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Cannes 2026: Why is Riley Keough, star of Butterfly James, so fascinating?
At 36, actress Riley Keough keeps taking on ambitious projects in the film industry and beyond, flirting with the worlds of fashion and music. Today, Elvis Presley’s granddaughter is the star of the film Butterfly James (2026), which premiered in Cannes. Throwback to the career of an artist with a distinctive rock aura.
By Violaine Schütz,
translation by Emma Naroumbo Armaing .
Published on 2 September 2025. Updated on 18 May 2026.
Riley Keough, a rock’n’roll aura
While many celebrities today have famous parents, such as Lily-Rose Depp, Dakota Johnson or Zoë Kravitz — a situation coined as “nepotism babies” online — Riley Keough’s upbringing remains particularly impressive overall. Elvis Presley, her grandfather, is the King of rock’n’roll and was recently the topic of a tribute biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann. Apparently, the film moved Riley Keough to tears. Her grandmother, Priscilla Presley, used to be a great actress and starred in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!.
The latter was the focus of a biopic directed by Sofia Coppola. Riley Keough’s father, Danny Keough, was a musician and her mother, singer and songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, was married to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage. These two musicians strongly participated in the girl’s education.
Coming from such a prestigious name, the brazen protagonist of Logan Lucky(2017) retains a rock aura, with her tousled mane worthy of a folk singer, a perpetually disenchanted air, and wild looks inspired by her fashion icon, Jimi Hendrix. This style made her the perfect fit to portray the lead role of Daisy in Daisy Jones & The Six, a show streaming on Prime Video that tells the journey of a fictional 70’s rock band.
A burning passion for music
Recently, she confided in Numero, saying : “I was not a real singer, but I sang along with the guys playing guitar, especially my husband (actor and stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen, ndlr). Sometimes, he softly plays guitar and I sing along shyly with him. I was aware I had a musical instinct, despite not being a professional. I had never took a singing lesson before. With Sam (Clafin, her male romantic interest on screen, ndlr), we both had to learn to sing and to play guitar from scratch. It took me months before learning how to play major chords of Daisy Jones & The Six, but it was for nothing, because in the end, no one could see me play in the show (laugh).”
However, the good sides of having a famous family do not outweigh several tragedies that affected it. In addition to the passing of her grandfather, Elvis Presley, and her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough’s brother, named Benjamin Keough, killed himself in 2020. After his passing at 27, the actress enrolled in a training session to become a death doula and help people to get through this experience.
Riley Keough, a rising fashion icon
With her light eyes, charisma and lean figure, Riley Keough’s personality quickly caught the eye of fashion designers. Starting as a model at the age of 15, the King’s granddaughter is now a Chanel ambassador and was the face of the house’s Spring/Summer 2024 campaign.
In order to seal this prestigious collaboration, she sang for the Chanel Spring/Summer ready-to-wear 2025 show at Grand Palais in Paris in October 2024, performing When Doves Cry by Prince on a swing. This suspended moment recalled Vanessa Paradis, hanging in the air in order to promote the Coco perfume in 1991.
Beforehand, she walked in a Dolce & Gabbana show and was the face of the fashion house Dior. She also attended Louis Vuitton events several times. Thanks to her bold fashion choices — she likes low-necked dresses and bold cut-outs, Riley Keough became a true fashion icon.
The star of The Girlfriend Experience
However, the actress with a sulky pout hasn’t turned her back on the film industry. She is usually drawn to complex characters and bold, violent universes, in which music, sex, and violence collide. The audience can see her in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Magic Mike (2012), or The Runaways (2010), which tells the story of Joan Jett’s rock band and stars her friend Kristen Stewart.
She has also left a mark in standout productions, like American Honey (2016), Under the Silver Lake (2018), The Devil All the Time (2020) with Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland on Netflix. Not to mention Zola (2020), a surreal road trip following two hyper-charged strippers, based on a true story that went viral on Twitter.
But her breakthrough role remains the slightly cynical call-girl that she embodied in The Girlfriend Experience (2016), produced by Steven Soderbergh. The actress, shyer in real-life, portrays Christine, a law student by day and an escort girl by night. With subtlety, she gives 100% of herself to this role. She highlights the different layers of a young, intriguing and cold woman at first, who spends her time balancing the workload at university and managing to enter luxury hotels in Chicago.
Riley Keough, an actress and a director to follow closely
The American actress never takes things for granted, despite her powerful familial legacy and badass, yet mysterious charisma. Starring in a Lars Von Trier movie, while playing in the teen show Riverdale? Easy for an actress who never stops taking risks, picking eclectic projects, far from the beaten track. After her cameo in Justin Timberlake’s music video for TKO (2013), in which she tortured the singer, dragging him on the ground while driving a car, she will soon star in several anticipated shows and movies.
In 2024, the actress appeared in the brilliant show Under the Bridge, now streaming on Netlfix, alongside Lily Gladstone. The plot of this fascinating thriller? “In 1997, Reena Virk, a high school girl, was murdered in a small town in North-West Canada. Eight high school students are suspected of committing the murder”.
Riley Keough’s upcoming projects
The American actress will soon star alongside Dakota Johnson in Cult Following, a series about the cult Children of God. Then, she will appear next to Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart in A Life In Men. Finally, she will share the screen with Melissa Barrera (Scream) in the erotic thriller The One. Riley Keough will also join Léa Seydoux and Cate Blanchett in Alpha Gang, Adrien Brody in Manodrome, and Jesse Eisenberg in the comedy Sasquatch Sunset.
In December 2025, one could see her on Netflix in Noah Baumbach’s latest feature, Jay Kelly, alongside George Clooney, Adam Sandler, and Laura Dern. The film was presented at the Venice Film Festival. Other upcoming projects? Out Of This World by Albert Serra, Rosebush Pruning with Callum Turner and Elle Fanning, and Butterfly Jam with Barry Keoghan.
A striking directorial debut
However fascinating they may be, the protagonist of Daisy Jones & The Six and the Prime Video sci-fi series The Terminal List, starring Chris Pratt, has no intention of limiting herself to interpreting other filmmakers’ visions. Jonah Hill‘s former girlfriend presented her directorial debut War Pony (2023) at the Cannes Film Festival. She co-directed the film with her producer Gina Gammell.
Selected in the category Un Certain Regard, which rewards independent movies, the feature tackles the situation on Pine Ridge reserve. This specific area in South Dakota bears the marks of Native American activism. Ambitious, adaptable and hyperactive, Riley Keough seems to have her lesson from her grandfather’s patterns… “Never wait for tomorrow, because what if tomorrow never comes ?”
Buttlerfly Jam by Kantemir Balagov has no release date yet. The film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2026.
