What is the best Daniel Day-Lewis performance of all time?
The patron saint of method acting left behind a small but breathtaking catalog of transformations — from towering American legends to intimate Irish souls. Which is his masterpiece?
Daniel Plainview — There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 epic featuring Day-Lewis's towering portrayal of a monstrous oil prospector, earning him his second Oscar.
Abraham Lincoln — Lincoln
Steven Spielberg's 2012 film with Day-Lewis delivering an intimate, revelatory portrait of the 16th President navigating the abolition of slavery.
Christy Brown — My Left Foot
The 1989 biographical film about the Irish writer-artist born with cerebral palsy, earning Day-Lewis his first Academy Award.
Bill the Butcher — Gangs of New York
Martin Scorsese's 2002 epic in which Day-Lewis plays the fearsome nativist gang leader who dominates every scene he inhabits.
Hawkeye — The Last of the Mohicans
The 1992 frontier epic in which Day-Lewis plays the rugged marksman with physical intensity and romantic conviction in Michael Mann's acclaimed adventure.
Gerry Conlon — In the Name of the Father
The 1993 drama about an Irishman wrongfully imprisoned for the Guildford pub bombings, with Day-Lewis delivering raw emotional power.
Reynolds Woodcock — Phantom Thread
Day-Lewis's final performance (2017) as a meticulous British fashion designer whose controlled world is upended by an unexpected romance.
Tomas — The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The 1988 Philip Kaufman film in which Day-Lewis plays a Czech surgeon navigating love and politics during the Prague Spring.
Daniel McAleer — The Boxer
A former IRA prisoner who tries to rebuild his life through boxing in Jim Sheridan's 1997 drama, showing Day-Lewis's extraordinary physical commitment.
Cecil Vyse — A Room with a View
The pompous, repressed Edwardian suitor in James Ivory's 1985 Merchant Ivory classic, an early showcase of Day-Lewis's comic range.
Johnny — My Beautiful Laundrette
A white working-class punk who helps run a laundrette with his Pakistani boyfriend in Stephen Frears' groundbreaking 1985 film.
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