There aren’t a lot of actors who demonstrate the versatility, bravery, and commitment that Barry Keoghan has already shown before reaching the age of 30. While many young stars attempt to break into the industry through young adult adaptations and mainstream fare, Keoghan has chosen to work on edgier projects from some of the best directors of the generation. Hollywood may be looking for the next young actor they can stick in a recurring franchise role, but Keoghan has shown signs that he could be this generation’s Leonardo DiCaprio or Joaquin Phoenix.
The young star began his career working in independent productions, short films, and extended miniseries in his home country of Ireland. It didn’t take long for directors like Christopher Nolan and Yorgos Lanthimos to recognize his talent. By the time that Keoghan received a BAFTA nomination for the Rising Star Award, he’d already amassed an impressive filmography. He’s certainly not slowing down anytime soon; some of his most exciting upcoming projects are the new World War II drama series Masters of the Air (the follow-up to Band of Brothers and The Pacific) and the drama film The Banshees of Inisherin from director Martin McDonagh.
Here are Barry Keoghan’s seven best films, ranked.
7. Eternals (2021)
Eternals is among the most ambitious projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far, but it's also one of the most divisive. While some fans were impressed by how Chloe Zhao intertwined the mythology of the godlike characters with world history, others found the film to be emotionally flat and static. Regardless of the opinions on the film overall, it’s hard to say that Eternals wastes the talents of its incredible cast. Keoghan plays one of the most compelling characters in the film; Druig can influence others’ perception and read their thoughts.
If criticisms of Eternals were largely centered on the lack of momentum, Druig’s perspective is one that even the film’s critics might respect. He has grown distant from the other members of the team, as he disapproves of their inaction and failure to prevent human suffering. While he may come off as emotionally distant, Keoghan shows that all of Druig’s frustration comes from his empathy. He feels helpless to prevent humanity from repeating the same mistakes.
6. Calm With Horses (2019)
In Calm With Horses, Keoghan showed that he could be very intimidating on screen with a performance similar to Robert De Niro’s iconic role in Mean Streets. Despite his youth, he hints at his aptitude for violence and experiences without giving away any specific details regarding his backstory. Calm With Horses is the rare crime thriller that questions how the cycle of vengeance begins; Keoghan’s character Dymphna is roped into a familial conflict without knowing what the ramifications will be.
Set in Keoghan’s home of Ireland, Calm With Horses follows the mafia enforcers Arm (Cosmo Jarvis) and Dymphna as their employers, the Devers family, begin a drug war. Arm is caught between loyalties; he’s not an inherently violent person, and he wants to provide for his children and offer them a better future. Keoghan shows the reason that Dymphna is so emotionally closed off. He’s terrified of having a family like Arm and letting them down.
5. '71 (2014)
In another gripping thriller set in Keoghan’s home country, ‘71 details one of the most controversial events in Irish history. Yann Demange’s directorial debut centers on the Belfast riots that rocked the streets during the 1970s, and how anti-authoritarian sentiments broke into all-out violence between police and local residents. While the story is fictionalized, it's modeled after real historical accounts. Jack O’Connell delivers a breakout performance as the young British soldier Gary Hook, a new recruit separated from his unit.
Hook is lost within the bloodbath and forced to survive in a city that views him as an enemy. He’s averse to trusting anyone given the tensions, but he finds a surprising ally in the young boy Sean (Keoghan). At a very tender age, Sean already shows that he’s adjusted to the state of political disenfranchisement in his home. However, he still looks up to Hook as a hero, and maybe the man who can turn things around.
4. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Yorgos Lanthimos’s meticulous thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer is among the most anxiety inducing films within recent memory. The film centers on the successful career surgeon Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell), who regrets his failure to save a family earlier in his career. The family’s sole survivor was the young boy Martin Lang (Keoghan), who Steven had taken under his wing. Steven’s wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) decides to invite Martin to join their family activities.
Steven grows suspicious as Martin begins to show romantic interest in his daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Keoghan is absolutely unsettling as Martin gradually disrupts the family dynamics, inserting himself into their home under the guise that he’s coping from tragedy. Martin isn’t a typical villain, and Lanthimos hints at his motivations without ever telling them to the audience outright. It showed Keoghan’s skill in handling nuanced material.
3. American Animals (2018)
American Animals is a different type of heist thriller, as it's more focused on the anxiety that perpetrators face both before and after their crimes than the actual operation itself. The film is a fascinating mix between a Hollywood dramatization and a true-crime documentary; it incorporates real interviews with recreations featuring actors. Interestingly, director Bart Layton hints that not everything on screen is entirely accurate, as the four men convicted of the central crime have differing accounts of what actually occurred.
The film follows four young students at Transylvania University, who decided to rob their school’s library in order to steal a priceless book; Warren Lipka (Evan Peters), Chas Allen III (Blake Jenner), Erik Borusk (Jared Abrahamson), and Spencer Reinhard (Keoghan) aren’t motivated by greed, but rather boredom and a sense of unaccomplishment. Spencer is among the most sympathetic of the four; he’s adverse to violence in general, and he only steadily grows interested in the endeavor due to Warren’s charisma.
2. Dunkirk (2017)
Nolan’s Dunkirk is one of the greatest war films ever made. Rather than focus on overblown recreations of heroism and melodramatic political statements, Nolan showed the numerous lives that a major historical event like the Dunkirk operation reached. Survival itself is the true victory, and Nolan plays with the timeline to show how each of the individual character arcs are connected. It features a great ensemble of brilliant actors, each of whom are empathetic despite their limited screen time.
There aren’t many characters in the story who are more compelling than Keoghan’s role as the young boy George Mills. A young patriot who wants to help the war effort, George volunteers to help the elder dockworker Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) rescues the British forces on the shores of France. George’s interactions with both Dawson and a traumatized soldier (Cillian Murphy) are among the most heartfelt in the film. While Nolan is often accused of being unemotional, George’s death is absolutely devastating.
1. The Green Knight (2021)
The Arthurian legend has been adapted for the screen countless times, but just last year David Lowery made the medieval story feel fresh again with his gorgeous modern epic The Green Knight. Rather than focus on spectacle (although it does feature stunning visuals), The Green Knight examined the mortality of heroes. King Arthur’s (Sean Harris) ambitious nephew Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) aims to prove himself as a knight, but his will is tested by a variety of morally ambiguous characters he encounters throughout his quest.
Among them is Keoghan’s character, a thieving scavenger who preys upon Gawain’s innocence. Under the guise of asking for help, he robs and nearly kills the prospective hero. Keoghan’s introduction in an extended tracking shot is one of the most beautiful sequences in the film. It proved that Keoghan could be memorable, no matter how much screen time he received.