# What is the best Mos Def screen performance?

> A rapper-turned-actor with a surprisingly wide range: studio dramas, buddy comedies and prestige TV. Some roles are leads, others are scene-stealing cameos worth arguing over.

*By YPB Team · Published October 18, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-mos-def-screen-performance*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Something the Lord Made** — score 1000/1000
   His Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated lead turn as surgical pioneer Vivien Thomas in the 2004 HBO film.
2. **16 Blocks** — score 840/1000
   A fast-talking witness escorted across New York by Bruce Willis in Richard Donner's 2006 thriller.
3. **Brown Sugar** — score 799/1000
   A comic, charismatic turn as Chris in the 2002 hip-hop romance, an NAACP Image Award nominee.
4. **Bamboozled** — score 709/1000
   Spike Lee's 2000 satire, in which he played Manray, a street performer turned minstrel-show star.
5. **The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy** — score 600/1000
   Ford Prefect in the 2005 adaptation of Douglas Adams' comic sci-fi novel.
6. **Life of Crime** — score 600/1000
   Ordell Robbie in the 2013 adaptation of Elmore Leonard's The Switch.
7. **Cadillac Records** — score 466/1000
   His portrayal of Chuck Berry in the 2008 Chess Records drama earned awards attention.
8. **The Woodsman** — score 0/1000
   A grounded supporting role as a coworker in the 2004 drama, singled out by critics as a highlight.
9. **The Italian Job** — score 0/1000
   The 2003 heist remake in which he played safecracker Left Ear.
10. **Be Kind Rewind** — score 0/1000
   Co-lead in Michel Gondry's 2008 comedy about a video store and homemade remakes.
11. **Lackawanna Blues** — score 0/1000
   A supporting role in the 2005 HBO drama of a Black boarding-house community in 1950s Buffalo.

Tags: movies, 2000s, hip-hop, actors, performances, mos-def