Custom image from Jefferson Chacon of Jacob Elordi looking serious for The Narrow Road to the Deep North
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Jake Hodges
Published 39 minutes ago
In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.
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Recently, the world was treated to the trailer for the upcoming surefire Valentine's Day blockbuster Wuthering Heights. Starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, the movie promises drama, romance, and beautifully grand settings, typical of director Emerald Fennell. The release is another in a series of high-profile Elordi performances, following the likes of Frankenstein and the miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which debuted this past year.
As one of the most exciting young actors today, Elordi's on-screen career will soon officially hit a decade, with his first credited performance coming in 2018's Swinging Safari, in which Elordi starred as Rooster alongside Guy Pearce. Not only is he about to portray one of period literature's most famous leading men in Wuthering Heights, but he is also set to star under the director of the legendary Ridley Scott in the upcoming post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick The Dog Stars, based on the 2012 novel by Peter Heller. In celebration of Elordi's magnificent recent work and his fast-rising stardom as an actor firmly on the road to future Academy Awards success, here is a ranking of his eight best performances in his burgeoning career so far.
8 'The Kissing Booth/The Kissing Booth 2' (2018/2020)
Jacob Elordi smiling slightly in The Kissing Booth.Image via Netflix
Based on Beth Reekles' young adult novel, The Kissing Booth follows teenager Elle (Joey King) as she is forced to choose between friendship and a love she had long dreamed of. A romance with high school senior Noah (Elordi) is in the cards, but it is certain to ruin her friendship with Noah's younger brother Lee (Joel Courtney).
The movie that put Elordi on the map, The Kissing Booth and its 2020 sequel perfectly offer the Aussie actor the canvas to show the best of his basic ability. In perhaps his least demanding role yet as bad boy Noah, Elordi shines as a clear future star without ever breaking a sweat. Like the innocent younger brother to Elordi's future Euphoria performance, this is the actor at his easiest.
7 'Priscilla' (2023)
Jacob Elordi as Elvis Presley looking at Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley and smiling in PriscillaImage via A24
Despite its mixed reception, there is plenty to love about Sofia Coppola's Priscilla Presley biopic. Featuring Cailee Spaeny in the titular role, the film offers Elordi the chance to portray her famous husband, a performance often underdiscussed thanks to Austin Butler's famous take on the role in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis just one year prior.
Suited, booted, and boasting an impressive vocal impersonation, Elordi's Elvis is worthy of plenty of praise. Sure, the film has its detractors, and it certainly failed to entice the awards conversation many had predicted, but Priscilla still features a tender examination of the life of a woman so often (and cruelly) overshadowed by her husband, one that boasts an impressive pair of central performances.
6 'On Swift Horses' (2024)
Jacob Elordi inside a casino in On Swift Horses.Image via Sony Pictures Classics
For Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter), the chance to live a happily steady life together is about to begin. However, their life takes a swift and unexpected turn when her wayward gambler and criminal brother-in-law, Julius (Elordi), arrives. Inspired by her brother-in-law, Muriel begins a secret life that threatens the comfortable nest she and Lee have created.
Based on Shannon Pufahl's 2019 novel, On Swift Horses is one of the more underrated movies of 2024. Packed with intense and detailed relationships, the film wouldn't be able to thrive without the great performances of its lead trio, most notably Edgar-Jones. Elordi delivers more of his effortless charm in On Swift Horses, but it is his vulnerability and the pain in his eyes that elevate this performance to a level that proves his worth as a Hollywood mainstay.
5 'Deep Water' (2022)
Jacob Elordi looking at Ben Affleck in Deep Water.Image via Hulu
When given an entire movie to work with, any actor can craft a performance that is layered enough to impact an audience. It is more impressive, then, when an actor does so with limited screen time, a requirement often (but not always) of the Best Supporting categories at the Academy Awards. In Deep Water, the tale of the disastrously unhappy couple, Vic (Ben Affleck) and Melinda Van Allen (Ana de Armas), and their grasping attempt to avoid divorce, Elordi does just this.
Sure, because of his early and shocking fate, Elordi's Charlie isn't as memorable as the likes of Vic and Melinda. However, with the little substance he is given, Elordi still manages to steal the spotlight from his more experienced co-stars. The film itself is fairly forgettable, with director Adrian Lyne failing to impress with his adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1957 novel.
4 'Saltburn' (2023)
Jacob Elordi as Felix in 'Saltburn'Image via Amazon MGM Studios
When one thinks of an Elordi feature film performance, it's impossible not to think of his turn as the wealthy Felix Catton in Emerald Fennell's black comedy Saltburn. The movie follows Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) as he befriends Felix and earns the chance to stay at his disgustingly impressive countryside manor home over the summer. However, Oliver has intentions far darker and far stranger than anyone could predict.
An aspect of Elordi's acting repertoire that perhaps isn't celebrated enough is his ability to fall seamlessly into different accents. As Felix, Elordi avoids the stereotypical received pronunciation normally acquired by non-Brits tackling the upper class. Instead, he perfectly finds the cadence and melody of a posh boy from the mid-noughties. The rest of the film might prove more divisive, but there is simply no arguing with how impressive this Elordi performance is.
3 'Euphoria' (2019–Present)
Jacob Elordi as Nate Jacobs looking serious and straight ahead in Euphoria.Image via HBO
If The Kissing Booth proved a breakthrough performance for Elordi, it was Euphoria that shot him into the mainstream. Following the frankly unbelievable lives of the teens of fictional East Highland, California, as they battle the most difficult aspects of the human experience whilst studying at school, Euphoria attracted controversy from some for its glamorization of explicit content.
However, one thing that isn't controversial is the ability of Elordi, with this performance as Nate Jacobs truly affecting. As Maddy Perez's (Alexa Demie) abusive and problematic boyfriend, Elordi could've easily delivered a two-dimensional villainous performance, but, perhaps inspired by the hugely talented Zendaya alongside him, Elordi is much more nuanced and therefore watchable in the role.
2 'Frankenstein' (2025)
Elordi's latest performance is without doubt one of his best. For Guillermo del Toro, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking original text was a long time in the making. As a dream of the visionary director's, his final product was always going to be lavish and indulgent, with some arguing that the film values style over substance. However, thanks to Elordi's wonderfully grounded performance as the famed monster, Frankenstein is brought back down to Earth in some of its most important moments.
His most difficult role to date, and a challenge for any actor of any level of experience, to tackle Frankenstein's Monster and the incredibly nuanced discussion of morality at the film's core is no mean feat, and it's one Elordi excels in. Although gripping in violent action scenes and inviting in tender romantic moments with Mia Goth's Lady Elizabeth Harlander, it is the moments with David Bradley's Blind Man that truly let Elordi shine and mark some of his best work to date. In Collider's review of the movie, Ross Bonaime wrote, "This is almost certainly Elordi’s biggest acting challenge so far, and he excels at making the creature an empathetic character who doesn’t know his purpose and is struggling to make sense of everything that’s happening to him."
1 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North' (2025)
Jacob Elordi as Dorrigo Evans as an emaciated soldier in a POV camp in The Narrow Road to the Deep North.Image via Prime Video
Described by Elordi himself as "incredibly challenging but deeply necessary," the medically supervised six-week boot camp he and his castmates went on — losing 20 pounds in the process — in preparation for The Narrow Road to the Deep North should be proof enough that this is a deeply impressive performance. An adaptation of Richard Flanagan's novel, the miniseries follows Dorrigo Evans (Elordi) across three pivotal periods in his war-torn life, from his deployment to his time as a prisoner of war and the scars left in the decades that followed.
Sporting a perfect 100% critics' score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, this story of an army surgeon's brutal experience would be much poorer without Elordi's stunning lead performance. Managing to prove both restrained and emotionally explosive in the smallest of moments, Elordi dazzles as Dorrigo Evans without ever overpowering the screen. His most mature performance yet, this feels like an insight into the Elordi Hollywood is soon to be graced with, one that is sure to have a long-lasting and awards-laden career.
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