We’ve seen many excellent acting performances. However, none of them would be possible without the writers who crafted movie characters. Arguably the best actor ever, Marlon Brando, said that even the best performers can’t create a fantastic performance without great writing.
There are many characters who’ve fascinated audiences worldwide, so it’s easier to create a list of 100 best movie characters ever. Therefore, let’s make it more challenging and make a list of the 31 best movie characters of all time.
Stanley Kowalski
Created by: Tennessee Williams and Oscar Saul
Film/s the character appears in: A Streetcar Named Desire
Actors who have played it: Marlon Brando
Blanche DuBois
Created by: Tennessee Williams and Oscar Saul
Film/s the character appears in: A Streetcar Named Desire
Actors who have played it: Vivien Leigh
Joker
Created by: Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, and Bob Kane
Film/s the character appears in:
- Batman: The Movie (1966)
- Batman (1989)
- The Dark Knight (2008)
- Suicide Squad (2016)
- Joker (2019)
- Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
- The Batman (2022)
- Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
Actors who have played it: Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, Joaquin Phoenix, Barry Keoghan (credited as “Unseen Arkham Prisoner,” but confirmed as Joker)
James Bond
Created by: Ian Fleming
Film/s the character appears in:
- Dr. No – 1962
- From Russia with Love – 1963
- Goldfinger – 1964
- Thunderball – 1965
- You Only Live Twice – 1967
- Casino Royale – 1967
- On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – 1969
- Diamonds Are Forever – 1971
- Live and Let Die – 1973
- The Man with the Golden Gun – 1974
- The Spy Who Loved Me – 1977
- Moonraker – 1979
- For Your Eyes Only – 1981
- Octopussy – 1983
- Never Say Never Again – 1983
- A View to a Kill – 1985
- The Living Daylights – 1987
- Licence to Kill – 1989
- GoldenEye – 1995
- Tomorrow Never Dies – 1997
- The World Is Not Enough – 1999
- Die Another Day – 2002
- Casino Royale – 2006
- Quantum of Solace – 2008
- Skyfall – 2012
- Spectre – 2015
- No Time to Die – 2021
Actors who have played it: Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig
Hannibal Lecter
Created by: Thomas Harris
Film/s or TV shows the character appears in: Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon, Hannibal Rising, Hannibal (TV series)
Actors who have played it: Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, Gaspard Ulliel, Aaran Thomas (young), Mads Mikkelsen
Jack Sparrow
Created by: Jay Wolpert, Ted Elliott, Stuart Beattie, Terry Rossio, and Johnny Depp
Film/s the character appears in:
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Actors who have played it: Johnny Depp
Michael Corleone
Created by: Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
Film/s the character appears in: The Godfather, The Godfather II, The Godfather III
Actors who have played it: Al Pacino
Travis Bickle
Created by: Paul Schrader
Film/s the character appears in: Taxi Driver
Actors who have played it: Robert De Niro
Forrest Gump
Created by: Winston Groom and Eric Roth
Film/s the character appears in: Forrest Gump
Actors who have played it: Tom Hanks
Mia Wallace
Created by: Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary
Film/s the character appears in: Pulp Fiction
Actors who have played it: Uma Thurman
Vincent Vega
Created by: Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary
Film/s the character appears in: Pulp Fiction
Actors who have played it: John Travolta
Jules Winnfield
Created by: Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary
Film/s the character appears in: Pulp Fiction
Actors who have played it: Samuel L. Jackson
Michel Poiccard a.k.a. Laszlo Kovacs
Created by: Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, and François Truffaut
Film/s the character appears in: Breathless
Actors who have played it: Jean-Paul Belmondo
Alexis Zorba
Created by: Nikos Kazantzakis and Michael Cacoyannis
Film/s the character appears in: Zorba the Greek
Actors who have played it: Anthony Quinn
Marcello Rubini
Created by: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Film/s the character appears in: La Dolce Vita
Actors who have played it: Marcello Mastroianni
Lisbet Salander
Created by: Stieg Larsson
Film/s the character appears in:
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
- The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009)
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2009)
- The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018)
Actors who have played it: Noomi Rapace, Tehilla Blad (young), Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Beau Gadsdon (young).
Séverine Serizy
Created by: Joseph Kessel, Luis Buñuel, and Jean-Claude Carrière
Film/s the character appears in: Belle de Jour
Actors who have played it: Catherine Deneuve
Daniel Plainview
Created by: Paul Thomas Anderson and Upton Sinclair
Film/s the character appears in: There Will Be Blood
Actors who have played it: Daniel Day-Lewis
Dr. Strangelove
Created by: Peter George, Terry Southern, and Stanley Kubrick
Film/s the character appears in: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Actors who have played it: Peter Sellers
Bella Baxter
Created by: Tony McNamara and Alasdair Gray
Film/s the character appears in: Poor Things
Actors who have played it: Emma Stone
Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson
Created by: Robert Siegel
Film/s the character appears in: The Wrestler
Actors who have played it: Mickey Rourke
Ivan
Created by: Ugljesa Sajtinac and Dejan Nikolaj Kraljacic
Film/s the character appears in: Huddersfield
Actors who have played it: Nebojsa Glogovac
Stansfield
Created by: Luc Besson
Film/s the character appears in: Léon: The Professional
Actors who have played it: Gary Oldman
Lancaster Dodd
Created by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Film/s the character appears in: The Master
Actors who have played it: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Alex
Created by: Anthony Burgess
Film/s the character appears in: A Clockwork Orange
Actors who have played it: Malcolm McDowell
Stiv
Created by: Jovan Jovanović
Film/s the character appears in: Young and Healthy As a Rose
Actors who have played it: Dragan Nikolić
V
Created by: Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Film/s the character appears in: V for Vendetta
Actors who have played it: Hugo Weaving
Milo
Created by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Film/s the character appears in: Pusher, Pusher II, Pusher III, and a 2012 Pusher remake
Actors who have played it: Zlatko Buric
Tonny
Created by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Film/s the character appears in: Pusher and Pusher II
Actors who have played it: Mads Mikkelsen
Professor Severus Snape
Created by: J. K. Rowling
Film/s and TV Shows the character appears in:
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
- Harry Potter (TV series)
Actors who have played it: Alan Rickman, Alec Hopkins (teenager), Benedict Clarke (child), Paapa Essiedu
Milena
Created by: Dusan Makavejev
Film/s the character appears in: WR: Mysteries of the Organism
Actors who have played it: Milena Dravić
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