Rebel’s career started on the Sydney stages in the early 2000s where she often wrote and produced her own work. This led to various television shows in Australia where she quickly became the most prominent female voice in Australian comedy. In 2008, Rebel wrote, produced, and starred in her own musical television series Bogan Pride for SBS.

In 2010 Rebel moved to the US with her role in the cult classic Bridesmaids. Rebel is perhaps most known internationally for playing the role of FAT AMY in the Pitch Perfect trilogy, which are the highest-grossing musical comedy films of all time. Rebel’s other feature credits include the Academy Award-winning Jojo Rabbit, Isn’t It Romantic, How To Be Single, and The Hustle.

In 2022 she starred in the hit cheerleading comedy Senior Year on Netflix which was watched by over 89 million unique Netflix accounts in its first ten days of release internationally. This year Rebel’s memoir Rebel Rising instantly became a New York Times (US), Sunday Times (UK) and Australian best-seller.

Rebel is an alumna and now patron of The Australian Theatre for Young People whose home base in Sydney is called ‘The Rebel Theatre’, named after her. The inaugural production in this theatre was a workshop production of The Deb which originated out of Wilson’s annual scholarship program that aims to mentor emerging young Australian talent. Rebel has now turned The Deb into a feature film which marks her directorial debut. She also co-wrote and produced the film, is a contributing songwriter and co-stars as the town’s villainous hairdresser ‘Janette.’ The Deb closed out the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival with a standing ovation and rapturous reviews:

“…a toe-tapping, dazzling, fun and young musical entertainment with an exceptional cast in the kind of showcase that makes future stars.” DEADLINE / Pete Hammond

“…[The Deb] pokes fun at all parties while rewriting the codes of teenage romance for the 21st century.” THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER / Lovia Gyarkye

“I was hooked by Rebel Wilson’s plucky, charming directorial debut… one of the most surprising revelations of the festival and, for once, a worthy, truly crowd-pleasing film on which to end this wonderful festival.” ROGEREBERT.COM / Marya E. Gates

Rebel will next be seen in the action-comedy Bride Hard with recent Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph, directed by Simon West.