Line #52 Main/ThePrimaDonna


1	%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1549200308097030100
2	%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.
3	%%
4	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bart_prima_donna.png]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:"I've got [[FairWeatherFriend fair-weathered friends]] to feed."]]
6	%%
7	%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here:
8	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900
9	%%
10
11	->'''Wesley:''' She still thinks she's the god-king of the universe.\
12	'''Gunn:''' So she's like a TV star.\
13	'''Wesley:''' No, nothing that bad.
14	-->-- ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "[[Recap/AngelS05E19TimeBomb Time Bomb]]"
15
16	The Prima Donna is the AlphaBitch of show business. Her talent and beauty are matched only by her ego, and she is prone to making infuriating demands of her producers (like demanding an UnlimitedWardrobe), and God help the poor sap in a position of servitude to her. As a performer, she will make sure everyone knows it is ''her'' show and she rules the stage with an iron fist. She never considers that she may be [[WhiteDwarfStarlet past her prime]], or that her nasty attitude could be bringing down the morale of those around her. Often she'll be [[NiceCharacterMeanActor considerably meaner backstage than any of her famous roles]]. Expect her to put on a sweet facade for interviews and publicity appearances, but rumors of her real personality will always abound.
17
18	The Prima Donna is etymologically and stereotypically female, but men are just as likely to act this way, and the word's meaning gradually became less specific through overuse. It's Italian for "first lady" and [[TropeNamer originally referred]] to the lead female singer in an {{opera}} company. Evidently, enough of them embodied the traits described here that the word has gained a decidedly negative connotation. Nowadays it refers to any individual, regardless of gender or field of expertise, who is immensely talented but insufferably egotistical. The term "diva," which is Italian for "goddess" and referred to a seasoned and respected female singer, has some of the same associations with ego and entitlement, though this isn't universal, as TheDiva trope is mostly framed in a positive context.
19
20	A Prima Donna actor often causes HostilityOnTheSet. Compare ItsAllAboutMe and TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity. See also PrimaDonnaDirector, who acts much the same but is ''running'' the show rather than just acting in it. Also see {{Bridezilla}} for when it's a bride -- performer or not -- who behaves like this during her Big Day but can be a decent person most other times.
21	[[noreallife]]
22	----
23	!!Examples:
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Advertising]]
27	* A commercial for Blockbuster Video featured a rabbit and a hamster watching a Blockbuster from their pet store. The hamster says he could be a movie star. When the rabbit asks if he can act, the hamster says he can act like a movie star. He then goes on to display the very behavior of this trope.
28	-->''These are brown pellets. I specifically asked...for '''green!'''''
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
32	* Misaki from ''Anime/DeathParade'' is an actress with this type of personality. Though she's a StrugglingSingleMother who works for her kids, her two older children see her as [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]]. Misaki's attitude is the reason she was murdered. She slapped a worker of hers and the woman hit her tipping point, strangling Misaki.
33	* ''Manga/DrStone'': Lillian Weinberg's first appearance in Chapter 43 shows her whining about the cramped conditions on the space station and treating the actual astronauts like crap. It's quickly subverted, however, and she's shown to be a very down-to-Earth girl who put on that attitude as a joke.
34	* The actress Seina from ''Manga/KaijuGirlCaramelise''. She is first seen as Arata leaves his interview on the news show that she was originally scheduled to appear on that day, berating her manager Koyama for the mix-up. When Arata defends Koyama and says it's ''his'' fault for her missing her TV spot, she smacks him on the forehead with the rim of the hat she's wearing, complains about all the planning she put into appearing on the show, and then uses CrocodileTears to make him feel guilty before coercing him into talking her up to the producer of the show.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Comic Books]]
38	* Bianca Castafiore from the ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' comics, though much nicer than most examples. Still, if you don't serve her pasta "al dente", she'll upend them on the poor sap doing so, even if he's a prison guard.
39	* Rio thinks Jem from ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW'' is one of these but she's anything but. Jerrica is just bad at hiding her alter ego so she acts unintentionally unsympathetic.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
43	* Parodied in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', where a technology Prima Donna is shown to be rude but indispensable.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
47	* Eden Starling from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInAChristmasCarol'' is the self-proclaimed best songstress in London, and part of her Scrooge-like hatred of Christmas comes from the "insipid little carols" she has to sing instead of something worthy of her talents.
48	* Darla Dimple from ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' is this trope combined with EnfantTerrible: a child actress who does ''not'' tolerate getting upstaged, [[FantasticRacism especially by animals]].
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
52	%%* Lina Lamont in ''Film/SinginInTheRain''.
53	* Mike Shiner from ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'' is a classic Prima Donna actor. Mike fights Riggan's direction throughout the film, trashes the set after realizing they aren't using real alcohol and traumatizes his co-star because he thinks an impromptu sex scene will make their on stage relationship more realistic. He also steals a story Riggan told him to make himself sound better in an interview. Despite the friction, Riggan keeps him on, and they learn to work together. The casting of Norton was a bit of a cheeky ActorAllusion, because Norton is himself infamously hands-on and difficult for directors to work with if he doesn't agree with them.
54	%%* Sharpay Evans from the ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' movies, but she is more of a LovableAlphaBitch.
55	* ''Film/SharpaysFabulousAdventure'': Sharpay is utterly blown out of the water by Amber Lee Adams, the film's villain. Sharpay's an emotional teenager who could conceivably grow out of it; Amber Lee, by contrast, is a ''professional'' prima donna. Just one example: when she gets the lead role in a Broadway musical about a dog, she spends the film growing increasingly paranoid that the audience will be coming for [[JustHereForGodzilla the dog, not her]], and ultimately, on the day of the very last dress rehearsal, orders ''the entire script rewritten'' to remove the dog.
56	%%* Samantha James in ''Film/JustFriends''
57	%%* Margo Channing in ''Film/AllAboutEve''. Eve herself, by the end of the show.
58	* Norma Desmond in ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' is a WhiteDwarfStarlet who clearly used to be this. Due to her sheltered life, she still believes millions of fans are desperately eager to see her next picture.
59	* The plot of ''Film/ThankYourLuckyStars'', such as it is, involves getting GlamorousWartimeSinger Creator/DinahShore into a benefit revue while keeping her manager Eddie Cantor away from it by any necessary means.
60	-->"Well, Mr. Cantor, to be brutally frank, you have the reputation of taking over everything you participate in."
61	%%* Parodied with Helen Sinclair in ''Film/BulletsOverBroadway''.
62	%%* [[CuteButCacophonic Lena Marelli]] in ''Film/BugsyMalone''.
63	%%--> "Oscar! Oscar! I'm back! I'll give you one more chance, you hear me? I'll give you one more chance, you hear me, Oscar? Otherwise, I'm out for ''good''! Out, out, ''out''! I'm not being ''humiliated'' in this place! You know I ''am'' the star and I should be treated like it absolutely all the time!"
64	* Creator/WinonaRyder plays a stuck-up, prima-donna actress in ''Film/{{S1m0ne}}'' in a role that reeks of AdamWesting. The director eventually grows tired of her demands and replaces her with a virtual actress that he created himself. This seems to have created some humility when she returns later in awe of Simone's success.
65	* Jamila Vardek is the prima donna of the Theatre Royale in ''Film/TheClimax'', and bitterly jealous of the up-and-coming new soprano Angela Klatt. (She essentially fills the role of Biancarolli from ''Film/PhantomOfTheOpera1943'', of which this film was originally [[DivorcedInstallment intended to be sequel]].)
66	* ''Film/ShadowOfTheVampire'' is set in an AlternateUniverse where Max Schreck (the main actor in ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'') is an obnoxious and demanding Prima Donna who [[LargeHam constantly overacts]] and [[WagTheDirector hijacks the movie]] from the director, Creator/FriedrichWilhelmMurnau. Oh, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and he’s also a real vampire that eats any cast or crew members he deems to be unnecessary]].
67	* ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'': The child actor working on the film that acquired Pee-wee's bicycle is revealed to be a prima donna between takes, snarling abuse at the director and driving his costars mad, all of which evaporates when the camera is rolling.
68	* ''Film/EscapeMeNever'': The prima ballerina dancing in Sebastian's ballet throws a fit, saying that the music and the dance routine are all wrong, and she threatens to quit. She nearly derails the whole show.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Literature]]
72	* Pornstar 'Trixie Vixen' (she had it legally changed) from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. A brainless Grade-A bitch who absolutely believes that anyone that isn't her is worthless - the very last person who should have any kind of access to reality-warping magical powers. Her fellow cast-members put up with her for two reasons; 1) she's currently a very popular star, 2) she's ''currently'' a very popular star, but she's fast approaching the end of the time when she's young and good-looking enough to act in the porn business and is far too stupid to move on to direct or produce, so the more long-term workers know they won't have to put up with her much longer. [[spoiler: Unsurprisingly, as soon as she's in the room with the novel's BigBad, who also has a massive ego but is legitimately dangerous, she annoys him and he kills her without a thought.]]
73	%%* Eventually, Veda in ''Literature/MildredPierce''.
74	* Dame Timpani in ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'' is the counterpart to Carlotta in ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''[[note]]The programme calls her a diva, which Nanny Ogg thinks makes sense because [[{{Malaproper}} the singing's good training for holding your breath.]][[/note]]. Although she gets even less page time than her counterpart in the original book, it's implied she has the same dislike of Christine as Carlotta in the musical:
75	-->'''Chorus member''': Look at Dame Timpani. There's a nose in a sling if ever I saw one.\
76	'''Agnes''': She's smiling.\
77	'''Chorus member''': So does a tiger, dear.
78	* Played with in the Creator/SophieHannah novel ''The Narrow Bed'', concerning a stand-up comedian who becomes involved in a murder investigation. She has a multi-page list of demands and requirements that must be fulfilled before any contract or appearance she makes, and which gets ridiculously specific, nit-picky and highly-strung. Thing is, she actually isn't that much of a Prima Donna at all; she's just so sick of being taken advantage of by variously unscrupulous employers that she came up with the list to make sure anyone she agreed to do a gig for wasn't going to mess her about.
79	* ''Literature/WelcomeToWonderland'': [[TeenIdol Aidan Tyler]] in "Beach Party Surf Monkey" is revealed to be this in the middle of the book when he's overheard berating Gloria for letting blue [=M&Ms=] melt over his green ones.
80	* In ''Literature/WhoCensoredRogerRabbit'', Roger's celebrity wife Jessica is a humanoid toon known for her demanding attitude and back-stabbing nature.
81	* "Face" Loran in the Literature/XWingSeries makes a few cryptic references to having run into one particularly bad prima donna in his career as a child actor. It's not explained what exactly he did, but put it this way: the man ends up being Face's character reference for [[SmallNameBigEgo notoriously ego-ridden Imperial]] [[PosthumousCharacter Captain Darillian]].
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
85	%%* Vanilla Hoare in the "Scott of the [[strike:Antarctic]] Sahara" sketch from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
86	%%-->"Look, you crumb bum. I'm a star. Star, star, star!"
87	%%* Rachel Berry in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' seems to be one of these in-training.
88	* ''Series/JandaKembang'': Episode 13 is about Salmah and Rais meeting such singer, Vanya Karambol, during a filming of her music video. She argues with the director a lot and refuses to be made up unless her overly specific demands ("mountain water filtered 19 times") are fulfilled. Even her assistant is ecstatic about being fired.
89	* Creator/JamesMarsden is characterized as this in ''Series/JuryDuty''. He is unbelievably full of himself and pulls constant selfish stunts, such as hounding paparazzi at the trial in an attempt to get out of jury duty and later obtaining special treatment to return home that the other jurors do not have. He spends the entire show more focused on getting a part in the film than bonding with the others and [[spoiler:flips out when he loses the part, flipping over Ross' birthday cake in a fit of rage.]] Obviously, this is all a bit that [[AdamWesting makes fun of his perceived image as a pretty-boy actor]].
90	* ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan'': Alexi, the celebrity who happen to become the dorm residents' "[[TheFriendNobodyLikes friend]]", has a big ego. During his time starring ''Ada Azab Dalam Cerita'', Alexi keeps making selfish demands and follows his own schedule, something the director, Akbar, only tolerates because his fame is good for ratings. After the more reasonable Juna becomes a co-star, it doesn't take long before Akbar fires Alexi.
91	%%* Miss Piggy of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' often acts like this.
92	%%* Bill [=McNeil=] in ''Series/{{NewsRadio}}''.
93	* Jenna and Tracy on ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]''. Tracy often shows up extremely late or not at all and Jenna once locked herself in her dressing room because her niece drew a picture of her that made her look fat.
94	%%* Series/Batman1966: Parodied with Dawn Robbins from ''The Penguin's A Jinx'':
95	%%--> ''Oh, what a drag it is being a famous movie star and so rich. [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere Why doesn't anything exciting ever happen to me?]]''
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Music]]
99	* The singer in Music/MitchBenn's "I Want", which is a list of increasingly ridiculous demands interspersed with wondering why everyone else isn't as easy-going and patient as him.
100	-->I want thirty-seven different kinds of bottled fizzy water,\
101	I want the venue manager to offer me his daughter,\
102	Nobody can use a word like "insecurity",\
103	And everyone must rush around for me, me, me, me, me, me...
104	* "Primadonna" by Music/MarinaDiamandis is actually a [[DeconstructedTrope subtle deconstruction]]. Despite the bubbly music and haughty lyrics, there are quite a few lyrics suggesting the titular "primadonna girl" is [[BeneathTheMask not actually as happy with her life as she sounds]], with those themes being expanded on for [[ConceptAlbum the rest of the album]].
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
108	* Wrestling/ShawnMichaels was such a primadonna, in and out of the ring, on and off camera, that people largely forgot all about his {{jobber}} run in the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance, his TagTeam with Wrestling/MartyJannetty that imitated Wrestling/TheRockNRollExpress[[note]]Though people definitely remember [[Main/FaceHeelTurn Shawn breaking up the team]][[/note]] and even his stint as a GorgeousGeorge who feuded with Wrestling/RickMartel and posed for Playgirl magazine. Mostly what is remembered that Michaels was a whiny but talented wrestler who ruined the careers of several other wrestlers, quit the business, lost his smile and returned to atone for the wrongs he did after helping train several better-behaved wrestlers like Wrestling/BryanDanielson, Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick. Incidentally, Shawn sang too, [[SoBadItsGood but he wasn't any good at singing.]]
109	* MNM were a mix of this and TheBully in Ohio Valley Wrestling. They weren't exactly the most respectful group ''before'' they had got to spend time on national television, after which barging into the locker rooms of other {{tag team}}s and terrorizing non wrestling personnel became their modus operandi. Ironically on cable television they were merely portrayed as celebrity hangers-on, with Wrestling/{{Melina}} ending up more like a ruthless diva, Wrestling/JohnMorrison become a bizarre religious figure and Joey Mercury becoming obsessed with destroying Wrestling/MattHardy after Matt and Wrestling/{{Jeff\|Hardy}} destroyed his face.
110	* Lady Frost became one after winning her first title belt in Midwest Championship Wrestling, complaining the shading of her picture on promotional posters and demanding the filter on the camera be turned of while recording her promos, so fans could see how "porcelain" her skin was. Even before winning the belt she demanded her own dressing room with sparkling water and personal air conditioning.[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
113	* Miss Piggy is frequently portrayed as making huge demands on her fellow [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppets]], and automatically assuming that she has to be the star. Whether her fame and/or talent actually matches her self-opinion or she's a SmallNameBigEgo varies considerably depending on the production.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Theater]]
117	%%* Sheridan Whiteside from ''Theatre/TheManWhoCameToDinner''.
118	%%* Frieda Hatzfeld from ''Music in the Air''.
119	* Gussie in the musical ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong''. In the original play, The Prima Donna was called Althea Royce (her stage name, of course).
120	* The title character in Alban Berg's opera ''Lulu'', a renowned dancer. She feigns a fainting spell on stage when she sees her lover, Dr. Schön, in the audience with his fiancee, and refuses to continue the performance unless Dr. Schön breaks the engagement.
121	* Desiree Armfeldt in ''Theatre/ALittleNightMusic'' is a somewhat lesser version. There's only one GrandeDame in her family, and that's her mother.
122	* Dorothy Brock in ''42nd Street''. The UltimateJobSecurity which allows her to get away with this is not her talent (as she's long past her prime), but that she's the mistress of the show's sponsor. She gets over this attitude after she breaks her ankle and is forced to leave the production.
123	* ''Theatre/{{Applause}}'', being a musical version of ''Film/AllAboutEve'', has Margo and eventually Eve as this.
124	* ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'': Carlotta. She even gets a song ''called'' "Prima Donna" as the new theatre owners suck up to her and assure her that they won't let this "Opera Ghost" dictate how she should be treated; even after the Phantom humiliates her on stage and she's forced into a minor role in his ''Don Juan Triumphant'', she never lets up on this attitude.
125	-->''Prima donna, first lady of the stage\
126	Your devotees are on their knees to implore you!\
127	Can you bow out when they're shouting your name?\
128	Think of how they all adore you!\
129	\
130	Prima donna, enchant us once again!\
131	Think of your muse, and of the queues round the theatre!\
132	Can you deny us the triumph in store?\
133	Sing, prima donna, once more!''
134	* The ''Theatre/FarndaleAvenue'' plays revolve around the misadventures of an amateur dramatic society whose resident prima donna, Thelma Greenwood, is in her forties but still insists on playing the young ingenue/romantic lead in every production. In ''The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Operatic Society's Production of The Mikado'', she brings the entire show to a halt at one point because she believes she's been insulted, only agreeing to go on after the society's president mollifies her by promising her the title role in an upcoming production of ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Video Games]]
138	* Sumire of ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' is this on stage in addition to being the TeamPrimaDonna on the battlefield.
139	* Sims with the Diva trait in ''VideoGame/TheSims3'' will turn them to this. While they make very good actors, as a trade-off, this makes them far harder to be friends with and ''much'' easier to be enemies with. Only those with an Easily Impressed, Good, and/or Friendly traits can tolerate them.
140	* ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'' has the GhostPirate Cylostra Direfin. A lifetime of not only being a member of the notoriously spoiled and self-centered upper classes of Bretonnia, but also being known as the greatest singer in all of Bretonnia, possibly the greatest in the World, and so renowned that even the Phoenix King of the High Elves wanted to hear her sing, left her with quite the ego. Hell, upon her watery demise during a storm as she was on her way to Ulthuan, she was not horrified or saddened that she would meet her cruel and untimely end, but furious beyond reasoning that the greatest concert of her life was cut short. Death only made that ego mightier.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Web Original]]
144	* ''WebVideo/NightmareTime:'' Zoey Chambers is the Prima Donna of the Hatchetfield Community Players, often showing up late to rehearsal and believing she deserves to win the towns beauty pagent just by the sake of her reputation.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:Western Animation]]
148	* ''WesternAnimation/RazzberryJazzberryJam'':
149	** Billie is a downplayed example, as while she does have a large ego and is the Jazzberry who cares the most about fame and stardom, she still gets along well with her bandmates, and while she does want everything to be absolutely perfect she’s willing to put in the effort to make them perfect herself, rather than demanding other people do it for her. Her standards of perfection are also applied as much to herself as to the world around her.
150	** Bonita from “A Bonnie Tale” is a classically trained clarinet (not a clarinetist, [[AnimateInanimateObject a clarinet]]) who hates anything she considers “frivolous” (such as her brother Woody’s tendency of making up extremely improbable stories of adventures he supposedly had) and looks down on the Jazzberries for performing without sheet music. Fortunately, by the end of the episode Buddy has convinced her to lighten up.
151	** Princess Persephone from “A Royal Pain” really lives up to the episode’s title. Within minutes of her introduction, she manages to soundly out-diva Billie by taking over the latter’s room (which is apparently the only dressing room in the House Of Jam “fit for a princess”), and then she starts banning the Jazzberries one-by-one from their performance that night. She does see the error of her ways once she bans every Jazzberry and is faced with the prospect of performing completely alone, however.
152	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' features two in "[[Recap/SouthParkS4E13HelenKellerTheMusical Helen Keller: The Musical]]." The first comes in the form of a Broadway turkey named Alinicia. She enjoys being the center of attention and refuses to work with other turkeys, especially Gobbles. The second comes from Timmy, who stars as Helen Keller and in turn refuses to play his part if Gobbles isn't featured in the production.
153	* Dee in ''WesternAnimation/ProducingParker'' wants her wardrobe unlimited, drinks cold, and male assistants beefy.
154	* Uncle Croc in ''WesternAnimation/UncleCrocsBlock''. On-screen, he’s an overindulgent ham who’s always happy to be on his show, but off-screen, he wants to get out of there completely, and pursue his dream as a Hollywood actor.
155	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' had Don Prima, who cares more about his shoes than most of the characters on the show. Heck, his name is a play on this!
156	* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Queen Banana", Chloe uses her father's influence to force herself into the film that the other students are putting on, and then immediately becomes one of these, making increasingly ridiculous ([[CharacterCatchphrase utterly ridiculous!]]) demands and forcing script rewrite upon rewrite. When the prop hastily created for the villain (who she made up out of nowhere) isn't realistic enough for her liking, she decides to head home for some "beauty sleep". The students take this opportunity to shoot the film as originally written -- and without Chloe. To make things more infuriating for all involved, she had initially refused to be part of the film at all, only suddenly deciding that she needed to be the star upon realizing [[spoiler:her half-sister Zoe]] had been cast as the main heroine.
157	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ThePrimaDonna