Adrien Brody’s 10 Best Performances, Ranked

There’s no denying that Adrien Brody is one of the most accomplished actors of his generation, but his filmography is even more versatile than most audiences realize. Beyond his record-breaking performance in The Pianist, which made him the youngest-ever recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor, he’s also starred in countless other dramas and comedies that prove how adaptable he can be. Since Adrien Brody is now campaigning for his second Oscar, it’s the perfect time to reflect on his strong filmography.

Brody is arguably best known for his multiple collaborations with Wes Anderson, which have been ongoing since his starring role in The Darjeeling Limited. These unique comedies are totally different from the harrowing dramas like The Pianist that often gather awards attention, but they’re just as impressive. His ability to blend comedy and drama so effectively is what makes him such a captivating on-screen presence, even if Adrien Brody isn’t always eager to watch back his own work.

10

Summer of Sam (1999)

Directed By Spike Lee

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Summer of Sam

R

Crime

Drama

Thriller

Release Date

June 28, 1999

Runtime

142 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

    Ritchie

  • Headshot Of John Leguizamo In The Los Angeles premiere of HBO 'The Survivor'

    John Leguizamo

    Vinny

  • Headshot Of Mira Sorvino

    Mira Sorvino

    Dionna

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    Jennifer Esposito

    Ruby

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Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam marked one of Adrien Brody’s first mainstream performances, and it’s no surprise that his career really took off after this project. Despite his relative lack of experience, Brody’s work in this film is seriously impressive. The movie centers around two childhood friends who reconnect to the backdrop of the Son of Sam killings, leading to growing suspicions that one of them is the real killer. It’s a very demanding role that Brody is given in this project, but he really steps outside of his comfort zone and cements himself as the standout of this ensemble.

Adrien Brody in The Brutalist with Oscars trophies behind him

Related

Adrien Brody Will Break A 65 Year Oscars Record If He Wins Best Actor For The Brutalist

Adrien Brody already holds one Oscars record in the Best Actor category, and he can break a 65-year record if he wins again for The Brutalist.

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King Kong (2005)

Directed By Peter Jackson

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King Kong

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Romance

Drama

ScreenRant logo

6/10

11

7.1/10

Release Date

December 14, 2005

Runtime

187 minutes

Cast

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    Naomi Watts

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    Jack Black

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Although Adrien Brody’s role in Peter Jackson’s King Kong is only a supporting one, he manages to steal every moment of screen time that he’s given. He plays a character named Jack Driscoll: a screenwriter who falls in love with the film’s protagonist Ann during their journey to Skull Island to investigate the mysterious Kong. He’s one of the few characters in the film that argues for the titular ape to be left alone, making him the unsung hero of the story. Jackson’s movie is one of the best King Kong adaptations to date, and Brody’s work is equally impressive.

8

Midnight In Paris (2011)

Directed By Woody Allen

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Midnight in Paris

pg-13

Romance

Fantasy

ScreenRant logo

8/10

6/10

Release Date

May 11, 2011

Runtime

94minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Owen Wilson In The 2006 MTV Movie Awards

    Owen Wilson

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    Tom Hiddleston

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Another supporting role that’s often forgotten within Adrien Brody’s filmography, Midnight in Paris sees the actor tackle the eccentric character of Salvador Dali. The film centers around Owen Wilson’s protagonist Gil, who visits Paris with his fiancé and subsequently travels back in time to the city’s romantic past. This is where he encounters Brody’s Dali, who only appears in a few scenes but manages to capture the artist’s bold personality nevertheless. There are many historical performances in Midnight in Paris, from Tom Hiddleston’s F. Scott Fitzgerald to Corey Stoll’s Ernest Hemingway, but Brody’s feels the most transformative.

7

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Directed By Wes Anderson

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The Grand Budapest Hotel

R

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

ScreenRant logo

9/10

9/10

Release Date

March 28, 2014

Runtime

100 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Willem Dafoe

    Willem Dafoe

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    Jude Law

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While The Grand Budapest Hotel is undeniably one of Adrien Brody’s best movies, his role isn’t quite big enough to label it among his strongest-ever performances. He plays the character of Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis, the eldest son of Tilda Swinton’s late matriarch whose death triggers the events of the film. Wes Anderson’s colorful drama boasts an enormous ensemble of recognizable faces, many of whom only appear briefly in one or two scenes, but Brody still manages to shine whenever he’s on-screen.

Adrien Brody & Wes Anderson Collaborations

Release Year

The Darjeeling Limited

2007

Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009

The Grand Budapest Hotel

2014

The French Dispatch

2021

Asteroid City

2023

6

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Directed By Wes Anderson

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The Darjeeling Limited

R

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

8/10

Release Date

September 29, 2007

Runtime

91 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Owen Wilson In The 2006 MTV Movie Awards

    Owen Wilson

  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

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Another successful collaboration between Brody and Anderson, The Darjeeling Limited is a much more self-contained story than The Grand Budapest Hotel – but this often works in its favor. Instead of the latter’s huge ensemble, this film focuses closely on the dynamic between three brothers (played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwarzman), as they travel through India and seek to reconnect with one another in the wake of their father’s passing. It’s one of Anderson’s most personal and poignant stories, and Brody’s performance perfectly balances the line between comedy and drama in ways that few actors could achieve,

5

Peaky Blinders (2013-2022)

Created By Steven Knight

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Peaky Blinders

TV-MA

Crime

Drama

History

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

9/10

81

9.6/10

Release Date

2013 – 2021

Showrunner

Steven Knight

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Annabelle Wallis

    Annabelle Wallis

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Ian Peck

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Though Peaky Blinders ran for almost a decade and featured plenty of excellent characters in its rotating cast, Adrien Brody was among the show’s most unforgettable guest stars. He appeared in the series’ fourth season as Luca Changretta, the Italian-American mobster who sought revenge on Cillian Murphy’s protagonist Tommy Shelby for the deaths of his father and brothers. Brody is rarely given the opportunity to play such an unapologetically evil character, but he was chilling as the cold-blooded mobster and consequently appeared in some of Peaky Blinders’ best episodes.

Adrien Brody’s character Luca Changretta only appeared in six episodes of Peaky Blinders

4

Detachment (2011)

Directed By Tony Kaye

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Detachment (2011)

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Detachment

Drama

Documentary

Release Date

April 24, 2011

Runtime

100 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Marcia Gay Harden

  • Headshot Of James Caan

    James Caan

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    Christina Hendricks

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Detachment often goes underrated in Adrien Brody’s filmography, but it features one of the actor’s most subtle and restrained performances to date. In the film, he plays a melancholic substitute teacher who grows more and more unsatisfied by the day – until his entire worldview is changed by the emergence of three important women in his life: a student, a colleague, and a sex worker. It’s a very powerful story about how our own perspectives on life can be changed by those around us, and Brody captures a huge range of emotions across a relatively short runtime.

3

The Thin Red Line (1998)

Directed By Terrence Malick

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The Thin Red Line

R

Drama

History

War

6/10

Release Date

December 23, 1998

Runtime

171 Minutes

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Jim Caviezel

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    Sean Penn

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At the time, The Thin Red Line was the movie that finally sold the critics on Adrien Brody’s star-making potential. His supporting character in this movie was such a complex, vulnerable role that very few actors could have pulled out without seeming exaggerated or overstated. The film is a true ensemble, following a group of soldiers at the Guadalcanal who are fighting for their lives when enemy soldiers begin to surround them and extinguish all hopes of making it home in one piece. Like the majority of Malick’s work, it’s a gripping story that also speaks volumes about contemporary society.

2

The Pianist (2002)

Directed By Roman Polanski

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The Pianist

R

Biography

Drama

Music

10/10

Release Date

March 28, 2003

Runtime

150 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

    Wladyslaw Szpilman

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    Thomas Kretschmann

    Captain Wilm Hosenfeld

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Brody became the youngest-ever Best Actor Oscar winner for his performance in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, a sweeping war drama that follows the turbulent life of a Polish musician who flees his country for fear of persecution under the Nazi regime. The film is an epic in every sense of the word, leading the audience on an emotional journey that depicts the horrors of the Second World War from the perspective of those who suffered the most. It offers an objective and deeply personal insight into the traumas that many endured just to survive, and Brody perfectly captures that raw vulnerability.

1

The Brutalist (2024)

Directed By Brady Corbet

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The Brutalist

R

Drama

ScreenRant logo

10/10

19

7.9/10

Release Date

December 20, 2024

Runtime

215 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Adrien Brody

    Adrien Brody

    László Tóth

  • Headshot Of Guy Pearce In The 77th annual Cannes

    Guy Pearce

    Harrison Lee Van Buren

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22 years after winning his first Academy Award for The Pianist, Adrien Brody may win his second Oscar for The Brutalist. Brady Corbet’s magnificent drama is another one about wartime Europe – but this time, it’s told from the perspective of a Hungarian architect who flees to America in search of a better life with his family in tow. The film dissects the false concept of the American Dream, proving that persecution and oppression were just as present on the other side of the Atlantic – just in a different way.

He’s vulnerable, he’s emotional, and he’s never afraid to wear his emotions on his sleeve – but most importantly, his character tells a story.

Brody’s work in The Brutalist is nothing short of staggering; his character undergoes some fundamental changes as the story progresses, and he captures each of these with a fierce attention to detail. He’s vulnerable, he’s emotional, and he’s never afraid to wear his emotions on his sleeve – but most importantly, his character tells a story. It’s a story of optimism turning to cynicism, love souring to distrust, and ambition withering away into self-hatred. It speaks to the futility of the American Dream in a tragically poignant way that wouldn’t be possible without such an empathetic performance at the helm.

Headshot Of Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody

Birthdate

April 14, 1973

Birthplace

New York City, New York, USA

Notable Projects

The Pianist, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Predators

Professions

Actor, Producer