Once Riley Green saw a fellow country music star shining in television, he wanted to see if he could pull it off too.
The country star with multiple No. 1 Hits stays plenty busy with his music career. But like many singer-songwriters in the genre before him, Green has been intrigued by the thought of trying out an acting career. He fortunately got that opportunity thanks to his friendship with artist and actor, Luke Grimes.
Riley Green and the star from Yellowstone and the new spinoff, Marshals, were apparently writing in Nashville when the “Worst Way” singer brought up acting. From then on, the actor behind Kayce Dutton helped Green every step of the way, even reading opposite of Riley when he read for his part.
There were some headlines about Riley Green having to basically audition for the part that was written for him. But Green didn’t think it was strange that they made him read for his part, and he was actually happy to do so. And the country singer apparently did enough, because he landed the role as Garrett in a four-episode arc on the show.
He’s grateful that he got to be a part of the series, as he told Decider:
“I was so lucky that my intro into acting was a show I got to do with somebody that not only I’m great friends with, but someone that’s that talented. You can’t help but learn when you are around something like that. I love that it happened organically like that. Just two guys talking about something they’d like to try doing.”
As to why Riley Green got the acting bug, he believes that it was another country music star that paved the way for him… or at the very least, inspired him to try it out.
Like many others, Riley Green is a fan of everything Taylor Sheridan. He’s watched pretty much every show and movie that the Yellowstone creator has put out there, and Green really connected with the Yellowstone prequel 1883, which starred Tim McGraw:
“I think I watched everything that was out like everybody else did. Certainly all of the Taylor Sheridan shows and movies I’ve seen over the years have something pretty special sprinkled on them or they wouldn’t be doing what they are doing. In ‘1883,’ seeing how good Tim McGraw was in that, that’s probably what got me interested in acting.”
Riley Green has also had the luxury of picking McGraw’s brain over the years.
They’ve become friends, and once Green realized that Tim McGraw had to learn how to be an actor, he knew he wanted to give the acting thing a shot:
“I’ve gotten to know Tim over the years, and I think I had in my head that acting was something you were born able to do. You went to drama and theater class, and I didn’t do that. I was playing three sports through school and doing construction work. When I realized that it was something that Tim learned, and certainly learned well. He’s one of my favorites in that show. I think it gave me an idea that it was maybe something I should try.”
Not only did he get to try it… he successfully pulled off his first acting role, and fans are getting to see Riley Green’s debut as Marshals continues to air. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, now that Riley Green has dipped his toes into acting, he’s interested in doing even more.
You can hear Riley Green talk more about his acting experience, and how Tim McGraw was his inspiration, in the interview below:
