Madonna filmography

American entertainer Madonna has worked in twenty-six feature films (twenty-one as an actress), nine short films, three theatrical plays, ten television episodes, and appeared in sixteen commercials. In 1979, she made her acting debut in the low-budget feature A Certain Sacrifice. Its commercial release in 1985 coincided with the success of her second studio album, Like a Virgin.[1]That same year, she made a cameo appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest; she also garnered commercial and critical success for the title role in Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan.[2][3] Madonna followed it with a leading role in the adventure drama Shanghai Surprise (1986), with her then-husband, actor Sean Penn. The film was panned by critics, and Madonna received her first Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.[4] Her next films such as Who's That Girl (1987) and Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) were critical and commercial failures.[5][6] In 1986, she made her theatrical debut in David Rabe's Goose and Tom-Tom and her first commercial for Mitsubishi in Japan.[7][8] She starred in the 1989 commercial for Pepsi-Cola alongside her song "Like a Prayer". Due to the controversy surrounding the song's music video, the commercial was revoked and her contract with Pepsi-Cola was cancelled.[9]

In 1990, Madonna starred as Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy, directed by Warren Beatty and based on Chester Gould's comic strip.[10] She received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress.[11] Beatty later appeared in her 1991 documentary, Madonna: Truth or Dare, which showed behind the scenes of her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. It was the highest-grossing documentary of all time at that point.[12] She also received positive reviews for her role in A League of Their Own (1992), which was centered on a women's baseball team during World War II.[13] In 1993, Madonna starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence, which performed poorly at the box office.[14] Her subsequent films saw Madonna take on smaller roles, including a singing telegram girl in Blue in the Face (1995), a witch in Four Rooms (1995), and a phone sex company owner in Spike Lee's Girl 6 (1996).[15] Madonna starred as Eva Perón in the 1996 film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita. Her performance was acclaimed by critics and won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.[16]

Madonna was again received negatively for her leading role as Abbie in John Schlesinger's film The Next Best Thing (2000).[17] Her first big screen collaboration, with her then-husband director Guy Ritchie, was Swept Away(2002).[18] A remake of Lina Wertmüller's Italian film of the same name, it was as a commercial and critical failure.[19] Swept Away was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards, winning five, including Worst Actress for Madonna.[20] She had a cameo appearance in the James Bond film Die Another Day (2002), and sang its theme song.[21] The next year, Madonna appeared in the television sitcom Will & Grace 's episode "Dolls and Dolls".[22] In 2008, Madonna made her directorial debut with Filth and Wisdom, as well as producing and writing I Am Because We Are, a documentary on the problems faced by Malawians.[23][24] The latter was honored with a Do Something Awardby VH1.[25] Her second directorial effort, W.E., was released in 2011. A biographical film about the affair between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, the film was critically and commercially unsuccessful.[26][27] She also directed the 17-minute film secretprojectrevolution with Steven Klein in 2013. Dealing with artistic freedom and human rights, the short film was distributed by BitTorrent.[28] Madonna's acting career has attracted a largely negative reception from critics. Stephanie Zacharek from Time stated: "[Madonna] seems wooden and unnatural as an actress, and it's tough to watch, because she's clearly trying her damnedest."[19]