Scott's World -- UPI Arts & Entertainment

HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Fasten your seat belts: Grammy-winning rapper Coolio has designs on becoming a movie star.

This dude from the hood gives every indication he is ready for film stardom with a new movie titled "Daredevil" headlining Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, to be released in February.

In Hollywood, recognition factor is an absolute necessity, and Coolio has that to a marked degree.

Once you see Coolio you won't forget him.

He sports about 20 spiky dreadlocks sprouting straight out from his head in a tangle of tentacles.

Man, he looks cool.

Beneath his hair Coolio has large, hooded eyes and heavy African-American features.

He also is talented. His hit single "Gangsta's Paradise" was featured on the "Dangerous Minds" movie soundtrack.

It won the Grammy in 1996 for best rap performance, solo. Subsequently Coolio toured Africa, Israel, Russia, Brazil, Australia, Turkey and Europe packing venues with screaming fans.

If a singer commands that sort of adulation, think of his possibilities in movies and TV, especially since Coolio considers himself an actor.

He has fulfilled the performer's foremost axiom: "First, get their attention."

Coolio is memorable if not unforgettable. Nobody else on earth looks like he does.

But what about the name "Coolio," aren't there enough chilled-out black performers with frigid names: Ice T, LL Cool J., Ice Cube etc.(?)

Maybe those rappers have unspectacular legitimate names. Coolio's real moniker is Artis Leon Ivey Jr., perhaps a tad uncool for a rap virtuoso.

Of his prospects as a thespian, Coolio said this week, "I've been acting for about eight years, working my way up through the ranks.

"I started just playing myself on different TV shows, whatever. Actually, I did so well in music videos people encouraged me to act.

"One day I said to myself, 'Okay, I'll try.'

"I got on a TV show, and I played a role in the movie 'Alan Smithee Film,' the first picture I did with more than three lines.

"I took it from there, taking acting lessons and studying the art and craft of acting.

"After eight years I think I'm a better than an average actor. I'm not great or anything, but I work at it.

"I know how to adapt to a role and be very natural. Of course most of my parts are bad guys."

Coolio acknowledged with a grin that his dreadlocks are his "little trademark," as is his name.

"I got the name Coolio from my neighborhood pals. My friends were making jokes about me because they thought I sounded like Julio Iglesias when I sang and played the guitar.

"I was playing 'Light My Fire' when one of my friends said, 'Who do you think you are, man? You aren't Julio Iglesias; you're Coolio Iglesias.'

"They all started laughing at me and the next thing I know everybody in my neighborhood (Compton, Calif.) is calling me Coolio, and so I just went with it."

His offbeat pseudonym has stood the rapper in good stead; once heard, the name is remembered, blending smoothly with his wild appearance.

"This will be my first year of doing really good acting roles," said Coolio, the father of six children.

"I'm the lead villain in two pictures, 'Stealin' Candy' and 'China Strike Force.'"

Actually, Coolio has appeared in 28 movies, sometimes playing himself, sometimes as a sight gag, often as a bad guy.

"I was in a kind of niche playing villain roles," he said.

He is aware that many top leading men in movies got their starts playing heavies, not the least of whom is current heartthrob Brad Pitt.

"This year I'm going to play a cop in a film, so I'll get the chance to play some good guys. It's an opportunity to show I can really act or if I'm just okay."

Coolio says he would be pleased to establish an acting career modeled on Wesley Snipes or, possibly, Denzel Washington.

"I study Wesley for his moves and his ability to deliver lines and action at the same time." he said. "I watch Denzel for his delivery and inflection.

"I don't know where it's going to go but I want to be the best actor I can be. I'm studying and doing my best to get into each character I play.

"I'm 35 and it's time for me to go for it. I've got a lot of mouths to feed. Once I do the right thing I think I'll be on my way."

The dreadlocks?

"I'll keep them as long as I'm in music," he said. "But if I concentrate on movies in the next year or so, I'll cut them off and sell 'em, giving the money to charity."