Emily Blunt’s 10 best performances
Popularly known as one of the greatest British actors of modern cinema, Emily Blunt rose to prominence in the late 2000s and has since grown in critical and commercial stature, appearing in major Hollywood franchises as well as award-winning art films. Working with the likes of Doug Liman, Mike Nichols, Denis Villeneuve and Rian Johnson, Blunt may have established herself as a major industry name, but it feels as though she’s just getting started.
Her most recent projects stand as a good illustration of where she stands in the modern industry, taking on a starring role in the celebrated Prime Video series The English, where she appears alongside Chaske Spencer and Tom Hughes, very much leading the cast. Meanwhile, 2021 saw her take on a role alongside Dwayne Johnson in the Disney movie Jungle Cruise, which earned respectable commercial acclaim.
2023 offers even more promise for the esteemed actor, due to appear in a major role in Christopher Nolan’s historical epic, Oppenheimer, which tells the story of the controversial scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man behind the making of the nuclear bomb. Playing Kitty Oppenheimer, a German American biologist and wife of Robert Oppenheimer, Blunt will appear beside a glittering cast, including Florence Pugh, Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon and Rami Malek.
Take a look at our picks for the ten best Emily Blunt performances of all time below, with the collection of movies spanning her whole career from debut to established Hollywood star.
Emily Blunt’s 10 best performances:
10. The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi, 2011)
Science fiction dramas are all the rage these days, with the Olvia Wilde movie Don’t Worry Darling helping to popularise the genre once more. But, back in 2011, a somewhat forgotten thriller was released that went by familiar cliches whilst adding dashes of originality. George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau was a wild, highly enjoyable ride, starring Emily Blunt alongside Matt Damon as newfound lovers trying to be ripped apart by an insidious corporation.
Whilst Damon may lead the cast, Blunt’s charming supporting performance helps to sell the farfetched sci-fi concept, grounding the movie in some sort of tangible reality.
9. The Girl on the Train (Tate Taylor, 2016)
The greatest compliment one can give about Blunt’s performance in Tate Taylor’s The Girl on the Train is that the actor totally carries the sometimes slow crime drama. Dragging the entire narrative to the finish line, it is Blunt’s gripping, emotional performance that makes the film worth watching, with the movie, based on the novel of the same name by Paula Hawkins, failing to truly seize the attention of critics.
Telling the story of a divorcee who becomes entangled in a missing persons investigation, the film, co-starring Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson and Luke Evans, is worth watching for Blunt’s performance alone.
8. The Devil Wears Prada (David Frankel, 2006)
Still a favourite of audiences worldwide, even over a decade after its release, David Frankel’s The Devil Wears Prada tells the story of a smart and sensible graduate who is tasked with being the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of a major fashion magazine. Appearing beside Meryl Streep in one of her most popular performances, Blunt stars as part of a sparkling ensemble, taking the role of Priestly’s senior assistant.
Though she is outshined by Streep, who thrives in her villainous role, Blunt helps to bring the dramatic comedy to life alongside the likes of Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Anne Hathaway and Adrian Grenier.
7. Mary Poppins Returns (Rob Marshall, 2018)
The 1964 Disney movie Mary Poppins is known as one of the greatest family movies of all time, with Julie Andrews playing the titular magical nanny with effortless, enchanting charisma. Her shoes weren’t easy to fill for Emily Blunt, yet the latter did an excellent job in the modern reboot Mary Poppins Returns, channelling much of Andrews’ charm whilst adding her own zest, vim and vigour.
With a fabulous cast, including the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Colin Firth, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Meryl Streep, and the great Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins Returns proved to be a great success for Disney, largely thanks to Blunt.
6. The Young Victoria (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2009)
Speaking of having big shoes to fill, Blunt took on the mammoth role of playing the historical figure of Queen Victoria, albeit a young version of the monarch in Jean-Marc Vallée’s dramatisation of the turbulent first years of her rule. Focusing on her romance with Prince Albert, Vallée’s film was surprisingly effective, proving to be something of a small sensation, winning ‘Best Achievement in Costume Design’ at the 2010 Academy Awards.
Leading a cast that includes Paul Bettany, Rupert Friend, Thomas Kretschmann, Jim Broadbent and Mark Strong, Blunt shines in the role, proving herself early in her career as a solid leading actor.
5. Edge of Tomorrow (Doug Liman, 2014)
To many, Edge of Tomorrow was a surprise hit when it was released in 2014, but in hindsight, it seems obvious that the sci-fi action flick would have performed well with both audiences and critics. Helmed by the director behind The Bourne Identity, the 2014 film told the story of a soldier fighting hoards of alien invaders only to die on the battlefield and see himself reliving the day again and again until he survives the ordeal.
Starring Tom Cruise alongside Emily Blunt, the latter plays Rita, a battle-hardened warrior looked up to by modern civilisation, with the character becoming one of the strongest examples of a contemporary female action hero.
4. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)
Thanks to such recent successes as 2017s Blade Runner 2049 and 2021s sci-fi epic Dune, the Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is regarded as one of the most exciting filmmakers of contemporary cinema. When he was still in the ascendancy of his career, he worked with Emily Blunt on the 2015 thriller Sicario, in which the actor starred as Kate Macer, an idealistic FBI agent tasked with helping to halt the escalating war against drugs on the US/Mexico border.
Beloved by audiences and critics and nominated for three Academy Awards, including ‘Best Achievement in Cinematography’, Blunt’s performance fuels this intense drama, elevating the surrounding efforts of Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro and Daniel Kaluuya.
3. Your Sister’s Sister (Lynn Shelton, 2011)
Almost totally passing audiences and critics by, this farcical yet deeply enjoyable romcom about a young woman named Iris (Blunt) who invites her friend Jack (Mark Duplass) to stay at her family’s island getaway following his brother’s death, is an emotionally resonant romp. The story becomes more complicated when Jack has a drunken encounter with Iris’ sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), and drama ensues.
Tying the film together with her magnetising, grounded performance, Blunt is the glue behind the lead cast of characters, with her efforts on the film going criminally unnoticed for too long.
2. A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018)
Filmmaker, screenwriter and husband of Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, made a surprising Hollywood hit in 2018 with the release of A Quiet Place, a dark sci-fi based in a post-apocalyptic world where a family is forced to live in silence whilst evading monsters with hyper-sensitive hearing. Krasinski also stars in the movie, but it’s Blunt who steals the show, with the child-birth scene being one of the most intense moments in modern cinema.
Also shining in the sequel, A Quiet Place Part II with Cillian Murphy, Blunt has made herself an established franchise that perfectly borders the line between big-budget excitement and arthouse drama.
1. My Summer of Love (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2004)
Our pick for Emily Blunt’s best performance of all time takes us way back to the very beginning of her career and her debut role in Paweł Pawlikowski’s My Summer of Love. Winning a Bafta for ‘Best British Film’ this heart-wrenching emotional romance is set in the desolate Yorkshire countryside in which a working-class tomboy, Mona (Natalie Press), meets an exotic, wealthy girl who’s just been kicked out of boarding school.
Over the summer, the two young women learn from one another and develop a deep emotional connection where friendship and more blossom. Such is made more complicated by Mona’s brother Phil (Paddy Considine), who disagrees with their newfound relationship, yet Pawlikowski delicately Helen Cross’ novel, on which the story is based, allowing Blunt’s performance to flourish and provide the film with a vigorous spiritual heart.
