Recently, Keanu Reeves co-wrote a book with author China Miéville: The Book of Elsewhere. It had a fair bit of attention thanks to the curiosity factor of a Hollywood darling collaborating with a respected author. ArtsHub did some digging to see which other actors have penned a book – but an imaginative novel – not a ghost-written memoir about their famous and sordid lives (there are far too many of these salacious self-indulgent tales).
There are surprisingly quite a number of actor-novelists; many have published several books each. Here are 10 in case you’re interested to find out whether these multi-creatives can actually write as well as emote on screen or are they merely play acting authors?
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
Her debut, a collection of poetry called Turbulence, came out in 2020 and was released by University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). Her second collection, Decadence, was published in July 2022, also by UWAP. Her third book, Essence, will be published in 2025.
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
