Cillian Murphyhas 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 like28 Days Later(2002),Red Eye(2005), andSunshine(2007). He went on to star as crime boss Tommy Shelby on the beloved drama seriesPeaky 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 inBatman Begins(2005) and culminating in his acclaimed performance as "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer inOppenheimer(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 ofPeaky Blindersin the form ofPeaky 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)
Murphy plays a banker who's slowly falling to pieces inThe Party, a dark comedy with a stellar ensemble cast includingPatricia Clarksonand 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 watchThe Party: Amazon Prime Video
Free Fire(2016)
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 Fireis 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 watchFree Fire: Netflix
Red Eye(2005)
Red Eyeis 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 watchRed Eye: Paramount+
Steve(2025)
Murphy used his cachet fromOppenheimerto 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.Steveearned a 2026 BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film. —Kevin Jacobsen
Where to watchSteve: Netflix
Dunkirk(2017)
The first of four collaborations between Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan on this list, the World War II epicDunkirkcasts 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 filmas "a towering achievement, not just of the sort of drum-tight storytelling we've come to expect from the director ofMemento,The Dark Knight, andInception, but also of old-school, handmade filmmaking."—D.H.
Where to watchDunkirk: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Batman Begins(2005)
Looking at his prestigious career now, you wouldn't think of Cillian Murphy as a superhero movie kind of guy, butBatman Beginswas 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 watchBatman Begins: HBO Max
Inception(2010)
Leonardo DiCaprio helms the fascinating and cerebralInceptionas 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 watchInception: HBO Max
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Breakfast on Pluto(2005)
In the comedy-dramaBreakfast 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.Plutocame out in the same year as Murphy's villainous turns inRed EyeandBatman Begins; it could hardly be more of a departure.—D.H.
Where to watchBreakfast on Pluto: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
A Quiet Place Part II(2020)
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 watchA Quiet Place Part II: Paramount+
Small Things Like These(2024)
The same year he won his Oscar for the epic biopicOppenheimer, Murphy starred in this small-scale drama set in 1985 Ireland. Based on the Claire Keegan novella of the same name,Small Things Like Thesecenters 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 watchSmall Things Like These: Hulu
Sunshine(2007)
Eight astronauts are on a desperate suicide mission to reignite Earth's failing sun inDanny 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 watchSunshine: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
28 Days Later(2002)
Murphy's breakthrough movie was28 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 watch28 Days Later: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley(2006)
The Wind That Shakes the Barleyis 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 watchThe Wind That Shakes the Barley: AMC+
Peaky Blinders(2013–2026)
For six riveting seasons (and a movie), Murphy ruled the streets of post-WWI Birmingham on the TV crime dramaPeaky Blindersas 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 watchPeaky Blinders: Netflix
Oppenheimer(2023)
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 watchOppenheimer: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
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