Over the years, Taylor Swift has dabbled in television and film work. (And ultimately has plans to make her feature directorial debut in the future.) Famously, though, there’s one part she auditioned for which she did not receive — Eponine in the Tom Hopper-directed Les Miserables.
In an interview with Graham Norton in 2022, Swift hilariously recounts the process. “I was auditioning for two roles in Les Mis and I had done a few auditions and gone to New York and whatever. I think it had been established that I had more of the look of Cosette, but I had the range vocally of Eponine. So it was established that I was there for a good time, not a long time,” she explained. “But they were like, ‘You know, do you want to come to London for one last screen test? And you’ll get to screen test with Eddie Redmayne.’ And I’m like, ‘This sounds like an experience I want to have in my life.”
“I get there and they are like, ‘OK, so we really want to make you look like Eponine.’ She wasn’t, like, loaded. She had brown teeth, she didn’t have a lot of money,” she continued. “So they are like, ‘We’re actually going to paint your teeth brown for this,’ and I’m like, ‘So you’re going to do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne, right? That’s not something you do before, I get to meet people and then you do the brown teeth.’ They’re like, ‘No no, everybody’s going to meet you with the brown teeth and we’re going to do big circles under your eyes, like you’re near death.’ I was like, ‘This has immediately become a nightmare for me.’”
And although she wasn’t cast, she has other credits to her name, before and since. Below, scroll through all of her screen roles, ranked.
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Amsterdam
Year: 2022
Role: Liz MeekinsAs the daughter of a murdered senator, Swift’s character gets killed off by a hitman who pushed her into oncoming traffic while she was talking to the lawyer and doctor hired to investigate her father’s death. It is a very memorable death scene.
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The Lorax
Year: 2012
Role: AudreyAn expanded character not in Dr. Seuss’ original tale, Swift is sweet as the voice of Audrey, the crush of the main hero who wants to fulfill her dream of seeing a real tree.
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Cats
Year: 2019
Role: BombalurinaSwift playfully stars as the flirtatious cat who sings “Macavity” in the adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. (She even wrote an original track for the movie with Webber, “Beautiful Ghosts.”) And we know how much she loves the feline species.
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Valentine’s Day
Year: 2010
Role: FeliciaThe intertwining stories of many couples in the lead-up to the holiday find Swift innocently cute as teen Felicia in the throes of young, high-school love.
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CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Year: 2009
Role: Haley JonesFor her first-ever role, Swift evolves from inquisitive teen to troubled goth throughout the episode “Turn, Turn, Turn” of the long-running TV crime drama. And spoiler alert: It eventually ends in her death by her adoptive mother.
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Hannah Montana: The Movie
Year: 2009
Role: HerselfSwift cameos in the Disney film to perform “Crazier” at a barn party – and she’s always captivating at that.
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The Giver
Year: 2014
Role: RosemaryIn the screen version of Lois Lowry’s dystopian YA novel, Swift briefly plays the titular character’s daughter, who was chosen to be the “receiver of memory” for the society, but left unable to cope with the painful things she learns. It’s a small part, yet haunting and emotional.
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New Girl
Year: 2013
Role: ElaineShe almost said “speak now.” As Elaine, Swift attends the would-be arranged wedding of main character CeCe and Shivrang. However, the groom stops the ceremony and confesses his love for Elaine, and the pair runs off together. It’s like she — and not the New Girl writers — created Elaine from her music.
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All Too Well: The Short Film
Year: 2021
Role: Her, later onBoth music video and short film — as the title implies — Swift masterfully plays an older and world-wiser version of Sadie Sink’s young lover.
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