Wiz Khalifa
Wiz Khalifa is an actor, born 1987.
Pittsburgh had no rap industry to speak of, which is the fact the whole Wiz Khalifa career was built against. Cameron Thomaz was born in Minot, North Dakota and raised in Pittsburgh, and he came up the bottom of the independent ladder: the local label Rostrum, a 2006 debut album called Show and Prove, a short and unproductive joint venture with Warner Bros., and a first small hit in 2008 with the Eurodance-flavoured Say Yeah. The Atlantic deal and the run of hits that followed came out of that patience.
The screen career is a different and much smaller thing, and this page is honest about it. Most of these credits are him appearing as himself, on talk shows, panel shows, a cooking show and a concert film. That is a description of what a famous musician's filmography looks like rather than a criticism of one.
The exceptions are worth noticing. In Dickinson he plays Death, and the joke works because he underplays it; the part wants calm rather than menace, and calm is something he is genuinely good at. In Spinning Gold he plays George Clinton, which is casting by vibe and mostly comes off. Mac and Devin Go to High School is the one film here with him at the centre of it, and it is exactly what the title promises.
Movies (5)
TV (6)
Music (1)
Where to start with Wiz Khalifa
Start with Dickinson. It is the only thing here that uses him as an actor rather than as a guest, and the performance is genuinely good: playing Death as an unhurried, faintly amused presence is a harder note than it sounds, and he holds it. Watch a couple of his episodes before anything else on the page.
Spinning Gold next if you want him carrying a real character in a period piece, and Mac & Devin Go to High School if you want the stoner comedy version of his public image, which is the honest answer for most people. Duncanville is a decent animated sitcom with him in a small voice role.
The rest is appearance television. Ridiculousness and Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party are pleasant background, and Taylor Swift: The 1989 World Tour - Live is a concert film with a guest spot. Come for the music first and the acting second.