Born Eric Banadinović in Melbourne to parents Ivan and Eleanor, Eric Bana is an acclaimed actor and comedian best known for his roles in Troy and Hulk. After a brief yet successful career in Australian television throughout the mid-90s, Bana made his major film debut in Andrew Dominik’s 2000 crime film Chopper, a dramatic retelling of the life of famed Australian criminal Mark “Chopper” Read. Like any good drama actor of the 2000s, Bana went full method for the titular role, gaining 30 pounds and spending personal time with Read himself to better play the character. His commitment and mastery of the role garnered massive acclaim, and inspired Ridley Scott to cast him in his film Black Hawk Down the year later, quickly cementing a spot for Bana in Hollywood.
In the following decades, Bana has made a name for himself as a talented dramatic actor, starring alongside other Hollywood hard hitters like Natalie Portman and Daniel Craig. With award-winning films on his roster like Troy and The Other Boleyn Girl, Bana has especially proven to be a master of historical drama. In honor of his upcoming thriller project, Force of Nature (via Variety), here are ten of Eric Bana’s best films to date.
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10 Hanna (2011)
Sony Pictures Releasing
This action thriller starring Saoirse Ronan in the titular role of Hanna follows a young assassin raised and trained to kill by her ex-CIA operative father, portrayed by Bana. After years of training in hand-to-hand combat, the 16-year-old Hanna sets out to complete her life’s goal: to kill senior CIA officer and her father’s long-time adversary, Marissa Wiegler, played by Cate Blanchett. After a wild chase across Europe, the film concludes in a bloody battle between Wiegler and Hanna in which the young assassin fortunately prevails.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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9 The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)
New Line Cinema
In the sci-fi romantic comedy, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Bana plays a librarian with a rare genetic disorder that causes him to travel through time against his will. The romance at the very center of this story begins when Bana’s character, Henry, meets a younger version of his future wife, Clare, portrayed by rom-com goddess Rachel McAdams. Despite the immense love between the two, their relationship is marred by Henry’s sporadic and uncontrollable time-traveling, making this soon-to-be classic a bittersweet story for the ages.
8 Star Trek (2009)
Spyglass Entertainment
Released the same year as Bana’s quantum-leaping romantic comedy, J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the classic Star Trek series sees television icons Kirk and Spock return to the big screen, this time as novice space adventurers. Though the two aren’t the best of friends at the movie’s start, an intergalactic threat by the name of Nero, portrayed by Bana, forces them to put aside their difference for the sake of mankind. Bana gives an exceptional performance in this rare villain role, proving he’s much more than a typical leading man.
7 Lone Survivor (2013)
Universal Pictures
Lone Survivor, adapted from the autobiographical book of the same name by Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, tells the story of four US Navy SEALs’ pursuit of Taliban leader Ahmad Shah in June 2005. Bana plays the real-life Lieutenant Erik Kristensen, who, along with most of his team, was unfortunately killed in a helicopter crash in their pursuit of Shah. The movie is a dramatized retelling of the events that took place that day, a harrowing tale of danger, stakes, and immense bravery on the part of all those involved.
6 Hulk (2003)
5 Chopper (2000)
AFI
Yet another biographical adaptation, Bana had his film debut in the Australian crime biopic Chopper, adapted from the autobiography of infamous Australian criminal Mark “Chopper” Read. In this action-packed crime drama, Bana fills the lead role with passion and dedication, having gained 30 pounds for the role and spending two days alone with the real-life Chopper Read to get a better understanding of the criminal’s mind. The film follows Read in his days in prison and the subsequent quarrel with his former collaborator Jimmy Loughnan.
4 The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
Columbia Pictures
By the time of The Other Boleyn Girl’s release, Bana had already proven himself as an exceptional historical actor in Troy, but his role as the vicious King Henry VIII cemented his place as an icon of historical drama. Unlike typical depictions of the last of the Tudors, this film focuses little on the king and his arguably more famous daughters, Queens Mary and Elizabeth I, but rather on Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, and her sister Mary. The Other Boleyn Girl is the story of one queen’s paranoia and of two young girls who unfortunately fell in with a dangerous family.
3 Troy (2004)
Warner Bros.
Riding off the success of 2003’s Hulk, Bana found himself once again thrust into the spotlight with the Hollywood blockbuster Troy, a war film adapted from Homer’s classic Iliad. In it, Bana plays Hector, prince of Troy and commander of the Trojan army. The battle at the center of the film’s plot is a fantastical clash of leather, iron, and immense emotion, and Bana’s portrayal of the Trojan Hector made him a household name in Hollywood.
2 Black Hawk Down (2001)
If Bana is known mostly for historical films, he’s known even more for his war films, and Black Hawk Down is likely his most famous. The film tells the story of a US Military mission to capture the leader of a Somalian militia named Mohammed Farrah Aidid and provide aid to the people of Somalia. A huge firefight ensues between the American soldiers and Aidid’s militia, and the bulk of the film centers around the efforts of US Army Rangers to assist the fallen team.
1 Munich (2005)
This spy drama, directed by Steven Spielberg and inspired by George Jonas’ book Vengeance, follows Bana’s Avner Kaufman as he is tasked with assassinating 11 men thought to be involved in the Black September massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. After battling his own guilt amidst these assassinations, Kaufman closes out Munich traumatized from his actions and paranoid from the guilt of having accidentally killed multiple innocent people in his pursuit of the terrorist group.
