These days, it’s hardly unusual to see musicians stepping into acting roles—just look at Lainey Wilson’s foray into Yellowstone or Riley Green’s seamless shift from center stage to portraying Garrett on Marshals. What remains far less common, and perhaps less readily embraced, is actors making the reverse leap from screen to stage. But that hasn’t stopped Luke Grimes from pursuing both worlds with equal ambition.
On a recent episode of Rolling Stone Nashville Now, Luke opened up about how he navigates tending to both of his passions—acting and performing—and how he experiences imposter syndrome in a world where it’s less acceptable for actors to veer off-script. As for why that narrative exists in the first place, Luke has a theory.
“I think probably what that is, if I had to guess, is music: the goal is to tell the truth about yourself; acting: the goal is to play pretend to someone else and hide behind a character. And so, if someone’s already been honest, we give them the leeway to go play pretend; and if someone’s only played pretend, we have a hard time taking them seriously as someone being honest,” he shared during the podcast sit-down.
While Luke admits to struggling with self-doubt at times during the back-and-forth of his passions, he credits his Yellowstone cast mate, singer-turned-actor Ryan Bingham, for helping him clear his head and keep going. “He was very kind to me when I was going through this. I was sort of telling him—I was like, you know, the imposter syndrome, the ‘Should I even do this? Is this going to mess everything up?’” Luke recalled. “And he just said something really simple that was super helpful. He was like, ‘Hey man, if you got good songs.’ And I was like, ‘That’s it; hold onto that.’”
Now, as Luke continues to bridge the gap between acting and music, he hopes to encourage others to fearlessly pursue their goals, even when there’s overlap. “For anyone else out there who’s thinking about, you know, trying something and it being goofy or people having a hard time taking it seriously, like, who cares? …At the end of it all, you’re not going to sit there and think, ‘Oh, I hope this person didn’t think this about me.’ You’re going to think, ‘I should have done this,’ or ‘I’m glad I did do this…’ And that’s it,” he said.
You can catch Luke on Marshals—the first season wrapped on May 24 and is available to stream on Paramount+, with the second season slated for Fall 2026. To stay up to date on his music, be sure to follow him @lukegrimes on Instagram.
