• Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Entertainment

Don Cheadle On The One Thing That Makes Him Consider Quitting Acting

The Academy Award-nominated actor is equally talented in other arts and admits he sometimes wrestles with pursuing his other love full time.
By Brande Victorian · Updated August 13, 2021

It’s somewhat universally understood that attaching Don Cheadle‘s name to a project, whether on film or television, greatly increases its market value. But, like many creatives, the Academy Award-nominated actor is equally talented in other arts — in his case music — and Cheadle admits he sometimes wrestles with pursuing his other love full time.

“If I wasn’t acting that’s what I would be doing and I threaten, almost yearly, to quit this and just do that,” Cheadle tells ESSENCE. “There’s just nothing that’s more rewarding than creating music. There’s nothing that feels like that in the creative space.” Speaking to the melodies and compositions that come about when a group of musicians get together in a room, he adds, “It’s kind of a creative soup that happens that doesn’t happen anywhere else and that’s something that I am always desirous of more of.”

Don Cheadle On The One Thing That Makes Him Consider Quitting Acting
Don Cheadle as Mo in BLACK MONDAY, “9!”. Photo Credit: Nicole Wilder/SHOWTIME.

Cheadle played saxophone in a jazz band during high school and was active in the theater department, starring in musicals. “I was just as much into music as I was into acting and when I graduated high school I had opportunities to do both,” he explains. “I had scholarship money to either go into vocal jazz and instrumental jazz or pursue acting and I kind of made a weather choice and came to California.”

In 2014, Cheadle was able to marry both loves when he directed, co-wrote, and starred as the lead in the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. He was also a part of the production for the accompanying soundtrack which featured music from Davis, Robert Glasper, and other jazz and funk instrumentalists. “The proudest moment of my career,” Cheadle says, “is winning a Grammy for the music we did for Miles Ahead.”

Don Cheadle On The One Thing That Makes Him Consider Quitting Acting
US actor Don Cheadle attends the premiere of “No Sudden Move” during the 2021 Tribeca Festival at Battery Park on June 18, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

It’s for that reason Cheadle, who established his first acting credit 37 years ago, says whenever he has downtime between projects he spends it in the studio. As for whether he’d consider releasing an album of his own he shares, “I don’t know about just my music but I have been going back to the studio with Robert Glasper. We’ve talked about remixing that [soundtrack] and doing some different things on that or just doing some new music and playing with that.”

And despite his threats to pursue music full-time, something keeps pulling Cheadle back into the acting space, though he admits he can’t quite put his finger on what that is. “You’re asking questions that I have especially lately been asking myself a lot,” he shares. “I’m fortunate to have done well in this business — thank you mom and dad — I know how to save, I never lived beyond my means. I don’t have to do stuff for the money anymore. I do stuff that I want to do, that’s interesting, that pushes me.”

Don Cheadle On The One Thing That Makes Him Consider Quitting Acting
Don Cheadle

In addition to starring in Space Jam this year and continuing to reprise his role as War Machine in the Marvel Universe, Cheadle also recently started another production company to create opportunities for other entertainers. “We’re doing a lot of things in that space trying to center some voices that haven’t traditionally been centered and tell some interesting stories in the TV space. I didn’t really start the company to just develop work for me, I want to develop stuff for these other artists and give other people’s voices a platform.”

Check out our full interview with Don Cheadle in the video above.

TOPICS:  Don Cheadle
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now