Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn has been acting since 1984, but most people became aware of him in Animal Kingdom in 2010. Since then, he’s been one of the biggest villains in many franchises, creating characters we love to hate (or just hate to hate). Here are Ben Mendelsohn’s best performances, ranked.

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9 Ready Player One (2018)

     Warner Bros. Pictures

Based on Ernest Cline’s novel and directed by Steven Spielberg, Ready Player One tells the story of Wade (Tye Sheridan) and his adventures in the virtual reality game OASIS. After his death, the system’s creator (Mark Rylance) left a hidden “Easter egg challenge” that will give ownership of the whole system to the one who finds it. Mendelsohn plays Sorrento, the leader of the greedy corporation that wants to keep OASIS to profit itself. Mendelsohn’s character is greed personified; he’s a villain with a capital V, as he will do anything (even murdering kids) to keep the virtual system and make millions in profit. The character doesn’t have many gray areas, and yet you respect the Australian actor’s commitment to being the worst person ever.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

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MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

8 Captain Marvel (2019)

     Marvel

Captain Marvel comes back to Earth and discovers her past while trying to unravel the mystery of the Skrulls, and what they are doing on our planet. This movie is one of Brie Larson’s best performances and has a great cast. She’s surrounded by Jude Law, Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch, and Mendelsohn; he benefits from his continuous casting as the bad guy to give us a surprise twist during the movie. Mendelsohn plays Talos’ both sides; at first he’s intimidating and evil, but once Captain Marvel knows the truth, he becomes noble, smart, and even funny. Playing all those emotions while having all that makeup on shows Mendelsohn’s incredible talent.

7 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

     Walt Disney StudiosMotion Pictures

In Rogue One, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and his band of misfits must steal the plans to the Death Star to help the Rebellion. Mendelsohn plays Orson Krennic in what must be his most villainous role ever (and that’s saying something). Krennic is an ambitious bureaucrat that will stop at nothing if it helps him keep climbing the evil corporate ladder. He’s arrogant, sinister, cruel, and a bit incompetent. The fact that he finds it beautiful how the Death Star can destroy a whole city shows us how far this man can go in one of the best Star Wars movies ever.

6 Killing Them Softly (2012)

     The Weinstein Company

A professional enforcer named Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) is called to solve what happened in a heist in a mob-protected poker game. Mendelsohn’s role in Killing Them Softly is not that big, but it’s memorable, as he plays a waste of a human; greasy, incompetent, drug-addicted guy, who gets the ball rolling in the film by stealing from said poker game with his friend Frankie (Scoot McNairy). Mendelsohn’s character is always high, and repulsive, both kidnapping dogs and having unhinged sexual encounters with false bravados, and that will do anything to get his next fix. Not an easy role, but Mendelsohn nails this disgusting character.

5 Animal Kingdom (2010)

     Madman Entertainment

When J’s (James Frecheville) mother dies from an overdose, he goes to live with his grandmother Janine “Smurf” Cody (Jacki Weaver), and his sons, all part of a crime family. In Animal Kingdom, Mendelsohn plays Andrew “Pope” Cody, the oldest son of “Smurf” in the performance that made him get noticed (and book many villainous roles). Mendelsohn gives a tour-de-force as the creepy, detached Pope, who’ll do anything to protect his family (even causing an innocent, underaged girl to overdose) and doesn’t have a moral code. The greatest thing Mendelsohn does with this role is to give menacing, evil vibes, while almost doing nothing. It’s only how he looks and talks to the other characters that makes us feel he’s unpredictable and could explode at any moment. And there’s nothing more scary and dangerous than that. Animal Kingdom is one of the best Australian movies and was also a launching pad for Weaver (who got nominated for an Oscar for the role), Mendelsohn, Sullivan Stapleton, and Joel Edgerton.

4 Mississippi Grind (2015)

     A24

Gerry (Mendelsohn) is an alcoholic, sad-sack player who will bet everything on a poker game, and never wins anything. When he meets Curtis (Ryan Reynolds), he believes his luck changes as they both travel through the south to a high-stakes poker game in New Orleans. In Mississippi Grind, Mendelsohn plays a charming loser whose only worry is how to get money to keep gambling, as the feeling of “I might win this time” is the only thing that keeps him going. The Australian actor gives a fun, laid-back performance and has great chemistry with Reynolds (in one of his best performances ever) in this entertaining movie.

3 Starred Up (2013)

     Fox Searchlight Pictures

Starred Up tells the story of Eric (Jack O’Connell), who has just starred up: he’s being transferred to a high-security adult prison from the juvenile prison he was in. There, he’ll find his father, Neville (Mendelsohn), serving a life sentence. Mendelsohn’s performance is incredible. He has to be both tough and sensitive at the same time, regretful but practical; smart but vulnerable; rough but wistful. He must have all those emotions while no one discovers he’s trying to help his son navigate the prison world, while trying to lie low from the guards and other prisoners.

2 The Land of Steady Habits (2018)

     Netflix

Anders Harris (Mendelsohn) feels his life is asphyxiating him, so he leaves his wife and job to find what makes him happy. The answers are not as fun, or pretty as he might’ve thought at the start. In The Land of Steady Habits, Mendelsohn plays a normal guy who is having a midlife crisis, and he nails how lost and looking for answers he really is while looking for some redemption. Director Nicole Holofcener told Slant Magazine why he cast Mendelsohn: “It’s because I like casting actors that haven’t done exactly what I’m asking them to do. It’s so much more interesting to find someone who hasn’t done this yet.”

1 Bloodline (2015-2017)

The Rayburn family has many secrets that they’ve managed to hide over the years. When black sheep brother Danny (Mendelsohn) comes back to town, the whole family starts to unravel. Bloodline won Mendelsohn his first Emmy, as his performance was magnetic. His character had many self-destructive tendencies, which could be menacing and scary, but he also loved his family and felt an incredible amount of guilt for the tragedy he helped cause in the past. He had the biggest role in the first season, but his character and performance were so impactful that even after his presence reverberated throughout the whole show. About the production, Mendelsohn told Entertainment Weekly: “There was room for a lot of stuff. Certainly, Kyle and I would get on the floor, do it left and right, and this way and that. We would try to not leave too much unchecked out in the way we were trying to do the scenes.”