Top 10 Cillian Murphy Movies and TV Shows

The best Cillian Murphy films and TV shows feature a strong mix of work from acclaimed niche directors and some of the best historical crime TV shows of this century. Murphy is an Irish actor who started working in plays before finally enjoying his role in the post-apocalyptic horror film. 28 days later (2002). Working with director Danny Boyle on this project opened the door for them to reunite a few years later for the psychological sci-fi film. Sunshine.

However, although his work with Boyle was a good way to start, what came next defined his career. He first worked with Christopher Nolan in Batman beginswhich began a collaboration between the two that led to Murphy winning the Oscar for Best Actor years later for Oppenheimer. Murphy also moved into television for his critically acclaimed role of Thomas Shelby in the gangster drama series. Peaky Blinderswhich gained award recognition throughout its six seasons.

10

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

Pedro

Based on the 1999 novel by Tracy Chevalier Girl with pearl earring stars Scarlett Johansson as a young maid to Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). Vermeer is the real-life figure who painted the Girl with Pearl Earring painting in 1665 and Johansson's Griet is the one who supposedly based the painting. Joining these two all-star cast are Tom Wilkinson, Essie Davis, Judy Parfitt and Cillian Murphy.

Murphy stars as Pieter, the butcher's son with whom Griet falls in love. In essence, Girl with pearl earring it's about art, power, social status and love. The film focuses on Griet's sexual awakening and although Pieter is part of this, he only plays a small role in the story. Reviews were mostly positive, with praise for the cast, and it also received three Oscar nominations, although all three were technical awards.

9

A Quiet Place, Part II (2020)

Emmett

After A peaceful place focused solely on a small family surviving alien attacks, A peaceful place II opens things up and shows the mother from the first film (Emily Blunt) and her three children meeting other survivors and searching for a way to continue surviving in the post-apocalyptic world. One of the new survivors they meet is Emmett, a friend of her late husband Lee (John Krasinski), who has become hardened since the alien attackS. Cillian Murphy plays Emmett in the sequel.

Emmett plays an important role in the sequel, agreeing to work with Evelyn and her daughter Regan to find out if there are survivors on an island and if he is there to help them find a way to take the battle to the aliens. Murphy practically takes over the role that Krasinski took on in the first film and delivers a solid performance as a character who isn't too different from his breakout role in 28 days later.

8

Cold Mountain (2003)

Bardolfo

Anthony Minghella Releases His Oscar-Nominated Epic Period War Drama Cold Mountain in 2003. The release was based on the end of the American Civil War and followed a wounded Confederate army deserter who ventured home to be with the woman he loves. Jude Law plays ex-soldier WP Inman, and the woman he desperately wants to get back to is the daughter of the preacher who promised to wait for him, Ada (Nicole Kidman).

Cillian Murphy has a small role in the filmas this was still early in his acting career. Murphy plays Bardolph, a soldier. He appears in the film in only one scene, but he left a memorable impression thanks to his emotional work. He ends up shot in the back by Natalie Portman's Sara after the soldiers he was with tried to sexually assault her in front of her baby. Renée Zellweger won an Oscar for her performance in Cold Mountain.

7

Sunshine (2007)

Roberto Capa

After impressing audiences with his performance in Danny Boyle's film 28 days later, Cillian Murphy reteamed with the director of the 2007 sci-fi psychological thriller Sunshine. The film follows a team of astronauts as they attempt to reignite a dying sun. Thanks to this being a long space mission movie, there's a great cast with names like Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Mark Strong, and more. However, Murphy had one of the main roles in the film.

Murphy is Robert Capa, a physicist who operates the massive star bomb device that the people of Earth hope will help reignite the sun. However, the entire mission is not the point of this story. Instead of, Sunshine is a psychological thriller that deals with how the mission affects the psyches of the people aboard the spacecraft, especially when one of them turns out to be a member of a cult that believes the Earth needs to die. The film received critical acclaim, became a cult classic, and earned Murphy a British Independent Film Award nomination.

6

Dunkirk (2017)

Trembling Soldier

Cillian Murphy has teamed up with director Christopher Nolan several times. He played the lead in one of his films (and won an Oscar for it) and took on the role of a villain in another franchise (The Dark Knight trilogy). In 2017, he worked on the director's war epic Dunkirk. The film follows the evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II from the air, land and sea. The cast was huge, and Murphy's character didn't even get a real name, known in the credits only as “Tremendous Soldier”.

However, although he is unnamed, Murphy's soldier is still a very important part of the film and appears throughout without ever revealing his name. The Royal Navy saved his life in the English Channel after his ship was destroyed. He then stays with them and helps save several other people before ending up as one of the final survivors alongside Dawson (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Collins (Jack Lowden). Dunkirk It ended with eight Oscar nominations, winning three for its technical achievements.

5

Batman Begins (2005)

Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow

In 2005, Cillian Murphy worked with Christopher Nolan for the first time in the superhero film Batman begins. Nolan plays one of the villains in this film, a psychiatrist also known as The Scarecrow. He has developed a drug that makes people see their worst fears and plans to use it to plunge Gotham City into madness, while terrorist Ra's al Ghul sets out to bring the entire city to its knees for his League of Assassins group.

Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy:

While the second film received all the critical praise (with Heath Ledger winning an Oscar for his role as Joker), Murphy was a solid first villain. Scarecrow was also the only villain to appear in all three of Nolan's Batman films, although his roles in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises were minor compared to his main villain role in this first film. Batman begins it received positive reviews, and Murphy even earned an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Villain for Liam Neeson's Ra's al Ghul.

4

28 Days Later (2002)

Jim

Cillian Murphy's real breakout role came in Danny Boyle's 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 days later. Although the film is often misclassified as a zombie film, thanks to the film's fast-moving zombies, Dawn of the Dead remake, this is actually a contagion film, as none of the crazed attackers are dead – they are just people who have lost control of their minds and become voracious killing machines. Cillian Murphy plays Jim, the main character and a survivor who tries to find a way out of the infected city.

The film has a lot in common with Undeadwith Murphy waking up in a hospital after falling into a coma and wandering to find London empty, saving the aggressive people infected with the Rage virus. He then sets out to find out if there are other survivors and escape the madness of the infected city. 28 days later it was a critical success and really helped the zombie genre re-emerge, even though it wasn't a zombie movie. It also spawned a sequel with a third film coming out in 2025.

3

Peaky Blinders (2013-2022)

Thomas Shelby

Many people don't know Cillian Murphy for his film roles. Instead of, they fell in love with the actor thanks to his performance as Thomas Shelby in period crime drama Peaky Blinders. This BBC series is based on the real-life Peaky Blinders, a gang of urban youth from London after the First World War who remained active until the 1920s. Cillian Murphy takes on the lead role of Thomas, the leader of the family and head of the own gang.

The series lasted six seasons and 36 episodes. It also included a cast that featured Sam Neill, Tom Hardy, Paddy Considine, Adrien Brody, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sam Claflin and Stephen Graham. The series won numerous awards throughout its career, including wins for Murphy at the FIPA Awards, Irish Film & Television Awards and National Television Awards for his performance. There is also a Peaky Blinders film coming in the near future that will bring the show's story to a close.

2

Home (2010)

Roberto Fischer

Cillian Murphy teamed up with Christopher Nolan again in 2010 for the sci-fi heist film Start. The film was led by Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes in stealing people's secrets by entering their dreams and planting his own details. He has a team that includes people who have mastered a specific part of the planned heists, played by Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Elliot Page.

As for Murphy, he actually plays the team's main target, Robert Fischer, the heir to a business empire that they have to manipulate to get what they need from the man who hired them. The film was a huge success, grossing over $839 million at the box office and maintaining an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Start It received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won four technical awards.

1

Oppenheimer (2023)

J. Robert Oppenheimer

It was another partnership with Christopher Nolan that finally earned Cillian Murphy his first Oscar win for Best Actor. In 2023, Murphy took on the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the scientists who helped develop the atomic bomb that ended World War II, only to be ostracized by the same United States government that previously placed its trust in him. The film was a collaborative effort and ended up as one of the most successful and critically acclaimed film releases of the year.

The film was a huge success, grossing US$976.8 million at the box office on a budget of US$100 million, while also receiving 23 Oscar nominations, winning seven of the awards. Oppenheimer won Best Picture with Christopher Nolan winning Best Director, Cillian Murphy winning the award for Best Actor, and Robert Downey Jr. winning the award for Best Supporting Actor. Murphy also won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for his performance.