Audiences will always have their favorite actors. Many times it is because they play the best hero or the most relatable character. However, some actors were just born to play the villains. Some of the best performances are given when actors get to release their inhibitions and take a walk on the dark side.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

13 Vincent D’Onofrio

After seeing Vincent D’Onofrio as the mentally broken Pvt. Pyle, audiences really saw him as an actor that could stir things up with bad guy performances. He then played the alien cockroach Edgar in Men in Black (1997); the sadistic serial killer in The Cell from 2000, and even played a greedy warmonger in 2015’s Jurassic World. Most recently, he has shined as Kingpin in both the Netflix Daredevil series and Hawkeye on Disney+. He blends so well into his roles that it can be hard to see that D’Onofrio is the wonderful actor behind each performance.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

12 Ed Harris

Ed Harris has a great list of wonderful performances that show his range. His villain roles all have a unique quality. In the 1996 thriller The Rock, Harris portrayed a veteran that throws away his honor and risks a terrorism conviction in order to bring the treatment of veterans to the government’s attention. Then, in 2007’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Harris plays a man who uses threats of life and death in order to help find a treasure to clear his family’s name of disgrace. Possibly his best villain role is as The Man in Black in HBO’s Westworld. Some of Harris’s villains would be considered anti-heroes if the character were not the story’s antagonist.

11 John Travolta

     Touchstone Pictures

While John Travolta became a big name thanks to his musical talents in Saturday Night Fever and Grease, he proved that his acting could produce a great bad guy. The 2004 film The Punisher did not impress many fans of the original; however, Travolta’s performance was well received in the role of the violent mob boss, Howard Saint. Before that role, Travolta and Nicolas Cage played opposite of each other in 1997’s Face/Off. This was a unique set of performances since the film’s beginning, where Cage is the psychopath criminal and Travolta is the upstanding cop. Then, the characters literally swap faces, which turns Travolta into the crazy villain. This film is an amazing sci-fi movie that fans are still crazy about.

10 Willem Dafoe

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Willem Dafoe has always been a character actor that takes on roles that are wacky and very different. With a long filmography with varying roles, Dafoe is an absolute audience favorite in any role he plays. His biggest fan-favorite role is from the 2002 Sam Raimi Spider-Man. The Green Goblin is one of the greatest comic book villains from the Marvel universe. Dafoe is the perfect choice for the multiple personality-suffering scientist. He became the face of the villain that fans grew up with and knew as one of the most volatile psychopaths in Marvel cinema.

9 Keanu Reeves

     Paramount Village

One of the most beloved actors of this generation is Keanu Reeves. He is known for is many roles as the lovable hero. There are a few roles where the happy and fun Ted takes a walk on the dark side. In the 2000 thriller The Gift, he plays the worst character possible, as a violent man that just barely misses the classification of villain.

7 Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson is one of the most recognizable actors of all time. He has been a part of multiple franchises like Star Wars and the MCU. He also has roles that show his harsh and rough side. A great villain role Jackson has done is Mr. Glass. The character from the M. Night Shyamalan trilogy is a very skilled character that takes a disability to an evil mastermind to a super villain. It was an incredible character story that paired well with Jackson’s talents to make for a wonderful experience for the audience.

6 James McAvoy

     Universal Pictures

James McAvoy has had a great variety of roles under his belt since 1995. He took on a very different role in 2016 with the film Split. Playing a character with a severe case of multiple personality syndrome poses a big challenge. McAvoy did such an amazing job in the psychological thriller, that audiences were excited to see him again. In 2019’s Glass, it was exciting to see McAvoy’s Beast up against Samuel L. Jackson’s Glass and Bruce Willis’ David Dunn.

5 Dennis Quaid

Dennis Quaid has been in many films and cameos throughout his career. Audiences are always happy to see his familiar face because they know his performance will be great. Quaid is often portraying a good guy or a hero; it throws audiences perceptions when he is actually the villain. Some films have used it to their advantage like Pandorum, where the truth is hidden behind Quaid’s credibility as a good guy. Then there is the 2019 film The Intruder, Dennis Quaid’s performance made that film terrifying and a true thriller. His down-home charm was unsettling next to the violent actions.

4 Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke is another actor that shows his range in all the roles he takes on. While he has starred in horror films before, he tends to play a hero or the man fighting for survival. In the 2021 film The Black Phone, Hawke released his inner psychopath. Playing The Grabber, Hawke shows the mental disturbance in the cycle of abuse. It was out of the norm for him, but one of the best performances of the year.

3 John Lithgow

     Warner Bros. Television Distribution

John Lithgow’s Dr. Dick Solomon is one of the funniest TV dads of the ’90s. Lithgow is known for many of his comedic roles. Even a famous villain role Lithgow, Lord Farquad from Shrek, is a family film villain. However, Lithgow portrayed Arthur Mitchell in Dexter. Mitchell’s character was a disturbing performance that took a cold-blooded killer and showed his double life as a suburban family man and community leader. The likable personality that hid the monster was an incredible performance.

2 Anjelica Huston

     Warner Bros. Pictures

The wonderful Anjelica Huston has had many fan-favorite roles, such as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family. She has taken on her own share of villain roles as well. In the 1990 film The Witches, Huston played the Grand High Witch that schemed to wipe every child out of existence. Huston’s villains can have a more passive evil to them. In the 1998 fairytale Ever After: A Cinderella Story, Huston portrayed Rodmilla, the evil stepmother. Not only did this character encourage the horrible treatment of Danielle (Drew Barrymore), but she also was emotionally abusive and always scheming. Huston’s performances will always be attributed to the range of her talent.

1 Helena Bonham Carter

     Warner Bros.

Helena Bonham Carter is one of the most interesting actresses that are known today. She has a long filmography that includes lots of voice-over work and all of her roles are never the same type. Her villain roles are wonderful performances that show her skills in a different light. Her role as the Red Queen in the 2010 Alice in Wonderland was a great, magical performance that brought a new life to the classic, violent monarch. Carter showed off her singing skills as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, where she played a musical baker that uses real humans for her meat pies.

Her most well-known villain is the deranged Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter franchise. The performance of one of the most hated witches in the franchise was beautifully done. The over-the-top antics of a mad woman juxtaposed with the nuances of an emotional battle of good and evil was just brilliant.