Daniel Day-Lewis: 10 Best Movies (According To IMDb)

London-born Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the most critically-acclaimed actors of all time. He’s the only male actor to have won Best Actor Oscars three times, and he’s received Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild awards, and BAFTAs for his work. Day-Lewis is the method actor to beat all method actors, losing himself in each role he plays through endless research and rarely breaking character during filming.

He has brought his signature intensity to multiple character studies, from fictional characters like Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood to historical figures like Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln. After playing Reynolds Woodcock in Phantom Thread, which was released in 2017, Day-Lewis announced he was officially retiring from acting. He has yet to rescind this claim. In honor of such a powerful acting career, here are Daniel Day-Lewis’ 10 best movies according to IMDb.

10 A Room With A View (1985) – 7.3

British director James Ivory brought E.M. Forster’s classic period novel to the big screen with this adaptation. An Edwardian era romance, A Room With A View stars Helena Bonham Carter as a young woman named Lucy caught between two men: the spirited, independent George, whom she meets while traveling in Italy, and the nerdy Cecil.

Day-Lewis plays Cecil, a traditional, stereotypical Edwardian gentleman who courts Lucy according to the rules. Julian Sands plays George, who eschews all the customs. The movie was met with critical praise and received many awards.

9 Lincoln (2012) – 7.3

Day-Lewis earned one of his three Oscars for his characterization of the ill-fated President Abraham Lincoln, known for serving as commander-in-chief during the Civil War. Lincoln is an epic feature from the king of epic features, Steven Spielberg.

Day-Lewis was one of the few actors at the time who could rise above the rest in this star-studded film to bring Lincoln to life. His performance is supported by roles from the likes of Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tommy Lee Jones. The movie focuses on Lincoln’s personal and professional struggles during the Civil War, digging into his mental health, family relationships, and political obligations. Award-winning writer and director Tony Kushner penned the screenplay.

8 Access To The Danger Zone (2012) – 7.4

Day-Lewis gives his voice to this documentary about the international organization Doctors Without Borders. The film focuses on doctors and relief efforts in Afghanistan, Somalia, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between 2011 and 2012.

The movie never received a wide release, but it provides an invaluable first-hand look into the aid needed by innocent people caught up in the effects of long-term wars and conflicts. In addition to on-the-ground footage, Access to the Danger Zone contains interviews with experts and volunteers.

7 Gangs Of New York (2002) – 7.5

This Martin Scorsese period drama focuses on the earliest days of gang warfare in New York City. The movie follows the surge of Irish immigrants to the Five Points neighborhood in the 1840s, and the British and Dutch-Americans who took offense to their new neighbors.

Day-Lewis plays the ringleader for the “Native” gang, known as Bill the Butcher because of his gruesome reputation with a knife. He exposes the audience to Bill’s truly nefarious and power-hungry nature with his bewitching performance. Scorsese’s violent epic also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, and Liam Neeson.

6 Phantom Thread (2017) – 7.5

One of Day-Lewis’ most intimate and complex character studies proves to be his portrayal of Reynolds Woodcock in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1950s British drama Phantom Thread. Woodcock is a master tailor with quite a reputation and many famous clients. The film begins when he meets his new muse, a young immigrant waitress named Alma.

Woodcock’s professional perfectionism bleeds over into his personal life, and he’s prone to tantrums and blow-ups when he doesn’t get his way. Phantom Thread provides a deep look into the closest relationships in Woodcock’s life and his profound ability to sabotage them because of his own obsessive mania. As it turns out, though, he meets his match with Alma.

5 The Last of the Mohicans (1992) – 7.7

Michael Mann is at the helm of his romantic adaptation James Fenimore Cooper’s novel of the same name. Day-Lewis plays Hawkeye, a character based on Cooper’s fictional Natty Bumppo, the son of white parents who grows up around Delaware Native-Americans. Bumppo is a recurring character in many of Fenimore Cooper’s books.

The Last of the Mohicans movie is set in the 1750s during the Seven Years’. The Mohicans ally with the British in order to fend off the French, who are attempting to invade their territory. The film is known for its beautiful cinematography and abundance of natural imagery.

4 My Left Foot (1989) – 7.9

This honest and authentic biopic about an Irish man named Christy Brown garnered a lot of attention for Day-Lewis. In the film, Brown has lived with cerebral palsy since birth. However, instead of condemning him to his fate and to the stereotypes associated with people who share his condition, Brown’s mother instills a fighter’s spirit in him.

Using his left foot, one of the few functional parts of his body, Brown teaches himself to write, draw, and paint. He eventually becomes a well-known author and artist, as well as a fundraiser. Day-Lewis embodies all sides to Brown, both positive and negative, as the film shows that he was also a heavy drinker who wasn’t always the most pleasant person to be around.

3 Gandhi (1982) – 8.0

This Richard Attenborough biopic about the life of Indian political activist Mohandas Gandhi was a major success, garnering both critical and theatrical popularity. Ben Kingsley, a British actor of Indian descent, plays Gandhi, the famous proponent of non-violence and Indian independence from Great Britain.

The movie begins with Gandhi being thrown off a South African train for sitting in a whites-only compartment in 1893 and ends with his assassination in 1948. Day-Lewis has just a small role in this movie, as a young man who insults Gandhi.

2 In the Name of the Father (1993) – 8.1

Jim Sheridan, who also directed My Left Foot, worked with Day-Lewis again on this harrowing film based on the life of Gerry Conlon, an Irish man falsely accused of being responsible for an IRA bombing on English soil in 1974. The bombing occurred at a pub in Guildford, England, which killed four off-duty police officers and a civilian.

Despite being innocent, police forces get a signed confession from Conlon after a brutal and torturous interrogation. Conlon and his family are ruined, and his father even serves prison time alongside him. Day-Lewis lost 50 pounds and spend days in a jail cell in order to prepare for the role.

1 There Will Be Blood (2007) – 8.2

Before he worked with Paul Thomas Anderson on Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis teamed up with the American director for There Will Be Blood, another epic about the early days of oil speculators in American, where getting rich usually came at a cost. Based on the novel by Upton Sinclair, Day-Lewis stars in There Will Be Blood as Daniel Plainview, a miner who moves his way up into the oil business.

With his unsympathetic and crazed portrayal of Plainview, Day-Lewis shines a light on the kinds of men who figured out how to navigate the growing free market for their own personal gains. Day-Lewis won an Oscar for his performance.

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