5 Stars Were Considered for Lady Gaga's Lead Role in 'A Star Is Born,' Including 1 the Studio Couldn't Afford

Lady Gaga won her first Oscar playing up-and-coming singer/songwriter Ally Maine alongside Bradley Cooper in 2018′s A Star is Born. Interestingly, she beat out several other famous pop stars to book the role.

A Star is Born signified the first time that Mother Monster took the lead in a blockbuster. She landed a nomination for Best Actress at the 2019 Oscars and snagged the award for Best Original Song at the ceremony. Arguably, her performance set her up for future roles, like her forthcoming one in the new Joker sequel.

While she’s iconic in the role, some fans might not be aware that A Star is Born is a movie that had already been made three times before Lady Gaga was cast. The first version of the movie was released in 1937 and starred Janet Gaynor; the second came out in 1954 with Judy Garland in the lead. Barbra Streisand took center stage in the version of the movie released in 1976.

A fourth version of A Star is Born had been in the works for years with various talent associated with it by the time that Gaga was cast. That included five other female vocalists who could have landed the starring role. One of them was even attached to the movie at least twice, with reports suggesting that she wasn’t selected because the studio couldn’t afford her asking price.

Who were they and what happened that led to them being overlooked? We did all the digging!

Scroll through all of the musical acts that were considered for Lady Gaga’s part in A Star Is Born…