Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore has been a cinematic muse for the likes of Todd Haynes, Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Altman, Alfonso Cuaron, David Cronenberg and the Coen Brothers, to name but a few. But how many of her films are classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of her greatest roles, ranked worst to best.
Moore became a darling of independent cinema with appearances in such films as “Short Cuts” (1993), “Vanya on 42nd Street” (1994), and “Safe” (1995). It didn’t take long for Oscar voters to notice her talents, and the Academy rewarded her with four nominations in quick succession: Best Actress for “The End of the Affair” (1999) and “Far From Heaven” (2002); Best Supporting Actress for “Boogie Nights” (1997) and “The Hours” (2002). Her two bids in 2002 put her in an elite group of performers to receive lead and supporting citations in the same year.
After her double-dipping achievement, however, it seemed for the longest time Moore couldn’t get arrested at the Oscars. After losing those four previous bids, she was continuously snubbed despite high-profile roles in such titles as “A Single Man” (2009) and “The Kids Are All Right” (2010), both of which brought her Golden Globe nominations. As the years passed, Moore’s was a perennial name on any list of overdue performers the Academy had yet to reward.
That all changed with “Still Alice” (2014), which cast her as a middle-aged professor diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. The role had Oscar bait written all over it, and Moore ran the gauntlet at SAG, BAFTA, the Golden Globes, and Critics Choice before finally snagging that elusive Best Actress prize.
Moore has found success on the small-screen as well. Her uncanny embodiment of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the HBO movie “Game Change” (2012) brought her the Emmy as Best Movie/Mini Actress (much as we’d like to include it, this list is strictly for theatrical releases).
Tour our photo gallery of Moore’s 16 greatest films, including a few for which she should’ve received Oscar nominations.
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16. THE END OF THE AFFAIR (1999)
Image Credit: Columbia Tristar/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and Directed by Neil Jordan, based on the novel by Graham Greene. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stephen Rea, Jason Isaacs, Ian Hart.
This adaptation of Grahame Greene’s classic novel starts with two men meeting in the rain, one a novelist (Stephen Rae), the other a government official (Ralph Fiennes). The writer wants his friend to help him hire a private detective to spy on his wife (Julianne Moore), never suspecting that the two had a passionate love affair in the days before WWII. Director Neil Jordan emphasizes the book’s contrast between pleasures of the flesh and fidelity to the church, keeping the story from drowning in melodrama. Moore earned an Oscar nomination for the film, her first in the lead category, losing to Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”).
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15. VANYA ON 42ND STREET (1994)
Image Credit: Laura Pels/Mayfair/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Louis Malle. Screenplay by Andre Gregory, based on the play ‘Uncle Vanya’ by Anton Chekhov, adapted by David Mamet. Starring Phoebe Brand, Lynn Cohen, George Gaynes, Jerry Mayer, Larry Pine, Brooke Smith, Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory.
“Vanya on 42nd Street” is almost radical in its simplicity: a group of actors gather to a dilapidated Manhattan theater to rehearse “Uncle Vanya,” adapted by David Mamet and directed by Andre Gregory. What was meant to be just a private performance to better understand Chekov’s text is captured forever by Louis Malle in his last film. Moore plays Yelena, married to the much older Serybryakov (George Gaynes) and desired by the indignant Uncle Vanya (Wallace Shawn). With its performers dressed in street clothes and bare-bones set decoration, this movie/theater hybrid boils drama down to its essentials, getting to the heart of what makes storytelling so compelling.
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14. WONDERSTRUCK (2017)
Image Credit: Amazon Studios Directed by Todd Haynes. Screenplay by Brian Selznick, based on his book. Starring Oakes Fegley, Michelle Williams, Millicent Simmonds.
Moore reunited with director Todd Haynes for this oddball children’s film. Adapted by Brian Selznick from his own book, “Wonderstruck” focuses on two kids separated by 50 years: Rose (Millicent Simmonds), a deaf girl in 1927 who searches New York City for an actress (Julianne Moore) she chronicles in a scrapbook; and Ben (Oakes Fegley), a boy with hearing loss who in 1977 runs away from home on a quest to find his missing father. Moore appears in both segments in ways that are both surprising and heart-wrenching. Haynes and cinematographer Ed Lachman reference both black-and-white silent cinema and New Hollywood neo-realism in their visuals, while Carter Burwell’s score fills in emotional cues left largely unsaid.
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13. MAPS TO THE STARS (2014)
Image Credit: Prospero/Sentient/Sbs Prods/Integral Film/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by David Cronenberg. Written by Bruce Wagner. Starring Mia Wasikowska, Olivia Williams, Evan Bird, Sarah Gadon, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson.
2014 was a stellar year for Moore: while she finally snagged her long overdue Oscar for “Still Alice,” she also reaped an additional Golden Globe bid and won the Best Actress prize at Cannes for David Cronenberg’s discomforting Hollywood satire. “Maps to the Stars” centers on some seriously screwed up Angelinos, including an unstable leading lady (Moore) haunted by the ghost of her mother (Sarah Gadon). Into her life comes a new personal assistant (Mia Wasikowska), badly burned from a fire and harboring deep secrets. Writer Bruce Wagner packs his script with fascinating characters, including a handsome limo driver (Robert Pattinson), a TV psychologist (John Cusack), and his child-star son (Evan Bird).
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12. A SINGLE MAN (2009)
Image Credit: Weinstein Co/Fade To Black/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Tom Ford. Screenplay by Tom Ford and David Scearce, based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood. Starring Colin Firth, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult.
Moore has a small yet memorable role in this glossy character study from Tom Ford. Based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood, “A Single Man” centers on an English professor (Colin Firth) in 1960s Los Angeles reeling from the death of his lover (Matthew Goode). He decides to kill himself, but not before tying up a few loose ends. On what’s intended to be the last day of his life, he visits his best friend (Moore), with whom he once had a passionate romance. The extended dinner scene, in which both lay bare their long-held feelings, is the riveting heart of the film. Despite reaping Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations, Moore was snubbed at the Oscars (though Firth did contend in Best Actor).
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11. THE HOURS (2002)
Image Credit: Clive Coote/Paramount/Miramax/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Stephen Daldry. Written by David Hare, based on the novel by Michael Cunningham. Starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Stephen Dillane, Allison Janney, John C. Reilly, Miranda Richardson.
Moore doubled-dipped at the 2002 Oscars, including a supporting bid for Stephen Daldry’s prestige downer. “The Hours” focuses on how “Mrs. Dalloway” affects the lives of three different women in three separate periods: the book’s author, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman); a 1950s housewife (Moore) reading the book; and a modern day Mrs. Dalloway (Streep) planning a party for a friend (Ed Harris) dying of AIDS. Even in an A-list ensemble, Moore stands out as a mother desperate to escape her unhappy life. Unfortunately, the Academy wasn’t that impressed: she was bested in this category by Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”) and lost her lead bid for “Far From Heaven” to her “Hours” costar Kidman.
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10. CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)
Image Credit: Universal/Uip/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Screenplay by Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, based on the novel by P. D. James. Starring Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Charlie Hunnam.
With “Children of Men,” Alfonso Cuaron paints a bleak picture of our future that feels more prescient with each passing year. In 2027, women have become infertile and the world is in chaos. A cynical former activist (Clive Owen) is contacted by his ex-wife (Moore) to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to safety. Like “Metropolis” and “Blade Runner” before it, this is a haunting vision of dystopia, yet unlike those two films, this one is ultimately rather hopeful about humanity’s chances for survival. That’s thanks in large part to the empathic performances by Owen, Moore, and Michael Caine as a helpful hippie. The film brought Cuaron Oscar bids for writing and editing.
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9. SHORT CUTS (1993)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Robert Altman. Written by Altman and Frank Barhydt, based on the writings of Raymond Carver. Starring Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davidson, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Jack Lemmon, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis.
Moore is just one of twenty-two protagonists in this intimate epic from Robert Altman. Based on the writings of Raymond Carver, “Short Cuts” examines the lives of several Los Angeles residents whose fates intertwine in unexpected, hilarious, and sometimes tragic ways. Moore has one of the film’s best scenes as Marian Wyman, a painter who is confronted by her husband (Matthew Modine) about an affair while she’s naked from the waist down, desperately cleaning her skirt before a dinner party. The role brought her an Independent Spirit nomination as Best Supporting Actress, yet surprisingly, not one member of the cast was recognized at the Oscars, despite winning a special award at the Golden Globes for Best Ensemble.
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8. THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
Image Credit: Polygram/Working Title/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Joel Coen. Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, John Turturro, Tara Reid, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott, Ben Gazzara, David Thewlis, Peter Stormare.
Though the dudes are front and center in this hallucinatory Coen Brothers comedy, Moore holds her own in the almost all-boys club. Jeff Bridges is iconic as the rambling, shambling stoner who spends his days bowling with his pals (John Goodman and Steve Buscemi) and drinking White Russians. When he’s mistaken for a wealthy big wig known as The Big Lebowski (David Huddleston), it sets off a disjointed chain of events involving kidnapping, pornography, nihilists, and the Vietnam war. Moore plays the rich man’s daughter, Maude, an artist who paints nude while strapped to a flying harness. A sort of Raymond Chandler mystery for flower children, this one is all about attitude and good vibes, which the Dude abides.
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7. SAFE (1995)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Todd Haynes. Starring Peter Friedman, Xander Berkeley, Susan Norman, Katee McGregor-Stewart, James LeGros.
Moore has served as a cinematic muse for Todd Haynes, appearing in four of his best films (including a bit role in the expressionistic Bob Dylan biopic “I’m Not There”). Their partnership began with “Safe,” an unnerving look at the unseen killers lurking in your own home. She plays Carol White, an upperclass LA housewife in the 1980s who suddenly develops multiple chemical sensitivity. When everything she touches debilitates her, she retreats to a mysterious desert hideaway led by a New Age guru (Peter Friedman) who preaches self-love. A metaphor for the AIDS crisis, the film established its director and star as a partnership to watch. Both earned Independent Spirit Award nominations for their work.
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6. MAY DECEMBER (2023)
Image Credit: Gold Derby Director: Todd Haynes. Writer: Samy Burch. Starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, D.W. Moffett, Piper Curda, Elizabeth Yu.
Moore reunited with her “Far From Heaven” director Todd Haynes for this satiric comedy/drama inspired by the case of Mary Kay Letourneau, a teacher convicted of having sexual relations with her 12 year-old student, with “May December” positing what that relationship would be like decades later. Moore plays Gracie (the Letourneau character) who has put the past behind her in her marriage to her one-time student Joe (Charles Melton) only to have it dug up with the arrival of actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) who is set to portray her in a film. Moore slowly reveals Gracie as a high-strung woman who is desperately holding her marriage (and her sanity) together, and the result is mesmerizing.
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5. STILL ALICE (2014)
Image Credit: Jojo Whilden/Killer Films/Big Indie Pictures/Sony Pictures/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, based on the novel by Lisa Genova. Starring Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish.
After four failed bids and several egregious snubs, Moore handily walked away with the Best Actress Oscar for this small-scale weepy. She plays Alice Howland, a middle-aged linguistics professors whose life is thrown into turmoil after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Despite her best efforts, she can’t stop the disease’s devastating advancement.Though only slightly less predictable than a Lifetime original movie, “Still Alice” is elevated by its naturalistic performances, including Kristen Stewart as Alice’s actress daughter and Alec Baldwin as her supportive husband. Moore ran the gauntlet during awards season, picking up prizes at BAFTA, SAG, Critics Choice, and the Golden Globes on her way to Academy Awards glory.
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4. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010)
Image Credit: Mandalay Vision/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Lisa Cholodenko. Written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg. Starring Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson.
This indie hit from Lisa Cholodenko casts Moore as one half of a married lesbian couple (opposite Annette Bening) raising children (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) made possible by a sperm donor. When the kids seek out their biological father (Mark Ruffalo), Moore suddenly finds herself in bed with him, disrupting the harmony of their happy home. Neither preachy nor judgmental, “The Kids Are All Right” views its characters and situation with a warmth and familiarity that makes its modern family feel universal. Moore contended at the Globes and BAFTA as Best Actress, yet was snubbed at the Oscars, though Bening and Ruffalo contended for lead and supporting bids, respectively.
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3. MAGNOLIA (1999)
Image Credit: Peter Sorel/New Line/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ricky Jay, William H. Macy, Alfred Molina, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards, Melora Walters.
A three-hour epic about the interlocking lives of several Southern Californians dealing with love, death, and raining frogs, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” is intimate, sprawling, angry and hilarious all at once. There’s too many standout performances to list in one paragraph, including Moore as the much-younger wife of a dying TV-producer (Jason Robards) who confesses to his live-in nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) that she only married him for the money. Complimented by Aimee Mann’s original songs, “Magnolia” is a mesmerizing mosaic of pain and hope that isn’t easily forgotten. Moore earned a SAG bid as Best Supporting Actress, yet was overlooked at the Oscars (she did reap a lead bid that year for “The End of the Affair”).
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2. BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997)
Image Credit: New Line/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Nicole Ari Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, Philip Baker Hall, Thomas Jane, Robert Ridgely, Robert Downey Sr., Nina Hartley, Melora Walters, Alfred Molina, Ricky Jay.
Moore earned her first Oscar nomination for Paul Thomas Anderson’s gloriously entertaining saga about the ins-and-outs of the porn industry in 1970s California. “Boogie Nights” is a classic Hollywood story about a young man (Mark Wahlberg) with the skills (and equipment) to make it in the biz, but whose ego almost destroys him. Moore plays Amber Waves, leading lady and girlfriend of director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds). Locked in a custody battle with her ex-husband, she transfers her motherly love to this band of misfits, who formed a surrogate family when their real ones turned their backs on them. Indeed, it’s that message of humanism that transcends the seediness and titillation of the storyline. Moore lost her Supporting Actress bid to Kim Basinger (“L.A. Confidential”).
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1. FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002)
Image Credit: Abbot Genser/Killer Films/REX/Shutterstock Starring Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, James Rebhorn, Celia Weston.
“Far From Heaven” meticulously recreates the style of 1950s Douglas Sirk melodramas, adding a modern day frankness that hits you like a bolt. By saying out loud what Sirk could only hint at, Todd Haynes forces us to reflect on both our past and present bigotries. Moore gives the performance of a lifetime as Cathy Whitaker, a Connecticut housewife whose life is upended when her husband (Dennis Quaid) comes out of the closet. At the same time, she finds herself increasingly drawn to her black gardener (Dennis Haysbert), much to the astonishment of her neighbors. Despite winning prizes at the Independent Spirits and Critics Choice Awards, Moore lost the Oscar to Nicole Kidman (“The Hours”). That same year she also contended unsuccessfully in supporting for Kidman’s film, losing to Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”).
