Carey Mulligan’s Best Performances: ‘An Education,’ ‘Promising Young Woman,’ ‘Maestro,’ and More

Carey Mulligan has more than lived up to her promise. The English actor was an obvious, stand-out talent early in her career, whether she was playing one of the Bennett sisters in Joe Wright’s “Pride & Prejudice” adaptation or in an acclaimed one-episode appearance in BBC’s “Doctor Who.” When 2009 saw her receive a Best Actress nomination for her role in the acclaimed drama “An Education,” it seemed to mark the emergence of a great new young actor.

And since that breakthrough, Mulligan has only continued to go from strength to strength. An actor’s actor with the ability to fully embody the complicated women she’s often cast as, Mulligan consistently picks interesting, juicy parts, in films as varied as “Never Let Me Go,” “Drive,” “Shame,” “Far from the Madding Crowd,” and “Mudbound.” As she’s gotten a little older and aged out of the young ingenue parts she played in films like “The Great Gatsby,” she’s only gotten bolder in her selections, as seen in her Oscar-nominated performance in Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman,” as a troubled college dropout searching fruitlessly for justice for her friend. Some of these films are better than others, but Mulligan’s work is consistently excellent across the board.

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Her latest role is one of her best. As actor Felicia Montealegre, Mulligan is the highlight of Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro,” giving an unfussy, lived-in, and wrenching performance. The film isn’t perfect, but her work is exemplary, and the project is often at its best when it focuses on her. IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio writes that “‘Maestro’ is really Mulligan’s movie: She’s heartbreaking in the final stretches of Felicia’s life, dying but fighting not to give up, and there’s a great scene where she tells Hawke’s character why she shouldn’t walk away from the table angry after Felicia covering up her father’s mess finally pisses her daughter off over lunch. It’s one of Mulligan’s very best performances, one that feels effortless in conveying so much with great restraint and without overthinking it.” For her performance, Mulligan received Best Actress nominations at the BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice Awards, Golden Globes, and SAG, and is up for the Oscar this March.

In celebration of Mulligan’s nomination, IndieWire is revisiting the actor’s greatest work over the course of her relatively short but highly fruitful career. While making this list, we based placements on the strength of Mulligan’s performances, rather than the overall quality of the films. With that in mind, read on for IndieWire’s list of Carey Mulligan’s 10 greatest performances ranked.

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