Rihanna (birthname:
Robyn Rihanna Fenty) may be one of the most dynamic creative forces in pop music, but she has also acted in theatrical feature releases since her first on-screen appearances in a role in the Hasbro Studios-produced sci-fi action movie based on Hasbro’s board game,
Battleship (2012), starring Taylor Kitsch,
Liam Neeson,
Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Tadanobu Asano and Hamish Linklater under Peter Berg’s direction, but which lost money for Hasbro and distributor Universal Pictures, grossing only $303 million globally against an estimated $220 million costs.
Rihanna was cast in her first voice role as a co-star in DreamWorks Animation’s sci-fi comedy,
Home (2015), based on Adam Rex’s 2007 children’s book,
The True Meaning of Smekday, starring the voices of Jim Parsons, Steve Martin, Matt Jones and
Jennifer Lopez under Tim Johnson’s direction, and released by
20th Century Fox to a fair $386 million return on $135 million costs.
Rihanna co-starred in her second live-action role in director/writer
Luc Besson’s sci-fi movie,
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), with the eclectic cast of Dane DeHaan, Cara Delavingne, Clive Owen,
Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu and Rutger Hauer, co-produced by entities in France, U.S., China, Germany, Belgium and the UAE, but losing money with a mere $226 million global box office on $209 million expenses.
Rihanna joined the starry all-female ensemble of director/co-writer Gary Ross’s successful spinoff for Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures of the
Ocean’s trilogy,
Ocean’s 8 (2018), starring
Sandra Bullock,
Cate Blanchett,
Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson,
Awkwafina, Helena Bonham Carter and Dakota Fanning, grossing $298 million worldwide (on a $70 million budget).
Rihanna had her biggest big-screen role to date as the lead Smurfette in Paramount Animation’s reboot,
Smurfs (2025), directed by
Chris Miller and co-starring James Corden, Nick Offerman,
JP Karliak, Daniel Levy, Amy Sedaris,
Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Kurt Russell and John Goodman, and released by Paramount Pictures.
Rihanna received an Oscar nomination in 2023—not for an on-screen performance—but for her original song, “Lift Me Up,” for the mega-hit Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure sequel,
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), directed and co-written by
Ryan Coogler.