The full ranking
Three Best Actor Oscars and a near-mythical commitment to every role. From the oil-soaked fury of There Will Be Blood to the quiet command of Lincoln, the small but towering filmography of cinema's most exacting actor, by consensus.
Phantom Thread
Paul Thomas Anderson's 2017 film casts Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock, a meticulous 1950s London couturier whose obsessive perfectionism meets its match in a quietly willful muse. Day-Lewis won his third Academy Award for Best Actor for the performance, which he announced would be his last.
My Beautiful Laundrette
Stephen Frears's 1985 breakthrough is a sharp, tender portrait of a gay interracial relationship in Thatcher-era South London, with Day-Lewis electrifying as a punky ex-National Front drifter turned entrepreneur. The film launched both the director and his star onto the international stage.
There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 epic follows a ruthless turn-of-the-century oil prospector across the California desert, with Day-Lewis delivering one of cinema's most ferocious performances. The film won him his second Best Actor Oscar and produced the now-legendary 'I drink your milkshake' monologue.
My Left Foot
Jim Sheridan's 1989 biography of Irish writer and painter Christy Brown, who had cerebral palsy and communicated and created through his only controllable limb. Day-Lewis immersed so fully in the role that crew members carried him on set, and the performance earned him his first Academy Award.
Lincoln
Steven Spielberg's 2012 portrait of the final months of Abraham Lincoln's presidency, centered on the legislative battle to pass the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. Day-Lewis's soft-voiced, deeply human Lincoln drew universal acclaim and a third Best Actor nomination.
The Age of Innocence
Martin Scorsese's 1993 adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel depicts the suffocating social rituals of Gilded Age New York through the longing of a man trapped between duty and desire. Day-Lewis is controlled and achingly precise as Newland Archer, a role that demands repression rather than explosion.
The Last of the Mohicans
Michael Mann's 1992 frontier epic follows Hawkeye, a white man raised by Mohicans, racing to rescue colonists caught between British and French forces during the French and Indian War. Day-Lewis trained for months in woodcraft and rifle use, giving the film a physical authenticity that matched its operatic scope.
In the Name of the Father
Jim Sheridan's 1993 drama recounts the wrongful imprisonment of Gerry Conlon and his father Giuseppe, jailed for the 1974 Guildford pub bombings they did not commit. Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite play the father and son with a rawness that turned a miscarriage-of-justice story into one of the decade's most powerful films.
Gangs of New York
Martin Scorsese's 2002 epic charts the violent tribal politics of 1860s Lower Manhattan through a revenge story set against the Draft Riots, with Day-Lewis's flamboyant, terrifying Bill the Butcher stealing every scene. The performance became a template for larger-than-life villainy in prestige cinema.
The Boxer
Jim Sheridan's 1997 drama reunites the director with Day-Lewis as a former IRA prisoner trying to return to boxing and civilian life during the Northern Ireland peace process. It is the least-seen of their collaborations and arguably the most restrained, driven by a quietly devastating portrait of a man trying to outrun his past.
Ranked across 2 sources: Rotten Tomatoes · Ranked by Tomatometer; IndieWire · The 10 Best Daniel Day-Lewis Movies. Full scoring is on the Methodology tab above.
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