Tilda Swinton closed out 2024 with her Golden Globe-nominated performance in The Room Next Door. In the film, she stars as Martha, a woman with terminal cancer who enlists an old friend, Ingrid (Julianne Moore), to help her die with dignity. While Swinton offers a phenomenal performance as a fiery yet vulnerable woman reconciling with death, it’s just the tip of the iceberg of her illustrious acting career. With her chameleonic ability to transform from character to character, she boasts a career like few others. Viewers can use our guide to find where to watch Swinton's best movies.
One of Swinton’s earliest memorable roles is in Orlando, where she portrays the eponymous protagonist who receives an inheritance from Queen Elizabeth as a young nobleman. However, Orlando struggles to maintain the inheritance when he discovers he has transformed into a woman one day. The independent queer film, released in 1992, was years ahead of its time with its tackling of gender and marked the beginning of Swinton’s penchant for portraying gender-fluid characters.
By 2001, Swinton enjoyed her breakthrough with the noir thriller The Deep End. For her role as Margaret Hall, a housewife who is swept into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game when she attempts to cover up a murder she believes her son may have committed, Swinton received her first Golden Globe nomination. She quickly followed up that performance with her first foray into the superhero genre in Constantine. Based loosely on DC Comics, the film sees Swinton take on the role of Archangel Gabriel, who guides John Constantine (Keanu Reeves), a demon hunter seeking to overturn his condemnation to hell. Although the film was panned at the time, it later earned cult status for its stacked cast, genre-bending, and religious motifs.
Swinton went on to star as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and appeared in cameo roles in the Narnia sequels. By 2007, she offered what is, arguably, the best performance of her career in Michael Clayton. In the George Clooney-led thriller, Swinton co-stars as Karen Crowder, the lead counsel for a company entangled in a class-action lawsuit. For her performance as Karen, a woman cracking under the pressure of her job, Swinton won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
2011 brought two more notable Swinton movies: We Need to Talk About Kevin and Moonrise Kingdom. In the former, she portrays one of her most complex roles yet as a mother uncertain how to cope with her son, Kevin (Ezra Miller), whose mental health is deteriorating. She also boasted a small role in Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed Moonrise Kingdom, which would mark the first of five films she appeared in from the director.
More recently, Swinton entered the MCU, starring alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange as the Ancient One and reprising her role for Avengers: Endgame. She has also collaborated with cinematic powerhouse A24 on films like The Souvenir, The Souvenir: Part II, and Problemista. With an acting range paralleled by few and a chameleonic acting style, Swinton has appeared in countless critically acclaimed roles that have dazzled viewers and aided in breaking down gender norms.
Where to watch the best Tilda Swinton movies streaming online
Check out our list below to find out where to watch all of Swinton’s best movies. The films are ranked from the best based on the quality of the film and Swinton’s performance.
