Cover Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero in ‘Wicked’ (Screencap: YouTube / Wicked Movie)
Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero in ‘Wicked’ (Screencap: YouTube / Wicked Movie)
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Dance training shapes these actors' performances in ways you may not expect, adding an extra layer of physicality and expression to their craft
Don’t expect Sam Rockwell, Channing Tatum, or Julianne Hough on this list. While some actors seize every opportunity to showcase their moves (whether through dramatic movie reveals or high-spirited late-night show appearances), others keep their dancing talents under wraps. You might have been watching them for years without realising they can deftly distinguish between a pas de bourrée and a plié. Fourth position? They can do it in their sleep.
Also read: The role of dance covers in K-pop culture
Not every role calls for a soaring lift or a toe-tapping routine, but dance training often imparts a commanding physicality that enhances an actor's ability to express emotions. As the legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov once remarked, “When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for a minute, and I'll tell you who you are.”
These actors may not be pirouetting across the screen, but their mastery of movement is evident in their performances. Let’s take a closer look at some surprising names who’ve mastered the art of dance.
1. Mia Wasikowska
The Alice in Wonderland actress can throw ethereal moves to match her delicate features. Mia Wasikowska started training as a ballet dancer when she was nine but got bitten by the acting bug in her teens. While she hasn’t pursued dancing professionally or taken any dance-oriented roles (except for a cool scene in Crimson Peak), her background in ballet has influenced her physicality and grace in various roles. Notably, her performance in Jane Eyre showcased her poised and disciplined movements, a subtle nod to her dance training. Though she hasn't performed full-fledged dances in theatre or film, her early ballet roots lend an expressive depth to her on-screen presence.
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2. Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell is perhaps best known for her roles in Scream and The Craft, but she also co-starred with James Franco in the 2003 dance drama The Company, which features the rigour of a performance season. In real life, Campbell trained as a professional ballet dancer at the National Ballet School of Canada. However, like many entries on this list, injuries hampered her progress and she switched to acting instead.
3. Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss has been in the spotlight for so long that people are often surprised to discover she’s had an entire life pre-acting. Moss landed her first role when she was eight and juggled her fledgling acting career with her dream of becoming a dancer. She trained as a ballerina in the School of American Ballet, then at the Kennedy Centre where she trained with Suzanne Farrell. Moss hasn’t featured her dancing in any of her projects but did twerk occasionally on Ellen, was extra excited for The Handmaid's Tale episode “The Ballet,” and produced the documentary Ballet Now.
4. Alicia Vikander
Perhaps the 2018 Tomb Raider would have had more success if it had inserted a dance number somewhere there. Born in Gothenburg, Alicia Vikander began ballet training at the Swedish National Ballet School at nine years old, and was deemed good enough to progress to the upper school in Stockholm. She also trained in New York City for one summer at the American Academy of Ballet.
By then, Vikander was also nurturing her acting talent at the same time, after first getting a taste of the stage at age seven at The Göteborg Opera. While training seriously in ballet, she was also appearing in a number of film and television roles, including a two-year run in a TV drama. She gave up dance in her teens after a series of injuries, and fully committed instead to her career in acting. She excelled in this as well, eventually winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl.
5. Michelle Yeoh
The reason Michelle Yeoh’s wuxia films have an extra dose of grace is because she’s also a talented dancer. The Academy Award-winner started her dance education at the Hammond School in Chester, England, and even had a stint at the Royal Academy of Dance in London. A spinal injury forced her to drop her dream of becoming a ballerina and owning her own studio. However, her dance training is evident in her fluidity and precision in action scenes, especially in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
6. Colin Farrell
The Irish actor is known for taking rough and rugged roles, so it may come as a surprise that Colin Farrell is an accomplished line dancer—a skill he once demonstrated on Ellen. In his youth, he taught American line dancing in Limerick, Ireland. He also auditioned for a boy band before becoming an actor.
7. Melissa Fumero
In Melissa Fumero’s most famous role, as Amy Santiago in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, she is a notoriously bad dancer, which is ironic because the actress herself has trained in dance for almost half her life. Her skills were put on display when she was cast as Ati in the independent film Tiny Dancer, about a 17-year-old who is forced to dance. Fumero (then Melissa Gallo) fortified her dance background by studying modern and contemporary dance.
8. Ziyi Zhang
You can get a taste of Ziyi Zhang’s dancing in Memoirs of a Geisha, but this Chinese beauty can do so much more than fling an umbrella on platform geta slippers. Her nine-year dance training in traditional Chinese dance was reinforced at the Beijing Dance Academy, which helped her develop poise, flexibility, and a strong stage presence. In 1994, she won the performance award in the National Taoli Cup Dance Competition.
9. Lana Condor
The To All the Boys I've Loved Before star made rounds through some of the more prestigious dance academies, including Whidbey Island Dance Theater, Joffrey Ballet, the Rock School for Dance Education, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She even danced with the Los Angeles Ballet. However, she stopped ballet at 19 when she got into acting, believing the latter was a more expressive medium.
10. Jonathan Bailey
The 9th Viscount Bridgerton showed his impressive moves in his performance of “Dancing Through Life” for Wicked. However, his dance history stretches much further than that. He was part of a dance club in Henley-on-Thames and was studying ballet before he hit double digits. However, as the only boy in his community who was doing arabesques, he felt pressured to quit as dancing was supposedly only for girls. Bailey has since confessed that succumbing to this pressure was one of his biggest regrets.
