Joaquin Phoenix starred as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon portrayed wife June Carter in 2005’s “Walk The Line.” Rather than lip-sync to original recordings, Phoenix and Witherspoon sang the songs themselves. Well received by critics and the public, “Walk The Line” resulted in an Academy Award nom for Phoenix while Witherspoon won the Academy’s Best Actress honor.

One of the most successful music biopics is “What’s Love Got To Do With It” released in 1993. Hollywood’s look at the life of Tina Turner starred Angela Bassett as the singer and a pre-Matrix Lawrence Fishburne as Ike. Bassett and Fishburn received Academy Award best actress, best actor noms, respectively, but lost out to Holly Hunter in “The Piano” and Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia.”

You’ll find several music artists, living and dead, depicted in “Cadillac Records.” The 2008 flick depicts the glory days of Chess Records and includes Beyonce as Etta James, Cedric The Entertainer as legendary blues man Willie Dixon, Mos Def as Chuck Berry and Joshua Alscher and Marc Bonan as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, respectively.

“The Doors” featured Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger and a pre-Entourage Kevin Dillon as John Densmore. Directed and co-written by Oliver Stone, John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Jason Patric reportedly were, at different times, considered to play Morrison.

More than one actor took a crack at portraying Bob Dylan in Todd Hayne’s 2007 flick, “I’m Not There.” Six different actors, including Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger, played Bobby at various times in his life.

Jamie Foxx won the 2005 Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of R&B great Ray Charles. Although Charles died before the movie was released, he did live long enough to see the first edit.

Several actors have, at times, portrayed various members of The Beatles. Recently, former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston played John Lennon while Andrew Scott, Jack Morgan and Craig Cheetham played Paul, George and Ringo, respectively, in 2010’s “Lennon Naked” which aired on the BBC.

But the above clips represent only a small number of movies depicting music stars past and present and we’re sure we’ve missed your own personal favorite. But then, that’s what comment threads are for. Which films do you think excelled at depicting real-life artists and bands? Just drop your thoughts in the space provided below.