Dwight David Yoakam is known as a hit country singer and songwriter who has sold more 30 million records throughout his 35-year career. Not only that, but the Pikeville, Kentucky-born singer also helped pioneer country music of the 1980s and forward with hits such as "Guitars, Cadillacs," "Streets of Bakersfield," and "Fast As You." With countless hits, a few Grammy's and plenty of other awards under his belt, Yoakam certainly carved out a space in country music history. However, Nashville isn't the only place Yoakam has made his mark — he's had a successful acting career as well.
In the early 1990s, Yoakam started appearing on the big screen, starting in smaller roles and moving up to the lead role in some cases. Over the course of his career, the singer-turned-actor has starred in over 20 films alongside some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Yoakam also has experience acting on television, appearing in Ellen Degeneres' late-'90s sitcom, Ellen, an episode of King of the Hill, and Billy Bob Thornton-led Amazon drama, Goliath. For the purpose of this list, however, here's a look back at Yoakam's filmography to determine 10 of his best movies.
10. Wedding Crashers (2005)
Sometimes Yoakam takes the lead role in a film, and other times he plays more of a side character, but there's no doubt that he always makes a splash onscreen. In the 2005 comedy, Wedding Crashers, Yoakam takes part in a playful scene with stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Vaughn and Wilson play two divorce mediators who are working out a divorce between Yoakam's character, dubbed Mr. Kroeger, and his soon-to-be ex-wife. Yoakam's Mr. Kroeger and Mrs. Kroeger are engaged in a heated argument about every aspect of their divorce, and Vaughn and Owen's characters are successful in de-escalating the argument.
9. Four Christmases (2008)
Yoakam plays another small, but impactful role in the Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon-led movie Four Christmases. In this 2008, Holiday-themed film, a couple, (Vaughn and Witherspoon) find themselves stuck visiting each of their divorced parents' separate homes on Christmas, and chaos ensues at each stop. Yoakam appears in the movie as Pastor Phil, an overly enthusiastic pastor running a Christmas church service. Pastor Phil chooses Vaughn and Witherspoon's characters to participate in the nativity play, where things to terribly wrong for the couple. Four Christmases also stars Tim McGraw.
8. Bandidas (2006)
Yoakam takes on a bigger role in the 2006 Western-themed action comedy, Bandidas. In the movie, Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz play two women who become bank robbers to avenge their fathers taken down by evil U.S. land baron Tyler Jackson (Yoakam) and to steal back what Jackson stole from them and their Mexican neighbors. Yoakam makes a pretty dramatic transformation in this movie, taking on the character of the baron and looking very different from himself.
7. The Last Rites of Ransom Pride (2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-kXAz5DQ0
Dwight Yoakam often plays the antagonist in movies, and he fills that role yet again in The Last Rites of Ransom Pride. Released in 2010, this Western finds Juliet Flowers (played by Lizzie Caplan) on a mission to bring back the body of Ransom Pride, her outlaw lover who was killed. Yoakam plays the part of Pride's father, Reverend Early Pride, who employs Shepherd Graves (Kris Kristofferson) to kill Flowers. The film also features Peter Dinklage, Jason Priestly and Cote de Pablo.
6. The Newton Boys (1998)
Dwight Yoakam acts alongside Matthew McConaughey in the 1998 comedy-drama, The Newton Boys. The film tells the true story of the Newton gang, a family of bank robbers from Uvalde, Texas. Yoakam plays Brentwood Glasscock, who robs banks alongside the group's leader, Willis Newton (McConaughey).
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5. The Minus Man (1999)
Before Yoakam shared the screen with Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers, he acted alongside Wilson in the 1999 thriller, The Minus Man. In the film, Wilson plays crazed serial killer Vann Siegert who is haunted by two detectives, Blair and Graves (Yoakam and Dennis Haysbert), in his imagination. The film also features Sheryl Crow, who plays one of Siegert's victims.
4. Crank (2006)
Dwight Yoakam worked alongside Jason Statham in the 2006 thriller, Crank. In the movie, Statham plays a hitman named Chev Chelios who has been injected with a drug that slows down his heart and will eventually kill him. Yoakam plays Doc Miles, who tells Chelios that in order to say alive, he must keep his adrenaline pumping. This leads to action-packed moments as Chelios looks to find the man who poisoned him. Yoakam also appeared the film's sequel, Crank: High Voltage.
3. Panic Room (2002)
Yoakam stars in yet another thriller in 2002's Panic Room. In this movie, Yoakam plays a burglar, who, along with two others played by Forest Whitaker and Jared Leto, breaks into a mother and daughter's home. The mother and daughter (played by Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart) lock themselves in their state-of-the art panic room, but the thing the burglars want just happens to be inside that room.
2. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
In the 2005 film, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a Mexican worker named Melquiades Estrada is killed unjustly by a border patrol agent, who covers up his crime. Yoakam plays the local Sheriff, named Belmont, who ignores evidence of the crime. The film then follows Pete Perkins, who is a friend of Estrada, as he seeks to find out the truth regarding his friend's death. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones as Perkins.
1. Sling Blade (1996)
In 1996, Yoakam starred in the drama, Sling Blade, which was written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton. The film also starred Thornton in the lead role of Karl Childers, a man released from a psychiatric hospital after murdering his mother and her lover at the age of 12. Soon after his release, he befriends a young boy named Frank, whose mother Linda allows Karl to live them. However, Karl has to contend with Doyle Hargraves, Linda's abusive and alcoholic boyfriend, played by Yoakam.
Other movies starring Yoakam include Red Rock West, Roswell, Don't Look Back, Painted Hero, When Trumpets Fade, South of Heaven, West of Hell, Hollywood Homicide, Three Way, Dirty Girl, Bloodworth, 90 Minutes In Heaven, Logan Lucky and Cry Macho.
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