Madonna filmography
has worked in twenty-six feature films, ten 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. 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. Madonna followed it with a leading role in the adventure drama Shanghai Surprise, with her then-husband, actor Sean Penn. The film was panned by critics, and Madonna received her first Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. Her next films such as Who's That Girl and Bloodhounds of Broadway were critical and commercial failures. In 1986, she made her theatrical debut in David Rabe's Goose and Tom-Tom and her first commercial for Mitsubishi in Japan. 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 Due to the controversy surrounding the song's music video, the commercial was revoked and her contract with Pepsi-Cola was cancelled.
In 1990, Madonna starred as Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy, directed by Warren Beatty and based on Chester Gould's comic strip. She received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress. Beatty later appeared in her 1991 documentary, , which showed behind the scenes of her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. It was the highest-grossing documentary of all time at that point. She also received positive reviews for her role in A League of Their Own, which was centered on a women's baseball team during World War II. In 1993, Madonna starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence, which performed poorly at the box office. Her subsequent films saw Madonna take on smaller roles, including a singing telegram girl in Blue in the Face, a witch in Four Rooms, and a phone sex company owner in Spike Lee's Girl 6. Madonna starred as Eva Perón in the 1996 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita. Her performance was acclaimed by critics and won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Madonna was again received negatively for her leading role as Abbie in John Schlesinger's film The Next Best Thing. Her first big screen collaboration with her then-husband director Guy Ritchie was Swept Away. A remake of Lina Wertmüller's Italian film of the same name, it was as a commercial and critical failure. Swept Away was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards, winning five, including Worst Actress for Madonna. She had a cameo appearance in the James Bond film Die Another Day, and sang its theme song. The next year, Madonna appeared in the television sitcom Will & Graces episode "Dolls and Dolls". 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. The latter was honored with a Do Something Award by VH1. 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. 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. Madonna's acting career has attracted a largely negative reception from critics. Stephanie Zacharek from Salon stated: " seems wooden and unnatural as an actress, and it's tough to watch, because she's clearly trying her damnedest."
Feature films
| Indicates cameo appearance |
Short films
| Title | Year | Credit | Role | Director | Medium | |
| 1992 | Herself | VHS | ||||
| 2001 | Actress | Superstar | Internet | |||
| Confessions on a Promo Tour | 2005 | Appearance | Herself | AOL | ||
| Confessions Tour: Behind the Scenes | 2006 | Appearance | Herself | DVD | ||
| Sticky & Sweet Tour: Behind the Scenes | 2010 | Appearance | Herself | DVD | ||
| Inside the DNA of MDNA | 2012 | Appearance | Herself | YouTube | ||
| secretprojectrevolution | 2013 | BitTorrent | ||||
| Qandeel Baloch: A Very Short Story | 2016 | Narrator | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | YouTube | ||
| Her-Story | 2017 | Actress | Luigi & Iango | Internet | ||
| World of Madame X | 2019 | Appearance | Herself | Nuno Xico | Amazon Prime |
Theatrical plays
Television
| Title | Year | Episode | Credit | Role | Creator | |
| Saturday Night Live | 1985 | "Madonna/Simple Minds" | Actress | |||
| Saturday Night Live | 1986 | "Sigourney Weaver/Buster Poindexter" | Actress | Herself | ||
| Saturday Night Live | 1991 | "Delta Burke/Chris Isaak" | Actress | Herself | ||
| Saturday Night Live | 1992 | "Roseanne & Tom Arnold/Red Hot Chili Peppers" | Actress | |||
| Saturday Night Live | 1993 | "Harvey Keitel/Madonna" | Actress | |||
| Will & Grace | 2003 | "Dolls and Dolls" | Actress | Liz | ||
| 30 Days Until I'm Famous | 2004 | Television film | Executive producer | |||
| Alyx | 2008 | Television film | Executive producer | |||
| Saturday Night Live | 2009 | "Ryan Reynolds/Lady Gaga" | Actress | Herself | ||
| Saturday Night Live | 2013 | "Jimmy Fallon/Justin Timberlake" | Actress | Herself |