Fame Is Easy, Acting Is Hard

After selling 20 million albums, OutKast's Andre 3000 went to Hollywood, where his name opened doors. But to become Andre Benjamin, actor, he had to sweat--buckets

A few days after André Benjamin--known musically as Andre 3000, the wig-wearing, Hey Ya!--singing half of the multiplatinum duo OutKast--moved to Los Angeles to become an actor, he ran into the film director John Singleton at a health-food restaurant. OutKast had contributed a song to the sound track of Singleton's Higher Learning, and the two talked amiably until Benjamin mentioned that he was trying to break into movies. "When he said, 'I really want to get into this acting thing,' I just smiled politely," says Singleton of the 2002 conversation. "I didn't take him seriously at all because frankly, every rapper...

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