Ben Mendelsohn is a renowned Australian actor who has had a fruitful career spanning multiple forms of media and various roles. Mendelsohn, born on April 3, 1969 in Melbourne, Australia, has had a successful film and television career for over three decades. The Henderson Kids — an Australian soap opera — gave Mendelsohn his first major break in the acting world in 1987. This early experience paved the way for his later success in the Australian film industry, where he starred in such films as 1987’s The Year My Voice Broke and 1991’s Spotswood.
Mendelsohn became a household name in Australia thanks to his portfolio of intense and often unsettling performances. His defining role as a criminal in the Australian crime film Animal Kingdom (2010) propelled him to international stardom. After the film’s success, Mendelsohn secured more roles in Hollywood. He starred in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises and the crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines in 2012. Both performances illustrated his acting range and ability to hold his own against established actors such as Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling.
The character of Danny Rayburn on the Netflix series Bloodline catapulted Mendelsohn to new heights in his career, and the role earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Since then, Mendelsohn has demonstrated his adaptability in various parts, and this list will highlight the best of those performances.
10. Captain Marvel (2019)
In Captain Marvel, Ben Mendelsohn portrays Talos, an extraterrestrial from the race of Skrulls. Skrulls may change their appearance to mimic anybody or anything they encounter. Talos seems like the film’s main bad guy at first. The Skrulls are at odds with the Kree, another alien civilization that the titular hero, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson), is a member of at the start of the film.
To enter Earth and carry out his objective, Talos assumes the identity of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Keller. As the story develops, we learn that Talos isn’t evil; he’s just a refugee attempting to find a new home for his people, who the Kree-Skrull War uprooted. He also has a wife and child whom he secretly keeps in orbit above Earth.
9. Una (2016)
Ben Mendelsohn plays Ray Brooks, formerly known as Peter, in the film Una. The film is based on the play Blackbird by David Harrower, who also wrote the screenplay. Ray is a middle-aged guy with a troubled background who is unexpectedly visited at work by Una, a young woman played by Rooney Mara.
The plot centers on their past relationship, which began when Una was 13, and Ray was a neighbor in his 40s. While his name was Peter, Ray assaulted Una, which got him locked up. The film offers an engaging and uneasy look at their prior connection and its lingering impact on their lives. After serving his time, changing his name, and attempting to start a new life, Ray is suddenly thrust back into his old one. Guilt, regret, and dread permeate his complicated personality.
8. Ready Player One (2018)
Ben Mendelsohn portrays Nolan Sorrento in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One. Nolan Sorrento is the chief executive officer of Innovative Online Industries (IOI), which manufactures and distributes most of the OASIS players’ electronic peripherals. Sorrento’s primary objective is to unearth James Halliday’s (the OASIS’s late founder) hidden Easter egg.
This discovery would grant him immense control over the OASIS and its income generation potential. In this reading, Sorrento is a cold-hearted capitalist who doesn’t respect the OASIS’s values of individual freedom and communal support. He recruits a team of “Sixers,” athletes who will “use any means necessary to find it,” even physical force, to locate the Easter Egg.
7. Mississippi Grind (2015)
In this gambling drama, Mendelsohn takes center stage alongside Ryan Reynolds. Mendelsohn portrays Gerry, a down-on-his-luck gambler battling addiction and rising debts. Gerry thinks he’s discovered his lucky charm in Ryan Reynolds’ Curtis, a charming and seemingly carefree poker player. Gerry believes that Curtis will bring him good luck, so he persuades Curtis to accompany him to a storied high-stakes poker tournament in New Orleans. During their journey down the Mississippi River, the two build an unexpected bond, with Gerry’s desperation and hope running parallel to Curtis’s murky past and seemingly careless approach to life.
Mendelsohn makes viewers feel sorry for Gerry despite his messed-up personality and terrible decisions, depicting the anguish and struggle of gambling addiction in all its naked honesty. Mississippi Grind also delves into topics like friendship, addiction, and the potentially corruptive pull of the American dream. Although it didn’t do well at the box office, critics praised the picture, depth of the characters, and performances – especially Ben Mendelsohn’s portrayal of Gerry.
6. The Outsider (2020)
The Outsider is a psychological thriller TV series based on Stephen King’s 2018 novel of the same name. Jason Bateman (who also directed the first two episodes) stars alongside Ben Mendelsohn, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, and others. Mendelsohn portrays Detective Ralph Anderson, who is called to a small town to look into the brutal murder of a young boy.
But the case’s evidence swiftly becomes incongruous, drawing Anderson into a realm where otherworldly forces appear to be at work. Though usually a practical and logical thinker, the following events cause him to reevaluate his worldview. Mendelsohn’s character, Ralph, is a recently bereaved father in recovery from alcoholism, and this adds another layer of issues to his already complicated emotional state throughout the case.
5. To Catch a Killer (2023)
Directed by Damián Szifron, To Catch a Killer is an American crime thriller film starring Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo, and Ralph Ineson. Mendelsohn’s character, Geoffrey Lammark, is the head FBI agent in charge of investigations. Eleanor, a young and skilled but troubled officer in the Baltimore Police Department, is at the story’s core as she struggles to overcome her demons.
After a string of seemingly unrelated mass shootings, Lammark enlists Eleanor’s help in characterizing and locating the sniper responsible. Eleanor, local authorities, and the FBI start a nationwide search but keep running into roadblocks caused by the killer’s erratic behavior. In her fragile mental state, Eleanor may be the only one who can decipher the motivations of their mysterious attacker and bring him to justice.
4. Animal Kingdom (2010)
Mendelsohn delivered an outstanding performance in the Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom. David Michôd’s film is a brutal, visceral depiction of the Codys, a Melbourne crime family, as they engage in a tense standoff with local law authorities. Mendelsohn portrays Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody, the eldest and most unstable of the Cody brothers. Paranoia and a violent nature plague Pope, making him a highly dangerous guy.
Pope is a hardened criminal with an alarming lack of moral compass. Pope has much power in the family because he is the matriarch’s favorite son. Animal Kingdom had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 22, 2010, where it went on to win the World Cinema Jury Prize. Later that year, the film opened in theaters to rave reviews and critical accolades for stars Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver.
3. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Although Mendelsohn’s role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises was relatively minor, his portrayal of the malevolent John Daggett significantly elevates the film’s already stellar cast. John Daggett is a wealthy and ambitious Gotham City businessman who forms an alliance with the film’s primary villain, Bane. Daggett plans to use Bane as a pawn to seize control of Wayne Enterprises.
However, Daggett isn’t equipped to deal with someone as cruel and lethal as Bane, and that’s what does him in. Despite his brief appearance, Mendelsohn’s acting lends a layer of corporate villainy to the film’s colorful cast. Daggett represents the ugly side of corporate avarice and ambition. The American Film Institute ranked The Dark Knight Rises as one of the ten best movies of 2012.
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
The 2016 epic space opera film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, or simply Rogue One — directed by Gareth Edwards — is the first in the Star Wars anthology series and takes place right before the events of the original Star Wars film from 1977. Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker comprise most of the primary cast.
Set a week before the events of Star Wars; the film chronicles the efforts of a band of rebels to steal the blueprints for the Death Star, the Galactic Empire’s greatest weapon. Director Orson Krennic — played by Mendelsohn — is a powerful and ambitious Imperial Military member working in Advanced Weapons Research. He oversees the construction of the Death Star for the Empire, a superweapon the size of the moon that can wipe out whole planets. Despite his rank and authority, Krennic is frequently at odds with his fellow Imperial officers and fights an uphill battle to keep the good graces of both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader.
1. Bloodline (2015-2017)
Mendelsohn plays Danny Rayburn, the eldest son of the wealthy and well-respected Rayburn family, who run a popular beachside hotel in the Florida Keys in the Netflix series Bloodline. Danny’s return to the family after a lengthy absence shakes up their seemingly perfect existence and brings hidden truths and tensions within the Rayburns to the surface.
In contrast to his siblings John (the diligent sheriff), Kevin (the fiery boatyard owner), and Meg (the successful lawyer), Danny is portrayed as the family outcast. Because of a horrific boating accident that occurred when Danny was a child and resulted in the loss of his younger sister Sarah, he has a poor connection with his family. Danny feels even more alienated due to his parents’ subsequent preference for his siblings, particularly John.
