Apart from being one of the most successful rappers in history, Tupac Shakur was also a very talented actor. Unfortunately, his career abruptly ended after he got shot and killed on the Las Vegas Strip in September of the year 1996, just a few months after his 25th birthday.
This means that all of the movies with Tupac Shakur in this list were shot when he was still in his early twenties. We can only imagine what kind of a career he would have had if his life hadn’t been taken way too early.
It’s fair to conclude that he was a diamond in the rough as an actor who was on his way to becoming an established name in Hollywood. Let’s check out some of his best movies!
1. Tupac Shakur in Juice (1992)
Juice is a movie about 4 Harlem teenagers who try to pursue a fast life, which they refer to as “The Juice.” Tupac portrays a character named Bishop in this movie, a guy who allows his criminal mind to take over. Tupac’s reputation after this movie took a turn for the worse as many people believed he was the same thug as Bishop, something that didn’t help him in his personal life.
2. Poetic Justice (1993)
In Poetic Justice, Tupac stars together with Janet Jackson and pretty much plays the exact opposite character as in Juice. He portrays a guy named Lucky who is responsible and doing whatever he can to make his life better in a legal way. It pretty much shows the extreme versatility of Tupac and again reflects the way he was in his own life. That’s why Arsenio Hall once mentioned that there are really “Two Tupac’s.”
3. Above The Rim (1994)
Above the Rim is the story of a promising basketball player as he struggles to try and become successful. Tupac portrays the role of Birdie, the brother of Kyle Lee Watson’s friend and a powerful drug dealer. It’s again a role that shows the other side of Tupac, that of a street thug, a role he pretty much embodied because he saw these types of situations first-hand in his personal life.
4. Tupac Shakur in Gridlock’d (1997)
Gridlock’d is a movie in which Tupac portrays the role of Spoon, the friend of Stretch, played by Tim Roth, who checks himself into a government detox program after one of his friends dies of an overdose. Things don’t work out as they intended as they are chased by both the police and drug dealers in an attempt to straighten up their lives. This movie has often been described as one of Tupac’s best performances, a clear indication of how big of an actor he could have become eventually.
5. Criminal Intent (1997)
Criminal Intent is a movie that was originally known as “Gang Related” and tells the story of two corrupt cops who accidentally murder an undercover DEA Police Officer, and the subsequent events of them trying to cover up their crime. Tupac and Jim Belushi play the roles of the cops who try to frame a homeless man to take the fall as they do whatever they can to keep the truth from coming out. When asked about his audition to portray a cop, Tupac simply mentioned that he has seen more crooked cops in his life than anybody else, something that made him the perfect fit for the role!
Are you ready to dive into some of the best movies with Tupac Shakur yet?
Just a second! Tupac had a short but exciting life, and apart from multiple best-selling albums and top-grossing movies, multiple interesting documentaries were made about it.
The best in our opinion is “Tupac: Resurrection” (2003) a documentary in which he explains his entire life in his own words. In the video below you can get a sneak preview of his remarkable story:
