Among those confirmed to join "Empire" season 2 cast are musicians Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz and Ne-Yo as well as comedian Chris Rock. Supermodel Naomi Campbell is also set to reprise her role Camilla Marks.
This is not the first time for the three musicians to take an acting role. Keys made her debut as an actress in "The Cosby Show" in 1985 while Ne-Yo made his debut as an actor in "21 Jump Street" in 1987. In 2013, Kravitz appeared in Lee Daniel's "The Butler."
Months after the successful first season of "Empire" ended, Trai Byers, Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Gray who play the Lyon brothers Andre, Jamal and Hakeem in the Fox series are gracing the cover of Essence.
Speaking with the magazine's West Coast Editor Regina R. Robertson, Smollet said he reached out to Daniels in a unconventional way by jumping on Instagram and direct-messaging Daniels saying, "'Sir, I know you get this all the time, but I'm a singer, actor, dancer, songwriter and musician. I am Jamal Lyon in more ways than one."
Like his "Empire" role Jamal, Smollett is gay. Following his role's coming out as gay in the show, the actor decided to end all the gay rumors by talking to Ellen DeGeneres and admit his sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, Ilene Chaiken has recently compared "Empire" from "The L Word."
In an interview with Deadline, the "Empire" showrunner and "The L Word" creator said the latter, which was her first television show, was "a huge learning curve" for her and going forward, one of the things that she has learned is that people never stop learning.