The Best Janelle Monáe Movies

While many musicians cross over into film at some point in their careers, it’s a rare few who are actually good, and even rarer to find performers who are masters of both mediums. Janelle Monáe is one of those almost mythical performers who excel at just about any art they put their mind to; watching her stunning performance in Glass Onion is almost as delightful as listening to “Make Me Feel” — when she combines music with cinema (like the Dirty Computer short film), it’s basically magical.

Given Monáe came on the scene with an obvious flare for the theatrical — the artist’s debut full-length, 2010’s The ArchAndroid, was a concept album where Monáe cast herself as an android named Cindy Mayweather — it was only a matter of time until she immersed herself in the film industry. After first voicing a veterinarian in the animated film Rio 2, Monáe has gone on to be choosy when picking projects, a habit that’s served her well. As she continues to release outstanding work in every field she chooses (her most recent musical output, The Age of Pleasure, is streaming as of June 9), let’s celebrate by ranking some of the best movie roles she’s had so far.

7. Lady and the Tramp (2019)

Like most Disney live-action remakes, this perfectly adequate retelling of a classic animated film doesn’t bring anything fresh to the table, but it does give us the opportunity to hear Monáe sing “He’s a Tramp,” and she does so beautifully. In a movie where the audience basically knows what to expect, Monáe’s performance as the street dog Peg somehow feels novel (as does the change in setting to New Orleans and the thankfully omitted singing Siamese cats). Even though nobody would have blamed her if she aimed only for just all right, Monáe manages to make what could have been a mediocre performance into a good one.

6. The Glorias (2020)

The Glorias is a biopic of famed feminist activist Gloria Steinem, based on her memoir Life on the Road. The film takes an interesting approach, placing four different versions of Steinem on a bus together while they recount their lives. It’s endearing to hear the Glorias’ conversations with each other and a way to keep the film from becoming too predictable as it covers her life from undercover journalism to becoming a leader of the feminist movement in the 1970s and ’80s.

Anyone familiar with that movement will know Steinem wasn’t alone; friends like Florynce Kennedy and Dorothy Pitman Hughes appear in the film, played by Lorraine Toussaint and Monáe, respectively. Quite honestly, either woman deserves her own biographical film and Monáe’s scenes are far too few for how good of a performance she gives.