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A Look At Rihanna's Illustrious Acting Career

Reid Nakamura |
March 27, 2015 | 4:24 p.m. PDT

Film Editor

Rihanna stars in the Dreamworks picture "Home" (Twitter/@CBR)
Rihanna stars in the Dreamworks picture "Home" (Twitter/@CBR)
Rihanna is a very busy woman. 

With seven albums in the last decade and another on the way, it’s hard to imagine she has time to do anything other than record music. But a renaissance woman like Rihanna isn’t going to be pigeonholed as just a musician. 

She’s taken a few detours into acting over the years, and this weekend she’s scored her first leading role in the Dreamworks animated feature “Home” with Jim Parsons. Let’s take a look at some of her more notable turns as an actress:

“Bring It On: All or Nothing” (2006)

As is common for musicians, one of Rihanna’s first acting gigs was playing herself. Though she was mostly brought in to sing a song for Hayden Panettiere and Solange to cheer-dance to, she also to deliver a few lines. The part wasn’t big enough to make Rihanna’s IMDB page, but everyone has to start somewhere.

And her appearance birthed a wonderful music video for “Pon de Replay” that on its own would be enough to make the part worth remembering.

READ MORE: 5 Artists Who Need To Release A New Album

“Battleship” (2012)

Rihanna’s first major role, though, was in everyone’s favorite board game adaptation not named “Clue.” To the casual moviegoer, Rihanna’s supporting role might have seemed like nothing more than stunt casting. 

But to Rihanna the Actress, “Battleship” was a major turning point in her career. It was a big summer blockbuster with big-name stars like Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgard. She was hitting it big.

“This Is the End” (2013)

Unfortunately “Battleship” was pretty widely panned, and Rihanna was even awarded a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress for her part. But she wasn’t going to let that keep her down.

She bounced back by playing herself again, but this time an exaggerated version of herself in Seth Rogen’s apocalypse movie, “This Is the End.” The bit part wasn’t very substantial, but she was able to make the most out of slapping Michael Cera and falling to her death.

“Annie” (2014)

The remake of the beloved musical was packed with big names, with everyone from Bobby Moynihan to Sia making cameos.

Rihanna appears in the movie-within-a-movie “MoonQuake Lake,” in which a half-fish girl from the moon (Mila Kunis) falls in love with a human (Ashton Kutcher). She plays some sort of toothy alien creature who communicates via FaceTime. She nails it.

READ MORE: Film Review: 'Insurgent'

"Home" (2015)

Though it's an animated movie and Rihanna doesn't actually appear on screen, "Home" is her first time in a leading role. Whether or not this is a serious foray into acting remains to be seen, but it's hard to deny that Rihanna the Actress has come a long way.

"Home" hits theaters March 27.

Reach Film Editor Reid Nakamura here. Follow him on Twitter here.



 

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