Willem Dafoe's 10 Best Movies, Ranked

Over his four decades in Hollywood, Willem Dafoe has become, and continues to be, one of the most versatile actors ever. Whether blazing through an independent arthouse career or turning up in a major box-office hit, his ability to embody an endless variety of characters has won him fans and widespread acclaim. From historical dramas, psychological thrillers, or fantasy films: he can move effortlessly from starring roles to incredible supporting performances in some of the best films of all time. His distinctive looks and haunting aura make him one of the most recognizable and enduring faces in cinema today.

Dafoe has been nominated for four Academy Awards and has won a plethora of other accolades for his roles in films such as Platoon, Shadow of the Vampire, and The Florida Project. Known for giving some of the most intense acting performances, whether he’s playing a tortured US soldier in Vietnam, a misunderstood Christ figure, a bloodthirsty god, or a dangerously troubled father, Dafoe brings painful, raw emotion to his characters, allowing us to see the humanity in even the most flawed of personalities. His best films truly highlight the breadth and depth of Dafoe’s vast acting range.

10 To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)

Directed By William Friedkin

Willem Dafoe plays Rick Masters, a ruthless counterfeiter being pursued by Secret Service agents who want to bring him down and stop his money-printing operation. The movie, which was set amid the gritty, low-rent Los Angeles of the 1980s and packed with car chases, double crosses, and explosive shootouts, sees Dafoe’s cool, calculating Masters square off against a couple of by-the-book lawmen. The movie is an action-packed thriller about law and order and one man’s desire for more, no matter the fallout.

Dafoe’s contribution lifts the movie beyond the basic action-thriller genre. His performance as Masters is beautifully understated but incredibly menacing. The character is dangerous and seductive, and Dafoe plays him convincingly. A psychotic criminal who brutally blows away a police officer while still maintaining enough layers to show another side. At the time, it was a reminder that he could be subtle with a role that was intensely morally ambiguous, marking him as the one to watch among the up-and-coming actors who could handle the more serious roles.

9 Mississippi Burning (1988)

Directed By Alan Parker

Mississippi Burning is a slow-burning thriller that takes place in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, about two FBI agents who are investigating the disappearance of three civil rights workers in a small town in the South. Willem Dafoe plays Agent Alan Ward, the ‘by the book’ agent who has to work with his partner Gene Hackman’s rough-and-ready character. The film’s themes of bigotry and violence in the American past are handled honestly and effectively and make this film a must-watch.

The film received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Cinematography (Winner)

A contrast to Hackman’s flashy Hanna, Dafoe’s subdued FBI man Ward offers a balance of restraint, pitting the subdued and quiet agent against his own inner turmoil and demonstrating Dafoe’s knack for creating a nuanced character out of an otherwise dutiful and principled lead. Dafoe’s supporting performance rivals those of both Gene Hackman and Frances McDormand, celebrating his ability to effortlessly elevate films without needing to step into the leading role.

8 Light Sleeper (1992)

Directed By Paul Schrader

In this crime drama written and directed by Paul Schrader, Willem Dafoe plays John LeTour, an upper-end drug courier who is haunted by addiction and an existential crisis, as he watches his life of crime start to unravel on the streets of New York City’s underworld. The movie is a slow-burning character study undercut by Dafoe’s internal monologue as he lives between his criminal past and his yearning for redemption while wading through one tragic set of circumstances and situations after another.

It’s Dafoe who humanizes LeTour’s sense of loss in Light Sleeper, not only through his quiet vulnerability but by allowing the hardened ex-junkie’s actions to be tempered with tenderness and self-recrimination. What could be a rather shallow performance by a lesser actor, Dafoe’s control and quiet intensity are positively absorbing, with his performance being hailed as a masterclass in understated power. The climactic end to the film is beautifully portrayed by Dafoe, as even in the most dark circumstances, he can still elicit a ray of hope from his character.

7 Shadow Of The Vampire (2000)

Directed By E. Elias Merhige

In Shadow of the Vampire, Willem Dafoe plays Max Schreck (who plays Count Orlok), an actor who may or may not be an actual vampire, in this dramatization of the making of the horror classic Nosferatu (1922). As Schreck’s behavior grows increasingly strange, it becomes clear that the boundaries between actor and creature are dangerously thin. Horror and dark comedy blend with drama, and Dafoe’s performance in this period, vampire, gothic mystery is truly unsettling.

​​​​​​Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Dafoe’s disfigured, secretive portrayal of Schreck is so compelling. His physicality and eerie gesticulations are, at once, terrifying, tragic, and transcendent of the horror genre into cinematic immortality. Dafoe embodies the character fully, and his unique look and facial expressions take the character from caricature to believable, which is not an easy task and a testament to his acting abilities.

6 At Eternity’s Gate (2018)

Directed By Julian Schnabel

This biographical drama follows the final six months in the life of the Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, played by Willem Dafoe. Julian Schnabel directed the movie, creating a thoughtful and moving exploration of van Gogh’s inner struggles with mental illness, artistic expression, and profound loneliness that plagued the later years of his life. Critics crowned Dafoe as a tortured artist and the perfect representative of one of the best artists of all time.

At Eternity’s Gate
shows theory put forward by van Gogh biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, that van Gogh’s death was caused by manslaughter, not suicide.

Dafoe’s performance earned him his first and only Best Actor Academy Award nomination in his tenured career, and it’s not hard to see why: it’s a raw, searching, profoundly human performance, all the more intimate for the film’s almost exclusive focus on Dafoe’s intense face and expressions. It’s one of Willem Dafoe’s best films and performances ever, and it could have easily seen him take home the Oscar for best actor.

5 The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988)

Directed By Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese’s much-maligned epic The Last Temptation of Christ features a human, conflicted, frail, and full-of-doubt man portrayed by the electric Willem Dafoe. The deep humanity of the film is focused squarely on the hero of all religions, Jesus Christ, and the extent to which he struggles with his own mortal fate and divine calling. Dafoe brutally and beautifully renders Christ human, in all his fear and doubt and humanity, and the fact that he played the role so expertly surely helped to flame criticism.

Despite the controversy surrounding its release, Dafoe’s performance was universally well-received. Skillfully moving between the divine and the human, his portrayal was considered by many to be the best Christ figure onscreen. The film’s daring narrative and Dafoe’s performance make it one of the most compelling religious films of its time and make it stand out in Dafoe’s extensive catalog for its honest and realistic depiction that draws the viewer into the anguish and mystery surrounding Christ and his life.

4 Poor Things (2023)

Directed By Yorgos Lanthimos

Another unusual role in a long and eclectic filmography, Willem Dafoe is a stand-out performer in Poor Things, one of the latest films by the enigmatic Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. Set in a magical realist universe, it follows the story of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), who dies in a terrible accident but is revived in a form by a scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe). The film is a dark comedy, a surrealist drama, and a gothic horror, and Dafoe, playing the mad and morally ambiguous scientist, is right at the heart of it.

Dafoe’s genius is that he inhabits such an outlandish character entirely while making him feel oddly human in a film that is surreal and dizzying, and darkly comic. Poor Things is a masterclass in Dafoe’s acting range and talent, and his chemistry throughout every scene and with every co-star is exceptional. His rapport with Stone is intoxicating in this strange, beautiful, and mesmerizing world in which Dafoe anchors with one of his most iconic performances of all time.

3 The Florida Project (2017)

Directed By Sean Baker

Willem Dafoe plays Bobby, the good-hearted manager of a motel on the edge of Disney World who takes care of the children of those who live there and who looks out for the six-year-old Moonee and her friends. In The Florida Project, Dafoe, like in many of his performances, grounds the film in his quiet, humane strength as he struggles to help the children navigate the chaos around them while maintaining a balance of authority and guardianship.

Even in a much more realistic narrative compared to a film like
Poor Things
, he still manages to show the multi-layered sides and intricacies of his roles, with rays of protective urges peeking through his older-age cynicism.

Dafoe’s performance won him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and rightfully so. He manages to make Bobby warm, nuanced, and more rounded than his frequently manic characters. Even in a much more realistic narrative compared to a film like Poor Things, he still manages to show the multi-layered sides and intricacies of his roles, with rays of protective urges peeking through his older-age cynicism. His take on Bobby has reserved power, and his sensitive performance highlights the humanity of those living on the fringes and rougher side of society.

2 The Lighthouse (2019)

Directed By Robert Eggers

Dafoe plays Thomas Wake, a deranged, domineering lighthouse keeper who slowly goes insane with his protégé (Robert Pattinson) on a rocky, storm-ravaged island in The Lighthouse. The film is a surrealist psychological horror about isolation, insanity, and the power struggle between the two men. Dafoe’s boozy, bearded Wake is terrifying, and the climactic end to the film is a tour de force between Dafoe and Pattinson.

The idea for
The Lighthouse
first emerged from Max Eggers’ new adaption of Edgar Allan Poe’s unfinished short story of the same name.

What is so exceptional about Dafoe’s performance is the way that he conveys the lunacy and epic grandeur of his character’s mind with a face and tone of voice that’s impossible to forget. The Lighthouse is Dafoe’s most memorable and daring work in years, and it’s not hard to see why. The film’s creepy ambiance, combined with the actor’s wild, Shakespearean delivery, renders a psychological horror elevated far beyond the genre. Dafoe is at his manic best in this, and his ability to throw himself into a variety of bizarre and deranged roles is unparalleled throughout his career.

1 Platoon (1986)

Directed By Oliver Stone

With Platoon, Dafoe made himself into one of Hollywood’s most respected actors and a household name across the country. Playing Sergeant Elias, an upright soldier ensnared in the brutality of the Vietnam War, Dafoe’s performance is at once spine-chilling and inspiring. Elias is a man whose genuine morality is in constant conflict with the demands of his roles and aims as a soldier. His dying scene with his arms raised to the sky is one of the most searing shots in the history of the war film.

Dafoe’s performance in Platoon earned him his first Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. His ability to simultaneously project vulnerability and strength made Elias one of the most memorable characters of the war film genre. The dichotomy projected by Dafoe amplified and embodied the feelings of so many, and really encapsulated global opinion in a once-in-a-lifetime performance. Platoon is among the best war films ever made, but Dafoe’s performance, a career-pivotal moment, is itself unforgettable evidence of his incredible talent and Willem Dafoe’s best-ever film.