If Diddy were in Top Gun, they’d call him Hollywood.
The ever-morphing hip-hop impresario otherwise known as Sean Combs said during the taping of the Friday episode of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman that he's ready to focus on another new gig: movie star.
Combs, 38, was appearing on Late Show to plug his new ABC TV movie, A Raisin in the Sun, and told Letterman he's planning on moving to Los Angeles to focus on his budding acting career.
"Leading man kind of stuff; you know, jumping off of bridges," Combs said.
Combs billed himself as a versatile performer and said he's not averse to "making love to beautiful women" and performing "very emotional, heart-wrenching scenes."
For his acting roles so far, Combs has eschewed his myriad rap handles (Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy), and has been credited by his real name.
His involvement with Raisin in the Sun dates back to 2004, when he made his stage debut headlining a critically praised Broadway revival of the classic 1959 Lorraine Hansberry play. The production costarred The Cosby Show's Phylicia Rashad, who won a Tony for her work in the revival.
In both the stage and small-screen versions, Combs essays the role of Walter Lee Younger, a part first inhabited by the legendary Sydney Poitier. Younger is a chauffeur who dreams of one day leaving his battered Chicago tenement only to lose his money to a con man.
The Raisin Under the Sun telefilm, helmed by award-winning Broadway director Kenny Leon, reunites Combs with Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan, Bill Nunn. Also in the TV cast: ER's John Stamos.
Combs, who has previously called his work on Raisin the "greatest experience of his life," has appeared on the big screen before, most notably in bit roles in the 2001 films Made, playing an underworld kingpin terrorizing Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, and Monster's Ball, as a death-row inmate opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry.
Although he's already an accomplished rapper, producer, designer, entrepreneur and marathon man, Combs said when it comes to thespian work, he's willing to keep taking small roles to hone his skills.
"I'm going to take my time with it," he said.
A Raisin in the Sun premieres Mon., Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. on ABC.