Daniel Kaluuya is one of the best actors that has appeared on the scene in the last 15 years. He started as a writer and actor as a teenager on the show Skins, and worked on many British TV shows until he crossed the Atlantic and started appearing in American movies. Get Out was the movie that showed the world everything he could do, and he hasn’t stopped since.

He has appeared in all kinds of films (franchises, indies, author-driven) and has even been considered to be the next James Bond, although he would prefer to play the villain. In 2020, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his incredible performance as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah, and now everybody in Holywood wants him in their movies. We’ll see him next in Nope, the next film directed by Jordan Peele. While we wait for that release, these are Daniel Kaluuya’s best performances, ranked:

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7 Skins (2007-2013)

     All3Media

Skins was a British show about a group of teenagers. It took their lives and problems seriously. Be it family, school, parties, and friends. Skins had two ideas that made this show unique: every episode was centered on one of the characters, and the show was written by teenagers and people in their early twenties, giving the stories a lot more verisimilitude and realness than teenage shows used to have. Without Skins, we probably wouldn’t have Euphoria. Skins also had a great cast that included Nicholas Hoult, Dev Patel, Hannah Murray, and Daniel Kaluuya.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Kaluuya wrote and acted in the show. He played Posh Kenneth, a friend from the main cast, who would DJ at parties and have a blast every time he was on screen. Even in a small role, he was magnetic. Kaluuya told NME: “People talk a lot about how important that show was, and it’s all true, (…) I’ve never been on that starry thing, but I’ve always wanted to be part of a wave. To know that you’re on a journey with people who see you and know you and get it.” Skins was part of a wave, and Kaluuya is still riding it.

6 Queen & Slim (2019)

     Universal Pictures

After a first date, Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Kaluuya) get stopped by a white cop. Things escalate, and Slim kills the cop in self-defense. Knowing what will happen to them, the couple decides to go on the run. Queen & Slim is a movie about police brutality and race in America, and also one of the best movies directed by a Black woman. Melina Matsoukas directs this incredible two-hander, where Turner-Smith and Kaluuya can explore their characters, giving them many layers, and doing so impressively.

5 Black Panther (2018)

     Marvel Studios/Disney

Black Panther is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and tells the story of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), as he becomes the king of Wakanda and the Black Panther. The film directed by Ryan Coogler is one of the best Marvel movies, and also one of the most successful. Black Panther has great performances from Boseman and Michael B. Jordan. Kaluuya takes on a secondary role as W’Kabi, T’Challa’s best friend, and second in command.

In his performance, he shows all the disappointment in his character, as his best friend can’t fulfill the promise of getting the man who killed his parents. It might be a secondary role, but it’s one full of emotions, as W’Kabi is the character that shows all how the Black Panther has failed Wakanda. Kaluuya is one of the greatest actors in silent acting, as you can see all that disappointment with a simple look and a head shake. Never with so little has he said so much.

4 Widows (2018)

     20th Century Fox

Four women are left behind after their husbands die in a heist. They need to pay the mob, and fast. So, the four widows decide to do a heist themselves. How are they going to be successful without experience? Widows was directed by Steve McQueen and is considered one of the best women heist movies. Kaluuya plays Jatemme Manning, a mob enforcer and the brother of Jamal (Brian Tyree Henry).

His character is always lurking in the background. He’s menacing without saying much. Small gestures show he’s cold-blooded and an “end justifies the means” kind of guy. He moves like a shark, precisely, with intention, and looks at every situation as if he was five steps ahead. Kaluuya is the best at being scary while silent, and this role was perfect for that kind of performance.

3 Black Mirror (2011 - Present)

     Endemol Shine UK

Black Mirror is an episodic anthology that follows different characters in dystopian futures (although those dystopias feel more real every year). Kaluuya appeared in Fifteen Million Merits, the show’s second episode ever, as Bingham “Bing” Madsen. In this new reality, he has to ride a stationary bicycle to get “merits”, while being surrounded by TVs with ads on how to spend said “merits”. When Abi (Jessica Brown Findlay), a girl he likes, gets taken advantage of in a futuristic porn show, he goes on a TV rant that gets him more than he thought.

Kaluuya gives an impressive performance as Bing. He shows many emotions during the episode, all believable and real. From bored to infatuated; from infatuated to confused, hurt, angry, suicidal, and jaded at the end. We follow and understand each of those feelings, as Kaluuya can show us his state of mind in every second of the episode. Jordan Peele said that this was the performance that made him think of Kaluuya for the lead in Get Out.

2 Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

     Warner Bros. Pictures

Judas and the Black Messiah tells the real story of William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield). A thief who, to get his criminal charges dropped, accepts to become a mole in the Illinois Black Panther Party and tells the FBI everything he sees and listens to about one of their objectives: Fred Hampton (Kaluuya).

Kaluuya gives an incredible and magnetic performance as Hampton, and he won his first Academy Award for this role. You not only believe in the cause, but understand why everyone in the party would follow him, as he’s as charismatic as he is kind; a real leader, with a noble soul who knew how to communicate all his ideals in every speech he gave. Kaluuya told Indiewire about the speeches: “I’d do the speeches in order to find the cadence, how it felt for me. The speeches were a talking version of singing as opposed to a singing version of talking. It’s a tune, a song.”

1 Get Out (2017)

     Universal Pictures 

Chris Washington (Kaluuya) is a Black man dating a white woman (Allison Williams), who meets her family for the first time while visiting their home. Getting to know your girlfriend’s parents can already be stressful and scary, and in Get Out, things get a lot worse when he realizes what’s really happening.

Jordan Peele’s debut is incredible. It’s one of the top breakout movies from a modern filmmaker, that’s for sure. Scary, sometimes funny, and unsettling. From the first moment, you feel something’s afoot, and each discovery only makes things get scarier. Kaluuya plays the character perfectly, giving many layers of fear to the performance. Special mention to the sequence in “The Sunken Place”. Even as he’s paralyzed, you can see in his face all the horrors going through his head. He might only drop one tear, but his performance tells us he would be running to the end of the world if he could, and doesn’t want to be there for one more second.