# What is the best Oscar Isaac movie role?

> From Coen Brothers folk singer to Marvel shape-shifter to Paul Schrader slow-burn, Oscar Isaac has built one of the most diverse and impressive filmographies of his generation. Which role defines him?

*By YPB Team · Published June 1, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-oscar-isaac-movie-role*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Llewyn Davis (Inside Llewyn Davis)**
   Isaac's career-defining 2013 Coen Brothers performance as a down-on-his-luck folk singer navigating a bleak week in early 1960s Greenwich Village.
2. **Nathan (Ex Machina)**
   Isaac's unnerving 2014 turn as an eccentric tech billionaire who invites a programmer to evaluate his humanoid AI creation at a remote mountain compound.
3. **Abel Morales (A Most Violent Year)**
   Isaac's 2014 magnetic performance as an immigrant businessman trying to build a legitimate heating-oil empire in 1981 New York without resorting to violence.
4. **Poe Dameron (Star Wars)**
   Isaac's charismatic hotshot Resistance pilot whose courage, humor, and unshakeable optimism across three sequel films made him a fan favorite.
5. **Duke Leto Atreides (Dune)**
   Isaac's dignified 2021 Denis Villeneuve performance as the noble but ill-fated Duke whose acceptance of a poisoned planet sets his family's destiny in motion.
6. **Marc Spector / Moon Knight**
   Isaac's astonishing 2022 Marvel Disney+ performance playing multiple personalities — Chicago accent, British accent, and Egyptian god — within a single character.
7. **William Tell (The Card Counter)**
   Isaac's 2021 Paul Schrader slow-burn performance as a former military interrogator turned professional poker player haunted by his role in detainee torture.
8. **Rodrigo Solís (Show Me a Hero)**
   Isaac's Emmy-winning 2015 HBO performance as the real-life Yonkers mayor destroyed by a court-ordered housing desegregation battle he couldn't win.

Tags: movies, actors, performances