(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Wed 29 October 2025 21:49, UK
One of the easiest ways to gauge how good or bad an actor is at their job is by looking at how many awards they’ve either been nominated for or won, which paints a damning picture of Madonna.
Yes, she scooped a Golden Globe for ‘Best Actress – Musical or Comedy’ in Evita for a performance that was undeniably impressive, which also gives her the unique distinction of having a 100% success rate at major awards ceremonies, since she emerged victorious the only time her acting has been shortlisted.
However, that doesn’t come close to telling the full story. No female actor has ever won more Razzies than the ‘Queen of Pop’, who’s right up there with Sylvester Stallone and Adam Sandler as the most decorated stars in the history of the Razzies, claiming nine prizes from 16 nominations.
There’s also the unavoidable fact that science dubbed her the single worst on-camera performer in cinema history, so it’s not unfair or untrue to suggest that Madonna is hardly the second coming of Katharine Hepburn. Mercifully, she realised that, and saved audiences even more pain by drawing a permanent line under her association with thespianism.
She’s pop music royalty and one of its most iconic and innovative figures, but she was always better at her day job. Her filmography hasn’t been a total washout, though, with Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own one of the highlights. It’s comfortably one of her better turns, even if Madonna’s reputation preceded her to such an extent that Debra Winger quit the cast after finding out she’d been hired.
It wasn’t an easy decision, either. The three-time Academy Award-nominated An Officer and a Gentleman, Terms of Endearment, Urban Cowboy, and A Dangerous Woman star spent three months training with the Chicago Cubs in preparation for her role as Dottie Hinson, which was eventually filled by Geena Davis just four weeks before the start of principal photography.
When she caught wind of Madonna’s casting, Winger told Marshall that she hadn’t signed on to make “an Elvis film,” and thanks to the small print, she still got paid. “The studio agreed with me because it was the only time I ever collected a pay-or-play on my contract,” she told The Telegraph. “In other words, I collected my pay even though I did not play, and that’s very hard to get in a court.”
A League of Their Own would go on to become one of the most beloved sports movies of its time, even if Winger wasn’t entirely convinced of its merits. “As entertaining as it was, you don’t walk away going, ‘Wow, those women did that,’” she added. “You kind of go, ‘Is that true?’”
Offering faint praise to Davis, she thought her replacement “did OK” in her absence, but she didn’t even try to sugar-coat what she thought of Madonna’s work: “I think her acting career has spoken for itself.” She’s got a point, and there are nine Razzies to prove it, and the mere thought of co-starring with the songstress was enough to convince Winger that she was better off without the picture.
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