The Irish Oscar winner has built up a strong résumé since his breakout in the early 2000s.

Cillian Murphy’s 15 most chilling (and charming) performances, ranked

The Irish Oscar winner has built up a strong résumé since his breakout in the early 2000s.

and Kevin Jacobsen

March 17, 2026 4:00 p.m. ET

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Cillian Murphy as Jim in '28 Days Later,' J. Robert Oppenheimer in 'Oppenheimer,' and Tommy Shelby on 'Peaky Blinders'. Credit:

Peter Mountain/Fox Searchlight; Universal Pictures; Matt Squire/Netflix

Cillian Murphy has arguably had one of the more ideal careers among leading men in Hollywood. Forgoing the lavish lifestyle of his contemporaries, the Irish-born actor has been content to allow his onscreen work to speak for itself, whether in memorable supporting turns or starring roles in popcorn fare.

Murphy rose to fame in the 2000s with thrillers like *28 Days Later* (2002), *Red Eye* (2005), and *Sunshine* (2007). He went on to star as crime boss Tommy Shelby on the beloved drama series *Peaky Blinders*, which landed him a BAFTA nomination and worldwide recognition. But it's been his collaborations with Christopher Nolan that have defined his career most of all, starting with his scene-stealing role as Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in *Batman Begins* (2005) and culminating in his acclaimed performance as "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer in *Oppenheimer* (2023), which earned him an Oscar among many other prizes.

Now, in the wake of this year's awards season, Murphy returns to the world of *Peaky Blinders* in the form of *Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man*, a feature-length film premiering on Netflix on March 20. In celebration, we're looking back on Murphy's impressive career and ranking his best movies and TV shows over the years.**

The Party (2017)

Cillian Murphy as Tom in 'The Party'.

Nicola Dove/Roadside Attractions

Murphy plays a banker who's slowly falling to pieces in *The Party*, a dark comedy with a stellar ensemble cast including Patricia Clarkson and Emily Mortimer. A group of friends and colleagues gather to celebrate a milestone in Janet's (Kristin Scott Thomas) political career, and things quickly deteriorate as the London intellectuals reveal devastating personal secrets. Murphy shakes with suppressed fury as he finally confronts a confidant who's wronged him, but his sudden outburst of rage is played for laughs — or, at least, wry smiles. *—Danny Horn*

Where to watch *The Party*: Amazon Prime Video

Free Fire (2016)

Brie Larson as Justine and Cillian Murphy as Chris in 'Free Fire'.

A24/Courtesy Everett Collection

In an abandoned warehouse, a team of IRA rebels (led by Murphy) gathers with a group of underground arms dealers to exchange money for merchandise. But when things go south, the meeting turns into a shootout that lasts the entire length of the film. *Free Fire* is a black comedy punctuated entirely with bullets, and Murphy manages to become one of the vanishingly small number of sympathetic characters. EW’s critic calls it "an action movie that’s been stripped of distractions like plot, backstory, and character development and instead cuts right to an orgy of bullet-riddled mayhem and florid macho patter." *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Free Fire*: Netflix

Red Eye (2005)

Rachel McAdams as Lisa Reisert and Cillian Murphy as Jackson Rippner in 'Red Eye'.

DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection

*Red Eye* is one of Murphy's "handsome man turns terrifying" stories, here playing the villain in a tense game of cat-and-mouse at 30,000 feet. Lisa (Rachel McAdams) is a hotel executive on a red-eye flight to Miami who discovers that her seatmate (Murphy) is a terrorist who plans to use her job to help him assassinate a government official. EW's critic observes, "the movie’s most exciting passages take place in stillness and close-up, with the low-budget simplicity of two faces reacting to one another by the glow of the overhead reading light in a darkened cabin." *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Red Eye*: Paramount+

Steve (2025)

Cillian Murphy as Steve in 'Steve'.

Robert Viglasky/Neflix

Murphy used his cachet from *Oppenheimer* to produce and star in this low-budget indie drama. Set over the course of one particularly stressful day, Murphy's Steve is the head teacher at a reform school for troubled boys, struggling to keep the school running amid threats of budget cuts and closure. Murphy is well-suited for the role of a man gradually coming undone by pressure on all sides, though his passion for bettering his students' lives drives him to keep going. *Steve* earned a 2026 BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film. —*Kevin Jacobsen*

Where to watch *Steve*: Netflix

Dunkirk (2017)

Cillian Murphy as Shivering Soldier in 'Dunkirk'.

Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

The first of four collaborations between Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan on this list, the World War II epic *Dunkirk* casts Murphy in a small but unforgettable role. Credited as "Shivering Soldier," he plays the traumatized survivor of a capsized ship who's horrified to discover that his rescue boat is heading back to the threatened beaches of Dunkirk. EW's critic praises the film as "a towering achievement, not just of the sort of drum-tight storytelling we’ve come to expect from the director of *Memento*, *The Dark Knight*, and *Inception*, but also of old-school, handmade filmmaking." *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Dunkirk*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

Batman Begins (2005)

Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane in 'Batman Begins'.

Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett Collection

Looking at his prestigious career now, you wouldn't think of Cillian Murphy as a superhero movie kind of guy, but *Batman Begins* was the film that introduced the actor to Christopher Nolan. Murphy auditioned for the title role but ended up a villain in the Christian Bale-led reboot, playing psychiatrist turned psychopath Dr. Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. the Scarecrow. Doctor Crane is a suitably complex character, a calculating manipulator who uses "fear gas" to bend people to his will. EW’s critic calls the movie "a triumph — a confidently original, engrossing interpretation, with a seriously thought-through (but never self-serious) aesthetic point of view." *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Batman Begins*: HBO Max

Inception (2010)

Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb and Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer in 'Inception'. Everett Collection

Leonardo DiCaprio helms the fascinating and cerebral *Inception* as a corporate espionage agent with a squad that can enter a subject's dreams and steal their secrets. The target for the team's attack is Murphy's Robert Fischer, the vulnerable heir to a business empire who proves more formidable than expected. Murphy's at his best when he portrays a character under pressure, and his unshowy performance anchors a movie that makes for a confounding viewing experience. EW's critic writes, "Only repeated exposure can clarify for each spectator not only what’s going on, but also whether the emotional payoff deepens enough to warrant the arbitrary complexity of the game." *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Inception*: HBO Max

Cillian Murphy's head was glued shut on 'Oppenheimer' set due to a pillow Emily Blunt gave him

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Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

Cillian Murphy as Patricia 'Kitten' Braden in 'Breakfast on Pluto'.

Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy Everett Collection

In the comedy-drama *Breakfast on Pluto*, Murphy plays Kitten, a young transgender woman coming of age in Northern Ireland in the late-1970s. When her friend joins the IRA, Kitten dismisses politics with a casual wave: "Oh, serious, serious, serious!" Pushed out by an unloving foster family, our heroine bounces from one unhappy situation to another, blithely rising above a string of temporary jobs, unreliable boyfriends, and a stint of streetwalking. *Pluto* came out in the same year as Murphy's villainous turns in *Red Eye* and *Batman Begins*; it could hardly be more of a departure. *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Breakfast on Pluto*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

Cillian Murphy as Emmett in 'A Quiet Place Part II'.

Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

*A Quiet Place Part II*, John Krasinski's follow-up to his 2018 blockbuster, finds the Abbott family forced to leave their home and find safety elsewhere as they continue dodging the vicious, blind extraterrestrials who hunt down anything that makes a sound. Murphy joins the series as Emmett, a father who's given up hope after losing his own family to the beasts. His ability to hold the audience's attention even when he's not speaking is a tremendous advantage in this film, as Emmett finds inspiration in the Abbotts' determination to survive. *—D.H.*

Where to watch *A Quiet Place Part II*: Paramount+

Small Things Like These (2024)

Cillian Murphy as Bill Furlong and Zara Devlin as Sarah Redmond in 'Small Things Like These'.

Enda Bowe/Lionsgate

The same year he won his Oscar for the epic biopic *Oppenheimer*, Murphy starred in this small-scale drama set in 1985 Ireland. Based on the Claire Keegan novella of the same name, *Small Things Like These* centers on a coal merchant named Bill Furlong (Murphy) who tries to help a teenage girl living in an abusive convent house. But this proves more difficult than he imagined, and Murphy delivers a performance of quiet strength as an everyday man going against the grain in his community to do what's right. —*K.J.*

Where to watch *Small Things Like These*: Hulu**

Sunshine (2007)

Cillian Murphy as Robert Capa in 'Sunshine'. Fox Searchlight/Courtesy Everett Collection

Eight astronauts are on a desperate suicide mission to reignite Earth's failing sun in Danny Boyle's ambitious sci-fi disaster film, *Sunshine*. The visuals are dazzling and the action is breathless as inevitable setbacks delay the project, and Murphy's character, a withdrawn physicist, carries the greatest responsibility: delivering the payload that he knows will consume their ship as well. *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Sunshine*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

28 Days Later (2002)

Brendan Gleeson as Frank, Cillian Murphy as Jim, and Naomie Harris as Selena in '28 Days Later'.

20th Century Fox/Courtesy Everett Collection

Murphy's breakthrough movie was *28 Days Later*, a harrowing postapocalyptic thriller that popularized "fast zombies" in the horror genre. In it, Murphy plays a slender and soulful bicycle courier who wakes up from a coma to discover that the world has been upended by a virus that turns people into inhuman, ravenous monsters. When he's not being swept up in furious action scenes, Murphy has a quiet, watchful presence, portraying a man fully lost in an unfamiliar and savage world. *—D.H.*

Where to watch *28 Days Later*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

Cillian Murphy as Damien O'Donovan in 'The Wind That Shakes the Barley'.

*The Wind That Shakes the Barley* is the third entry on this list that deals with the IRA, and it’s by far the bleakest one. Two County Cork brothers, Damien (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy (Pádraic Delaney), join the fight in the early 1920s during a turning point in the Irish resistance to British rule. A torture sequence at Teddy’s expense is difficult to watch, but the film delivers a sincere and thought-provoking view of the period. *—D.H.*

Where to watch *The Wind That Shakes the Barley*: AMC+

Peaky Blinders (2013–2026)

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby on 'Peaky Blinders'. Robert Viglasky/Netflix

For six riveting seasons (and a movie), Murphy ruled the streets of post-WWI Birmingham on the TV crime drama *Peaky Blinders* as the shrewd, cold-blooded crime boss Tommy Shelby. The show begins with the gang running a horse race gambling ring, and the relentlessly ambitious Tommy will stop at nothing to win. He expands his criminal organization with each passing season, battling new threats from rival gangs, cops, and politicians. Murphy's terse talk and thousand-yard stare are enough to intimidate all comers (not to mention the razor sewn into the peak of his newsboy cap). *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Peaky Blinders*: Netflix

Oppenheimer (2023)

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in 'Oppenheimer'. Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

*Oppenheimer*, the latest collaboration between Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan, is an awe-inspiring historical study. As J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, Murphy delivers a tightly controlled performance that embodies the weight of the physicist's responsibility to deliver the world's most powerful destructive force — and then to advocate against its use. The film is Murphy's finest, most carefully crafted work yet. As EW's critic writes, "The close-ups on Murphy's face as Oppenheimer thinks through the 20th century's thorniest problems are as compelling as the film's atomic explosions." *—D.H.*

Where to watch *Oppenheimer*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

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Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Cillian”