5 Best Celebrity Cameos In GTA Games, Ranked

The "Grand Theft Auto" series was able to get minor celebrities to appear in its games from the very beginning, but they were initially only as voices in phone calls and DJs for the radio stations. It wouldn't be until the games went 3D that big name actors began playing characters that actually appeared on screen with the likes of Michael Madsen, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, and more adding their names and voices to various "GTA" titles.

But for the first decade or so of the "GTA" series, celebrities actually playing themselves was strictly limited to those aforementioned voice-only roles and not appearing as a physical avatar on screen in any way. That changed in a big way with 2006's "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories," when a certain musician played himself across multiple missions. Since then, more and more celebrities have been willing to play versions of themselves in basically every "GTA" game released since. 

Here, we rank the five best instances of those cameo appearances, chosen for how fun and surprising they were and how much they were given to do as characters. Again, we only considered the ones who actually appeared onscreen as avatars that also used their likeness — and in most cases, a mocapped performance — rather than only hearing their voices. 

Mladen Solomun, known simply as Solomun, is a DJ and producer who became famous for his Ibiza residencies and his influence on the modern EDM scene. If you've seen that legendary clip that has circulated social media for years of a DJ and a woman hilariously dancing in the exact same way without either one of them planning or realizing it, that's Solomun and his sister. And he would join the "Grand Theft Auto" universe as himself as part of "Grand Theft Auto Online" and its After Hours content pack in 2018. After Hours tasked players with opening a nightclub and booking famous, real-life DJs to play there.

All the DJs play themselves, and include not only Solomun but also The Black Madonna, Dixon, and duo Tale Of Us, along with various members of each one's entourage that encompass both real and fictional people. However, we went with Solomun not only because he's arguably the most mainstream famous of the featured DJs, but he also has the most substantial presence in the game outside of just his DJ set and the interactions associated with it; he has to take over landing a private jet when the pilot passes out. Additionally, he has the biggest entourage, including his real-life manager, business partner, and several other colleagues and associates, all playing themselves. 

Though folk mountain dancer D. Ray White was initially only a cult figure in and around his native West Virginia in the '70s and '80s, his notoriety grew after being the subject of several documentaries about his infamous and often troubled family. His son, Jesco White, followed in his father's footsteps by also making a name for himself as a mountain dancer and was likewise featured in several documentaries — the most famous of which, "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia," was released in 2009 and was co-produced by Johnny Knoxville through MTV Studios.

In fact, Jesco White would subsequently became famous enough to be asked by Rockstar to be the DJ, as himself, for the Rebel Radio country station in "Grand Theft Auto V." But that's not all. In one of the hidden details you might have missed in "GTA 5," you can actually encounter Jesco in person, performing his family's signature dancing style. If you go to the small village near the North Alamo Pier, which is located along the northern shore of the Alamo Sea, you can find Jesco near a boombox dancing 24-7 to the song "If You Wanna Get To Heaven Tonight" by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Legendary rapper and producer Dr. Dre has long been a fixture in the world of "Grand Theft Auto," with multiple songs on the soundtracks of "San Andreas" and "GTA 5" both as a solo artist and a member of N.W.A. Not to mention how much "San Andreas" itself was inspired by the same West Coast hip hop culture of the early '90s that Dre's music and public persona were at the epicenter of. But with the "GTA Online" content update The Contract, Dre took his involvement with the franchise to a whole other level.

As with After Hours, several musical figures lent their voice and likeness to versions of themselves in The Contract — Dre, DJ Pooh, Anderson .Paak, sound engineer Lola Romero, and record executive Jimmy Iovine. It should be noted that Dre, DJ Pooh, and Iovine had also appeared in the Cayo Perico Heist update, but The Contract was pretty much the Dr. Dre show. Not only does he play the central figure of the update with a major role across the entire collection of missions, he even contributed six brand new tracks to the game. And those tracks feature not only his fellow "GTA" co-stars but also the likes of Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Busta Rhymes.

This clearly wasn't just a few days of mocap and dialogue recording for an easy paycheck — Dre was obviously passionate about this collaboration and gave it his full creative attention. 

Up until "Grand Theft Auto 4," the vast majority of real celebrities who had played themselves in previous entries had been those involved in music in some capacity. "GTA 4" marked a significant shift in that approach, primarily through the real-life comedians who played themselves as such doing comedy acts both on television broadcasts within the game and live at the Split Sides comedy club. Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais serve this function in the main game of "GTA 4," while Frankie Boyle was added for the DLC pack The Lost and Damned.

Boyle is significantly more famous in Europe than he is anywhere else, which is why we didn't lead with him. And Gervais's set leans a little too heavily on cheap, button-pushing jokes that are meant to shock as much as they are to amuse. (He has an extended routine dedicated entirely to cancer and AIDS, which even for "GTA" just feels in poor taste.) But Williams not only had the best and most creative set of the three overall, but he included a lot more references to Liberty City itself, feeling more like he was a comedian actually performing there versus a comedian just appearing in a "GTA" game.

And while this speaks to his actual comedy style in comparison to the other two, Williams' more animated motion performance felt much more committed than Gervais's, who mostly just paced around the stage with minimal extra movement and probably could've gotten away with not even being mocapped in the first place. 

Phil Collins showing up as himself in "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories" felt like a huge deal at the time: a musician playing himself in the game not just as a DJ, but to both give an in-game musical performance as well as record dialogue and be involved in several non-musical cutscenes. It's arguable that none of the other cameos on this list happen — especially the musicians — without this one.

In fact, Rockstar knew Collins' participation in "Vice City Stories" was special, prominently including footage of the musician both on stage and delivering dialogue in trailers for the game. Collins was a perfect fit for the game for multiple reasons, the most obvious being how large both his solo music and his output with Genesis loomed over the '80s. But there is also a more specific pop culture connection, one that follows along from "Miami Vice" star Philip Michael Thomas originating the Lance Vance character in "GTA: Vice City" before reprising him in "Vice City Stories."

In addition to Collins' track "In the Air Tonight" playing during an iconic moment in the pilot episode of "Miami Vice" (helping to set the entire tone for the hit show), Collins also acted in an episode of "Miami Vice." So playing himself in "Vice City Stories," once again sharing a credit with Philip Michael Thomas, and giving an in-game concert in which he performs "In the Air Tonight," felt like a full circle pop culture moment.