guitar, banjo, and accordion. 

Weisz concentrated on the exact fingerings and movements required for the rapid sequence rather than attempting to master each instrument in full. And to make things more complicated, her accordion teacher spoke Serbian, and Weisz did not. With little shared language, demonstration became a crucial part of each session.

11. Nicolas Cage

As its film title suggests, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin gave Nicolas Cage little opportunity to avoid the instrument. Despite not having much musical experience, he took lessons with musical director Paul Englishby and played the mandolin himself in numerous shots, including the performance of “Pelagia’s Song”. 

Englishby later recalled that Cage remained committed to practising while travelling between filming commitments, even continuing his lessons during a trip to Venice.

12. Taron Egerton

Taron Egerton already faced the considerable task of singing as Elton John in Rocketman, but he also needed to become comfortable at the piano. He worked with pianist and vocal coach Michael L. Roberts, learning the basic technique and selected passages required for filming. 

Egerton performs brief sections himself, giving the close-up shots a more natural connection between his hands and the rest of his performance. Most of the piano heard in the film was played by professional pianist David Hartley, while Egerton supplied his own lead vocals.

13. Jude Law

Jude Law took a practical approach to learning saxophone for The Talented Mr. Ripley. With only a few months to prepare, he concentrated on the music needed for Dickie Greenleaf’s jazz-club scenes rather than trying to become an accomplished player. 

Repeating those passages helped him reproduce the fingering and physical manner of a saxophonist closely enough for the camera. Law planned to continue playing once production ended, but things didn’t quite work out that way. Years later, he admitted that the saxophone was still sitting in its case. 

Can Hugh Laurie play piano? 

Yes, Hugh Laurie can play piano and was already an experienced musician before taking the role of Dr Gregory House. He didn’t learn for House, although the programme regularly used his genuine keyboard skills. Laurie has released blues albums and performed as a singer and pianist, as well as playing with Band from TV. 

While Laurie has described a Steinway grand as his dream piano, a Yamaha grand was used for much of the filming of House. If you want to get a similar sound at home, Yamaha’s digital grand designs include the Clavinova CLP-865, CLP-895, and accompaniment-focused CVP-909.

FAQs 

Which actor is a classically trained pianist? 

Jamie Foxx is a classically trained pianist. He began learning the instrument at the age of five and later studied classical piano and composition at university. That background proved particularly useful when he portrayed Ray Charles in Ray, although Foxx still had to study Charles’ distinctive physical approach to the keyboard. 

Which celebrities are known for playing instruments? 

Celebrities known for playing instruments include Steve Martin, Keanu Reeves, and Terry Crews. Martin is an accomplished banjo player who has recorded and performed bluegrass music professionally. Reeves plays bass in the alternative rock band Dogstar, while Crews began playing the flute as a child and has continued to demonstrate the instrument in interviews and television appearances. 

Can Hugh Grant play piano? 

Hugh Grant can play a little piano, although he doesn’t describe himself as a proficient pianist. He has said that he merely tinkers on piano and guitar and considers himself poor at both. For film roles, Grant has learnt the specific hand positions or short musical passages needed for a scene rather than developing a complete performance repertoire. 

Final thoughts 

It’s no mean feat to learn an instrument for a film or TV role! Even when professional musicians supplied the soundtrack, as this list shows, the actors still had to learn how to make every gesture look natural. This is how what you see on screen looks so realistic!