# 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?

*By YPB Team · Published April 10, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-daniel-day-lewis-performance-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **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.
2. **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.
3. **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.
4. **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.
5. **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.
6. **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.
7. **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.
8. **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.
9. **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.
10. **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.
11. **Johnny — My Beautiful Laundrette**
   A white working-class punk who helps run a laundrette with his Pakistani boyfriend in Stephen Frears' groundbreaking 1985 film.

Tags: movies, actors, tv shows, classics, daniel day-lewis