From comedy to drama to the action-packed Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Karen Gillan has starred in a wide variety of roles, showcasing her range as an actress. Gillan began seriously pursuing her acting career at age 16 and landed her first role on the early 2000s detective show Rebus. From there, her acting career continued taking off, and she eventually landed one of her more popular TV roles as Amy Pond in Doctor Who between seasons five and seven. According to Screen Rant, Gillan has stated she would return to the famed British series if Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill were involved as well.

Gillan’s acting career spans beyond television, though, as she’s starred in several movies and even has credits as a writer, producer, and director for some titles. She may be most well-known for her role in the MCU as Nebula, the adopted daughter of Thanos and adopted sister of Gamora. Nebula has appeared in both volumes of Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Gillan is also slated to reprise her role as Nebula in the upcoming MCU movies Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Moreover, the actress also had a leading role in the rebooted Jumanji movies, Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and The Next Level (2019), as Ruby Roundhouse. Here are eight of Karen Gillan’s best movies, ranked.

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8 The Call of the Wild

     20th Century Studios

The 2020 adaptation of Jack London’s 1903 novel of the same name takes place during the Klondike Gold Rush in Yukon, Canada, when sled dogs were in high demand. The Call of the Wild is directed by Chris Sanders, whose other credits include family classics like Lilo & Stitch and How To Train Your Dragon. It follows the tale of a loving dog named Buck, who is uprooted from his domestic life in California and brought to the Alaskan Yukon to be a sled dog.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

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MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Gillan plays the spoiled Mercedes, who came to the Yukon with her brother Hal (Dan Stevens) and husband Charles (Colin Woodell) in the search of gold and riches. While it’s still an adventure movie, the role is different from her more well-known action roles. While Gillan’s performance is good and the movie features a star-studded cast with big names like Harrison Ford and Bradley Whitford, it received a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. That said, it’s a heartwarming movie that would be great for a family movie night.

7 Oculus

     Blumhouse Productions

While Gillan held notable roles in the past, like her time as Amy Pond on Doctor Who, Oculus (2014) really put her on the map in the United States. Oculus follows adult siblings Kaylie (Gillan) and Tim (Brenton Thwaites) as they struggle to rebuild their relationship ten years after their parents’ deaths. Kaylie has a hunch that the family’s antique mirror, called the Lasser Glass, may be what caused their parent’s deaths because there seems to be an evil, supernatural force in the mirror that gets inside the mind of anyone who looks into it. Oculus is a very suspenseful, innovative movie that leans more into the psychological thriller genre than the traditional horror movie genre. In one of her first big American movie roles, Gillan delivers a thrilling performance that has since catapulted her career forward.

6 Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle & Jumanji: The Next Level

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle (2017) is the first installment of the rebooted franchise. The movie follows a group of teenagers into the video game world of Jumanji, where they have to choose their avatars from a cast of heavy-hitters including Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, and Gillan, in order to survive and escape the game. Gillan plays Ruby Roundhouse/Martha in this body-swapping, action-packed comedy. Ruby Roundhouse is skilled in karate, Tai Chi, and dance fighting, with a weakness to snake venom. Her character is reminiscent of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, and she’s often referred to as a man-killer, warrior-princess-type of character. Since Roundhouse is the character Martha (Morgan Turner) chose to play, Gillan is tasked with playing both roles, balancing both Martha and Ruby’s personalities and mannerisms — and she does it perfectly.

Jumanji: The Next Level is the second installment in the series. Gillan reprises her role as Ruby Roundhouse/Martha, and as the group reenters the world of Jumanji to save one of their friends, they realize the game has changed since they last played, forcing them to explore new areas including deserts and snowy mountaintops in order to escape. The sequel does a great job at really playing up the video game feel that the reboot has, as opposed to the 1995 movie’s board game environment. There are new areas, abilities and skills, and weaknesses for the players, so while the plot is similar to the first installment, these slight changes make it feel new.

5 The Party’s Just Beginning

     The Orchard

The Party’s Just Begining (2018) is Gillan’s debut as both a writer and director. It follows the story of Liusaidh (Gillan) a young woman struggling to deal with her friend’s suicide. This is a new role for the actress, especially when compared to her previous action-packed performances. Liusaidh is a reckless party-goer in this coming-of-age story that feels both hard to watch, yet beautiful and intriguing at the same time. It serves as an up close look at pain and grief and how those feelings manifest in different ways for different people. The movie was also filmed in Gillan’s hometown of Iverness, Scotland. This makes her performance feel even more raw and convincing, and also allows her to act in her natural Scottish dialect, which is something she doesn’t often do.

4 7 Days in Hell

     HBO

7 Days in Hell (2016) features big names in the comedy genre like Andy Samberg, Lena Dunham, and Fred Armisen. 7 Days in Hell is a hilarious, bite-sized 40 minute mockumentary about two rival tennis players (Sandberg and Kit Harrington) who play an intense tennis match that lasts for seven days. It has a similar comedic feel to previous Samberg movies, like Hot Rod. Gillan makes a cameo as Lily, Harrington’s supermodel ex-girlfriend. Though her role is smaller, she stands out for her funny delivery and dramatic English accent.

3 The Big Short

     Regency Enterprises

The Big Short (2015) follows four parallel storylines of people who saw the 2005 U.S. housing crisis that big banks, media and government officials refused to pay attention to. It’s a dramatic comedy with a cast full of stars, including Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Finn Wittrock and Christian Bale. Gillan has a minor role in the movie, only appearing on-screen for a short scene. However, her character stands out as the bright, flirty, pool-side cocktail-drinking Evie, who is “floating her resume to some big banks,” as her line states. Despite Gillan’s small appearance, the movie — which is based on true events — was exceptionally well-liked by audience members and professional critics.

2 Guardians of the Galaxy

     Marvel Studios

One of Gillan’s largest roles came when she was cast as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). The first movie follows the space adventurer Peter Quill or Starlord (Chris Pratt) as he rallies a troop of galactic misfits to save the universe from the villain Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). Guardians of the Galaxy has all the usual flair of a Marvel movie. It’s energetic, funny and full of action and unique characters. Gillan’s character Nebula is a former assassin who assists Ronan in his pursuit to retrieve the orb, which contains the Power Stone. Nebula is an evil cyborg who fights against both her sister and the Guardians in order to please Thanos.

Gillan reprised her role as Nebula in Vol. 2. Her arc in the sequel is similar to the first in that she’s hellbent on revenge, this time on her sister Gamora. As the sisters fight, Gamora offers Nebula a truce, which causes Nebula to soften and shows how dynamic her character is. While the action-packed scenes that are native to the MCU aren’t new to Gillan, Nebula’s villainy is a new role for her to take on, but her dedication to perfecting the character is clear in every scene. Because Nebula is a cyborg, Gillan underwent an extensive makeup transformation to achieve the sinister, robotic look, adding to her apparent dedication to the role.

1 Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) was an extremely anticipated release, showcasing the ultimate fight as the Avengers try to stop Thanos from obtaining all the Infinity Stones and wiping out half the universe. Following her truce with Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Infinity War sees Nebula come full circle as a character, and Gillan’s performance makes it believable. The actress returns as Nebula in Avengers: Endgame (2019), joining the remaining heroes to travel back in time to retrieve the Infinity Stones and undo the snap that dissolved everyone in Infinity War. As of right now, Endgame was the final Avengers movie. However, Gillan is set to reprise her stellar performance as Nebula in the upcoming movies Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.