As a film actor, Emily Blunt has become one of the jack of all trades of her generation, shining in dramas, comedies, musicals, romances, war films and even horror movies. Who can do all that? But with each new project, Blunt challenges herself to take risks into new arenas that she has never tried before, a boldness that has earned her critical respect across the board.
It’s not just her versatility that has impressed critics and audiences alike, but her determination to dig deep into the characters she portrays to get at their true essence. Along with that critical appreciation has come shelves-worth of awards and accolades, including four Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, including two wins. Blunt has also been nominated for five Golden Globes for her film work, four BAFTA Awards and, with the release of “Oppenheimer,” her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
So let’s raise a glass to that wonderful actress and celebrate her by counting down and ranking the 17 best screen performances of her career. Our photo gallery includes “The Fall Guy,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Sicario,” “Into the Woods” and more.
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17. YOUR SISTER’S SISTER (2012)
Image Credit: Courtesy of IFC Films Writer/Director: Lynn Shelton. Starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass.
Though she is primarily known for her work in studio projects, Blunt made a big splash in the indie world with Lynn Shelton’s romantic comedy in which Jack (Mark Duplass), still grieving the death of his brother, accepts an invitation from his late brother’s girlfriend Iris (Blunt) to spend some chill time at her family’s island cabin. Once there, he discovers that it is already occupied by Iris’ lesbian sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt). Then the next day, Iris unexpectedly shows up, and mayhem ensues.
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16. WILD MOUNTAIN THYME (2020)
Image Credit: Kerry Brown/Bleecker Street Writer/Director: John Patrick Shanley, based on his play “Outside Mullingar.” Starring Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Jon Hamm, Christopher Walken, Dearbhla Molloy.
Oscar-winning screenwriter John Patrick Shanley has adapted this film version of his play “Outside Mullingar,” starring Blunt as Rosemary, a feisty Irish lass (is there any other kind?) who is the next-door neighbor of the shy (but incredibly good-looking) Anthony (Jamie Dornan), who seems oblivious to Rosemary’s romantic intentions. Despite a sometimes dodgy Irish accent, Blunt’s skilled relatability as Rosemary wins the audience’s sympathy in her efforts to seal the romantic deal with Anthony, who harbors an unusual secret that proves to be the key to his cluelessness.
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15. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (2016)
Image Credit: DreamWorks Picture Director: Tate Taylor. Writer: Erin Cressida Wilson, from the novel by Paula Hawkins. Starring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux.
In the film adaptation of the Paula Hawkins bestseller, Blunt plays Rachel Watson, an alcoholic divorcée who is still obsessed with her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux) and his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson), so she continually rides past their house on a train where she sees something that may have resulted in a murder. For her performance as Rachel, Blunt received her first Screen Actors Guild nomination as Best Actress.
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14. THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT (2012)
Image Credit: Glen Wilson Director: Nicholas Stoller. Writers: Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller. Starring Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie.
Blunt entered the world of producer Judd Apatow in this comedy in which Blunt plays psychologist Violet Barnes who is engaged to sous chef Tom Solomon (co-writer Jason Segel). The couple looks forward to their wedding day, but for various reasons, the wedding day is postponed, and the engagement goes on and on and on. Blunt in particular received warm notices from critics, many of whom cited her easy chemistry with co-star Segel.
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13. SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN (2011)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Lasse Hallström. Writer: Simon Beaufoy. Starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas.
Blunt received her third Golden Globe film nomination for her performance as financial adviser Harriet Chetwode-Talbot who is working with fisheries expert Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) on a project being bankrolled by a Yemeni sheik to bring salmon fishing to his country. Amidst all this international diplomacy, screenwriter Beaufoy has fashioned a touching romantic comedy which Blunt and McGregor play to the hilt.
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12. SUNSHINE CLEANING (2008)
Image Credit: Lacey Terrell Director: Christine Jeffs. Writer: Megan Holley. Starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin.
“Sunshine Cleaning” provided Blunt with the rare opportunity to work with a female co-star (Amy Adams), and a female director (Christine Jeffs) from a script by a female writer (Megan Holley). Blunt and Adams play sisters who, pressed financially, take jobs in the crime clean-up business, tidying up after some messy crime or disaster. Their business succeeds, but the crime scenes stir feelings in both sisters about the aftermath of their mother’s suicide.
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11. THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (2011)
Image Credit: Andrew Schwartz Writer/Director: George Nolfi, from the novel “Adjustment Team” by Philip K. Dick. Starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery.
Based on the Philip K. Dick novel, “The Adjustment Bureau” focuses on politician David Norris (Matt Damon) who, after his loss in a Senate race, meets and falls in love with dancer Elise Sellas (Blunt) and together they realize that the events in their lives are controlled by The Adjustment Bureau, a group dedicated to making sure that people live their lives according to their predetermined “plan.”
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10. THE YOUNG VICTORIA (2009)
Image Credit: Momentum Pictures Director: Jean-Marc Vallée. Writer: Julian Fellowes. Starring Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Mark Strong.
Jean-Marc Vallée’s film from a screenplay by Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes (“Gosford Park”) gave Blunt a juicy role to sink her teeth into. “The Young Victoria” follows the early part of the reign of Queen Victoria (Blunt) as various factions vie to control the young queen, unaware that this queen is not one to be controlled. For her performance as Queen Victoria, Blunt earned her second Golden Globe film nomination.
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9. LOOPER (2012)
Image Credit: © 2011, Looper, LLC Writer/Director: Rian Johnson. Starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano.
Blunt has a key supporting role in Rian Johnson’s science-fiction thriller set in the future when crime syndicates use “loopers” who kill and dispose of the bodies of marked victims. Blunt plays one such potential victim, Sara, who has a son who may grow up to become The Rainmaker, a figure who will eliminate all loopers in the future. But one looper, Young Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is assigned to kill Sara and her son, winds up falling in love with her instead.
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8. MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018)
Image Credit: Walt Disney Director: Rob Marshall. Writer: David Magee. Starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep.
Blunt takes on the iconic role first bought to the screen by Julie Andrews in this new musical which takes the characters from the 1964 film and shows their lives 25 years later. Siblings Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane Banks (Emily Mortimer) are now adults, still in shock from a family tragedy. Into their lives flies their childhood nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt) who has returned because she sees that these two are a mess and still need her version of tough love. For her performance as Mary Poppins, Blunt earned her fifth Golden Globe film nomination and her second nomination for a SAG Award.
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7. EDGE OF TOMORROW (a.k.a. LIVE. DIE. REPEAT.) (2014)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Doug Liman. Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth. Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt.
Doug Liman’s underrated sci-fi thriller features Tom Cruise as a military desk jockey who is suddenly thrown into a combat situation when aliens invade Earth. He is almost immediately killed upon landing, but because of a time loop, he finds himself traveling back to just before the battle time after time. The only person who can help him hone his survival skills is Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Blunt, in a great action role in which she shines).
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6. THE FALL GUY (2024)
Image Credit: Universal Pictures Director: David Leitch. Writer: Drew Pearce. Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke.
While Blunt is known for her chemistry with many previous co-stars — Ewan McGregor in “Salmon Fishing” and husband John Krasinski in “A Quiet Place” come immediately to mind — no pairing has quite sparked the kind of romantic electricity as her work with Ryan Gosling in this David Leitch action comedy. In this smart script by Drew Pearce, Blunt’s Jody Moreno is a lowly camerawoman who falls madly for legendary stuntman Cole Seaver (Gosling), who winds up ghosting her for years without explanation. When their paths cross once more, Jody is the one in charge as the director of the film for which Cole has been hired, and she sets out to show that she has neither forgotten or forgiven. Love, of course, inevitably follows. Blunt is clearly heaving the time of her life here, and her enjoyment carries over to the audience as well.
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5. INTO THE WOODS (2014)
Image Credit: © 2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Director: Rob Marshall. Writer: James Lapine, based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine. Starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Chris Pine.
Amid a host of fairy-tale characters, the heart and soul of Stephen Sondheim’s famed musical is The Baker’s Wife (Blunt). She desperately wants a child, but a witch (Meryl Streep) has placed a curse on her husband’s (James Corden) family. Her powerful desire to have her own family drives her to agree to the witch’s demands, which forces the couple into the woods. For this performance, Blunt received her fourth Golden Globe film nomination.
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4. A QUIET PLACE (2018)
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures Director: John Krasinski. Writers: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski. Starring Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmond, Noah Jupe.
Blunt won her first Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance as Dr. Evelyn Abbott, wife of engineer Lee (John Krasinski) and mother of three children and pregnant with a fourth. Most of the earth’s population has been wiped out by sightless creatures that possess extra-sharp hearing and will pounce when any human makes a sound. The Abbotts have survived thanks in part to their deaf daughter Regan who has prompted them to learn and communicate with each other via American Sign Language. Blunt’s tour de force moment is when she is in a bathtub and silently trying to suppress any sounds from her contractions when, unbeknownst to her, a creature looms right behind her.
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3. SICARIO (2015)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Denis Villeneuve. Writer: Taylor Sheridan. Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, Daniel Kaluuya.
Denis Villeneuve’s brilliant thriller about the Mexican drug war gives Blunt her plummiest role to date as FBI agent Kate Macer who sees the world as about right and wrong. But when the Department of Justice asks her to join their special joint task force to take down Mexican drug cartel leader Manuel Díaz, a disillusioned Kate finds that the colors of the drug war are nothing but shades of grey. Blunt’s expression when it finally hits her that good guys can be compromised is devastating.
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2. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: David Frankel. Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna, based on the book by Lauren Weisberger. Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci.
“The Devil Wears Prada” was not supposed to be about Emily Blunt. After all, the film produced an Oscar nomination for Meryl Streep and made Anne Hathaway a star. Yet when I think back about the film, Blunt’s beleaguered personal assistant Emily Charlton is the character that most often brings a smile to my face. She not only has to deal with this new girl in the office, but she has to put up with being hit by a car, for goodness sake. Still, she is given the best line in the film — “I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.” Genius. For her performance as Emily, Blunt earned her first Golden Globe film nomination.
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4. OPPENHEIMER (2023)
Image Credit: Universal Pictures Writer/Director: Christopher Nolan. Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh.
Blunt won her second Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the ensemble of Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning historical drama as Kitty, the determined wife of legendary physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Oscar winner Cillian Murphy), often called the father of the atomic bomb. In Blunt’s hands, Kitty is a dutiful housewife and loyal supporter who likes her opinions strong and her drinks stronger. By when she testifies at a hearing during the film’s climax, however, Blunt reveals Kitty’s own inner strength as she deftly decimates the prosecutor (Jason Clarke), who smugly thinks that he can trap her on the stand but quickly learns otherwise. The scene plays to Blunt’s strengths as an actress, highlighting her skill of holding back until just the just the perfect moment. As Kitty, Blunt also received nominations from BAFTA, Golden Globes and SAG, as well as earning her first Academy Award nomination.
