Cillian Murphy's 12 Best Performances

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Before starring in Peaky Blinders and Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy was just a young theater actor in Cork, Ireland. His part in the 1996 play Disco Pigs earned him a role in its 2001 film adaptation—and Murphy's career ascended from there. Director Danny Boyle was so impressed by Disco Pigs that he gave Murphy the lead role in the post-apocalyptic thriller 28 Days Later. Murphy then appeared in The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which (at the time) became the all-time highest-grossing Irish independent film.

Later on, Murphy became one of Christopher Nolan's favorite returning actors, appearing in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception, Dunkirk, and now, Oppenheimer. Throughout his career, the Irish actor has stayed clear of the celebrity scene, but his few interviews have revealed a keen sense of humor. "I haven't created any controversy," he once told The Sunday Times about how he purposely lives a life that keeps him out of the tabloids. "I don't sleep around. I don't go and fall down drunk."

Although Oppenheimer is by far one of Murphy's best performances, the following roundup consists of the actor's greatest roles, including Peaky Blinders, A Quiet Place Part II, and Sunshine. If you remain shocked by Oppenheimer, or are still waiting for the Peaky Binders film, this is the list for you.

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer features Cillian Murphy's best performance so far. The film may have received the Barbenheimer box-office boost, but the Christopher Nolan-directed film's critical acclaim has proved it to be s a success on its own merits. Embodying one of history's most controversial figures, Murphy was so emaciated that he reportedly ate just "an almond every day."

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Peaky Blinders

OK, so Peaky Blinders isn't a movie—but it's about to be! Before Oppennheimer, the British period crime drama was Murphy's most-famous gig. Murphy played gang leader Tommy Shelby for six season, with a movie on the way.

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Batman Begins

Murphy brought us the first live-action appearance of the scientist Scarecrow in Batman Begins—the first of Nolan's acclaimed Batman trilogy. Though the character returns in the much-lauded The Dark Knight, he features as the main villain in Begins.

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28 Days Later

Waking up to an apocalypse is never a good feeling. The Walking Dead may have done it back in 2003, but 28 Days Later had Cillian Murphy exit a coma, only to be greeted by fast-moving, homicidal infected people. The Last of Us who?

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A Quiet Place Part II

Murphy joined A Quiet Place Part II as a survivor who lost his entire family to the creatures. At the time, he told Total Film that his character Emmett, "represents where the heart of the world lies right now," which is, "finally feeling like they've all given up."

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Inception

Murphy plays Inception's main target, Robert Michael Fischer. Leonardo DiCaprio and his crew spend most of the entire film within Fischer's dreamscape, convincing him to destroy his father's company.

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In Time

In Time depicts a future where time is the main currency, with people paying minutes and seconds for food, rent, and medicine. Run out of time and you die. When Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) receives an influx of cash, Timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) is sent to investigate him.

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Sunshine

Another Cillian Murphy role about a guy reckoning with the power of a massive bomb! Sunshine depicts a group of astronauts in the year 2057 who are on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying sun.

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Disco Pigs

One of Murphy's earliest on-screen roles, Disco Pigs portrays two teenage friends who call each other "Pig" and "Runt" as they grow up together in Cork, Ireland. But everything changes when they turn 17 years old.

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The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Another Murphy-led film about two brothers from Cork, The Wind That Shakes the Barley is an Irish Independence film that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival.

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Red Eye

In Red Eye, Murphy plays an airline flight's worst nightmare: an international assassin who calls himself Jackson Rippner. Can't be more obvious than that!

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Dunkirk

In Dunkirk—which marked yet another collaboration between Nolan and Murphy—the actor plays a "Shivering Soldier," as the credits reveal, who is the catalyst for the crew's tension at sea.

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