From Emma Stone to ‘Smash’s’ Jennifer Hudson, 12 Reality Stars Turned Actors

Emma Stone

Image Credit: Photo Credit: VH1; Wilson Webb/Warner Bros. Entertainment

Believe it or not, the actress got her start on a reality show. In 2004, Stone launched her acting career by winning the role of Laurie Partidge in VH1's reality competition In Search of the New Partridge Family; the resulting series, The New Partridge Family, didn't make it past the pilot stage. But she went on to huge big-screen success: She has since starred in The Amazing Spider-Man, earned a Golden Globe nom for Easy A, and won a SAG Award for best performance by a film cast with her co-stars in The Help. Next up, she hits theaters Jan. 11 in Gangster Squad and has Movie 43, animated film The Croods and a Spider-Man sequel coming down the pike.
NeNe Leakes

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Wilford Harewood/Bravo; Trae Patton/NBC

Leakes first broke out as one of the castmembers of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, which premiered in 2008. She later went on to compete on NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice before parlaying her fame into a multiepisode arc on Fox's Glee as synchronized swim coach and Olympic medalist Roz Washington. She now is a regular on NBC's freshman comedy The New Normal, playing Rocky, the personal assistant to Andrew Rannells' TV producer character.
Jennifer Hudson

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images; Paramount Pictures

Hudson's early elimination from American Idol's third season shocked viewers, but she went on to big-screen glory, becoming the only former Idol contestant to have won an Oscar, for 2006's Dreamgirls. The Weight Watchers spokeswoman, who has released two albums, also appeared in such movies as Sex and the City, The Three Stooges and The Secret Life of Bees. Next up, she has a multiepisode arc on NBC's Smash, playing a Tony-winning Broadway star who impacts the lives of Karen (fellow Idol alum Katharine McPhee) and Ivy (Megan Hilty).
Katharine McPhee

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Vince Bucci/Getty Images; Eric Liebowitz/NBC

Like Jennifer Hudson, McPhee also got her start on American Idol, coming in second to Taylor Hicks in the fifth season of Fox's singing competition. She released an eponymously titled album in 2007 but soon turned to acting, landing her first major film role in 2008's The House Bunny. After guest-starring roles in CSI: NY and Community, McPhee was cast as Broadway hopeful Karen Cartwright on NBC's Smash, which launches its retooled second season Feb. 5.
Julianne Hough

Image Credit: Photo Credit: ABC/CAROL KAELSON; James Bridges/Relativity Media

The two-time Dancing With the Stars champ left the ABC show in 2008 to pursue a music career. She released a country album that year and returned to compete on one more season of DWTS before turning her focus to acting. She landed her first major film role in the 2010 musical Burlesque and has gone on to appear in the musicals Footloose and Rock of Ages. Her upcoming film projects include the non-musical Safe Haven, an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel that's set to hit theaters Feb. 14.
Jamie Chung

Image Credit: Photo Credit: MTV; Universal Pictures

Chung launched her career in entertainment in 2004 when she was cast in MTV's The Real World: San Diego; the following year she competed on Real World/Road Rules Challenge. She went on to guest-starring small roles in Veronica Mars and ER and a multiepisode stint on Days of Our Lives before landing her first leading role in the ABC Family miniseries Samurai Girl in 2008. Since then, she has appeared in such movies as Premium Rush, Sucker Punch, Sorority Row and The Hangover Part II. She currently recurs as Mulan on ABC's Once Upon a Time.
Jacinda Barrett

Image Credit: Photo Credit: MTV; Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network

Barrett is another Real World alum, having been part of the MTV show's fourth-season cast in London. She later landed roles in short-lived TV series including Citizen Baines and D.C. before appearing in such movies as Ladder 49, The Human Stain, Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason and Poseidon. She recently appeared in two episodes of USA's Suits along with her husband, actor Gabriel Macht, and next appears in ABC's upcoming series Zero Hour.
Analeigh Tipton

Tipton, a former competitive figure skater, also competed on cycle 11 of The CW's America's Next Top Model, coming in third place, in 2008. After her cycle ended, she modeled for a few years while also scoring her first acting gig, a guest-starring role on CBS' The Big Bang Theory. She later landed roles in the films The Green Hornet and Crazy, Stupid, Love and the HBO series Hung. Next up, she has a role in the zombie romance Warm Bodies, which hits theaters Feb. 1.
David Giuntoli

Giuntoli is yet another MTV alum. He got his start in 2003 on Road Rules and went on to compete in The Challenge the following year. He then turned to acting with guest-starring roles on a slew of shows, including Ghost Whisperer, Veronica Mars, Nip/Tuck and Grey's Anatomy, before landing a starring role as Nick Burkhardt on NBC's Grimm.
Yaya DeCosta

DeCosta (who began using the name Yaya Alafia after her June 2012 marriage to Joshua Bee Alafia) was the runner-up on cycle three of America's Next Top Model in 2004 and went on to appear as a model in ads for several major companies. In 2005, she landed her first acting gig with a guest role on Eve and went on to recurring roles in All My Children and Ugly Betty. She has since appeared on House as well as in films including Tron: Legacy, In Time and The Kids Are All Right.
Lucy Hale

On the heels of American Idol's success, Fox launched American Juniors, which featured younger competitors, in 2003. It lasted only one season, with Hale as part of the group that was formed with the top five finalists. But the multihyphenate soon turned to acting with guest roles in Drake & Josh, The O.C., American Family and How I Met Your Mother. Her first regular role came in NBC's short-lived Bionic Woman reboot in 2007, and she made her big-screen debut the following year in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Two years later, she co-starred on The CW's Privileged, but she's found her biggest success to date playing Aria on ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars.
Josh Henderson

Viewers of TNT's Dallas might not realize that Henderson competed on the second season of WB's Popstars, where he won a spot in the pop group Scene 23 in 2001. He went on to land a recurring role on NBC's Days of Our Lives before popping up on Ashlee Simpson's MTV reality show as he was dating her at the time. He later was cast in recurring roles on FX's Over There, ABC's Desperate Housewives and The CW's 90210 before landing the role of John Ross Ewing, son of J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), on the Dallas reboot.

Emma Stone

NeNe Leakes

Jennifer Hudson

Katharine McPhee

Julianne Hough

Jamie Chung

Jacinda Barrett

Analeigh Tipton

David Giuntoli

Yaya DeCosta

Lucy Hale

Josh Henderson