Since 2013, the world has watched Wendy Byrde in awe as she has transformed from a seemingly gentle-mannered housewife to a manipulative, ruthless partner in a drug cartel. By the time Ozark confirmed Laura Linney, who portrays Wendy, she had a long list of accolades under her belt, including four Tony award nominations and three Academy Award nominations. Her career stretches back to the early 90s, when Linney gradually became prominent in the New York theater scene, starring in multiple Broadway shows. Eventually, she made her way onto the screen with her television debut as Mary Ann Singleton in the acclaimed miniseries Tales of the City, before her breakthrough role as Janet Venable in Primal Fear.

There are endless fascinating qualities about each of Linney’s performances. She steals every scene, from a frustrated wife on her last limb to a haughty, arrogant mother attempting to control her children’s lives. Likewise, her range is astounding; she’s able to move seamlessly between innocent characters to more unsettling, sinister ones. There tends to be an unpredictable quality in her expression, allowing her to say so much in a single look without uttering a word. The following is a list of Linney’s most iconic, multifaceted, and must-watch roles to date.

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The Truman Show (1998)

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Image Via Paramount Pictures

With a perfect match of The Truman Show’s setting being an idyllic yet eerie suburban utopia, and Linney’s incredible ability to portray an almost robotic woman constantly on edge, it only makes sense that she was cast as Meryl Burbank in the 1998 film. The story follows Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), a small-town insurance salesman who yearns for more in his life and eventually comes to the realization that everything around him is part of a television series. While the comedy-drama received 3 Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, there was not nearly enough recognition for Linney’s performance.

Linney plays Truman’s wife, a happy-go-lucky nurse whose purpose on the show, other than portraying a loving and supportive wife, is to advertise products throughout the series in a discreet way. This would not have been an easy role for any actor. As Meryl, Linney must draw a fine line between playing truth for her husband and playing to audiences as a reality television star. Linney even studied Sears catalogs from the 1940s in order to bring those cheerful, squeaky-clean poses to life. Indeed, she transcends, her expressions and movements often shifting in an attempt to appear normal while her vocal tone when she’s selling a product remains just under the line of exaggeration. While the character could’ve easily fallen under the trap of just another set-piece, Linney found the humanity in Meryl Burbank.

You Can Count On Me (2000)

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Image Via Paramount Classics

Like all great Kenneth Lonergan films, You Can Count On Me is an affecting portrait of the complexity of human relationships. The drama, which follows single mother, Sammy, who must confront her frayed relationship with her brother (Mark Ruffalo) upon his return to their hometown, is a beautiful study of the importance of family in the wake of grief. Linney’s portrayal of Sammy Prescott earned her her first Oscar nomination and cemented Linney as a master of her craft. When Sammy, a fiercely protective mother living in her childhood home in the New York Catskills, first hears of her estranged brother's visit, she’s elated. Linney’s trademark smile, a warm and inviting expression, erupts over her face as she bakes cookies for her guest. However, as Terry’s visit progresses, and as she learns of the truth behind his visit, her smile slowly starts to fade. Sammy goes from being a mild-mannered pushover to finally standing up for herself in every aspect of her life. The performance is moving and real, and the film is unimaginable without Linney’s power.

Love Actually (2003)

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Image Via Universal Pictures

A holiday staple, this 2003 Richard Curtis romcom was an immediate box office hit. While the intertwining stories are difficult not to love, it might be the cast that won over the hearts of so many audiences around the world. The film connects 10 stories and 23 characters as they navigate their own complicated careers, family, and relationships in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Linney is a standout in the cast as Sarah, an American working at a graphic design company, who has spent the past few years in love with Karl (Rodrigo Santoro), the chief designer. While Sarah becomes desperate to make something happen with Karl (thanks to a push from Alan Rickman), she must balance a potential new love with the priority of taking care of her family. Linney finds the truth in Sarah’s character; she’s often slightly awkward, shy, and unsure of how to express her emotions. However, she’s also battling an intense internal conflict. Linney conveys this perfectly throughout Sarah’s story, making for one of the most memorable characters in the enormous cast.

Kinsey (2004)

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Image Via Fox Searchlight

Linney’s second Oscar-nominated role displays her incredible range as Clara McMillen, a researcher who collaborated with her husband Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) in their study of human sexuality. The biopic follows Alfred’s journey as he becomes involved in the field of sexual behavior while struggling with his own relationship with Clara. The film received widespread acclaim thanks to the undeniably strong chemistry between Neeson and Linney. Linney is purposefully deceptive as Clara. While at first, she seems docile and passive, speaking with a soft, high-pitched tone of voice, she quickly turns the tables and finds depth within the character. As she evolves with each scene, she begins to stand her ground and confronts her husband when he admits to having cheated on her. “Stop using science to justify what you’ve done,” she tells him when they sit down for the difficult conversation. The shakiness in Linney’s voice conveys not just a general pain, but one specific to betrayal.

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

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Image Via Samuel Goldwyn Films/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Noah Baumbachs fifth film, which was produced by Wes Anderson and premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, is a delightful yet painfully real portrayal of the messiness of family. While it’s often labeled as a drama, there are so many moments of darkly comic levity thanks to the brilliant cast, and especially due to Linney’s performance. The story follows a family of pseudo-intellectuals as they navigate a divorce and attempt to preserve some semblance of normalcy for the sake of each other. Linney plays Joan Berkman, a prominent writer in 1980s Brooklyn who has fallen out of love with her husband, Bernard (Jeff Daniels), a university professor. Joan Berkman is a woman trying to hold it together, and while on the surface might seem cold and callous, Linney finds the empathy and the loving mother within her. She bounces between being soft-spoken and gentle to frustrated and confused in just the shift of one look. Her body language, often reserved, conveys so much about the insecurity of her character. There are few films that have a genuinely perfect cast that perfectly hit the writer’s tone, and The Squid and the Whale is certainly one of them.

The Nanny Diaries (2007)

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Image Via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Based on the popular novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, this class-satire follows college graduate Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) as she unexpectedly ends up nannying for a wealthy, dysfunctional family called the Xs. The film boasts a stellar cast that hit the comedic notes perfectly, including Paul Giamatti, Chris Evans, and Linney herself as the ice-cold Mrs. X. While Annie must navigate a host of problems in the family and in her personal life, perhaps the most central conflict of the film is between Annie and Mrs. X herself. Linney is perhaps the most infuriatingly real character in the entire film, and portrays by far the most satisfying character arc. Mrs X is a distant mother who has lost touch with her son as she’s consumed by a loveless marriage and a shallow, elite Manhattan lifestyle. There’s never a dull moment in Linney’s stiff, unyielding performance, which gradually shifts as she’s slowly influenced by Annie’s contrasting perspective on motherhood.

The Savages (2007)

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Image Via Fox Searchlight

It’s the role that earned Linney her third Oscar nomination as Wendy Savage, a struggling playwright who is forced to reunite with her brother (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and estranged father (Philip Bosco) who suffers from severe dementia. The film is tragic and often funny, it’s painful and a terrifyingly authentic portrayal of the complications of family. It certainly got the recognition it deserved by the Academy thanks to a magnificent performance by Linney. Wendy Savage is gradually losing all sense of control. In one of the film's most memorable moments, she searches for a large red pillow that is meant to be for her father. When she discovers it has landed on the lap of a woman in a wheelchair (Patti Karr), she tries to convince her to give it back in a civil tone. When she refuses, Wendy resorts to ripping it away, walking confidently as the woman begins wailing. There are so many moments in the film in which Linney shows this conflict; a woman who is desperately trying to be nice and calm, but every landmine placed around her forces her to slowly implode. Wendy is childish and sometimes manipulative, she’s immature but incredibly smart. It’s a complex role that could only have been suited for an actress as versatile as Linney.

The Big C (2010-2013)

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Image Via Showtime

The Big C saw Linney earn her first Emmy award. This performance only reiterated how masterful an actor she is; especially a master at playing women who are on the verge of a breakdown. This dramedy, which had four critically acclaimed seasons, follows Linney as Cathy Jamison, a high school teacher in Minnesota who, upon learning of her melanoma diagnosis, decides to lose all inhibitions and live life as she never has before. Cathy is a reserved, tranquil woman who is pushed around by everyone in her life, including her students and her own unruly son (Gabriel Basso). However, as the series moved forward, she progresses alongside it, into a woman who decides to stand up for herself and finds the beauty and meaning in life. Linney is transformative, the squint in her eyes often signaling that she’s about to lose it, her expressions shifting quickly to reflect her rapidly changing moods. It’s a funny, emotional, and unmissable performance.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

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Image Via Focus Features

Although she’s in the film only briefly as Anne Sutton, the conservative, uptight mother of Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), Linney’s performance is piercing and insidious. Nocturnal Animals is Tom Ford’s second feature, a neo-noir thriller that follows an art gallery owner as she becomes consumed by her ex-husband’s novel. The film received well-deserved critical acclaim, particularly for its stunning visuals, and including an Academy Award nomination for Michael Shannon.

In an intense conversation, Susan tells Anne that she’ll be marrying Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal), a struggling writer whom she’s fallen in love with. Anne fights her on this, condescendingly explaining that there’s no reason to marry somebody with no money. The performance is bordering on terrifying with Linney’s deep, southern drawl and a manipulative inflection in her tone “Why do you always think the worst of me?” she asks her daughter, playing the victim. She repeats the phrases her daughter says in a mocking tone, her delivery moving from an artificial kindness to suddenly quizzical but always stern and intimidating. The actress is almost unrecognizable in her gaudy, regal, costume, but the real transformation is in Linney’s performance entirely.