The 10 Best Woody Harrelson Movies and Tv Shows

Woody Harrelson’s career has seemingly spanned from “aw shucks” to “I don’t give any f**ks.”

After rising in stardom for his run on the incredibly successful sitcom Cheers to a run of bold choices including Natural Born Killers, the man many simply call “Woody” has shown he doesn’t shy away from controversy. Sometimes that’s a great thing, like when he’s advocating for legalizing cannabis, and other times it’s controversial. See his hot takes against just about every president and being a self-proclaimed anarchist, and still, sometimes it’s just a bit off-putting (see: recent rants on Saturday Night Live).

Throughout his decades in Hollywood, the 61-year-old native Texan has had a unique ability to showcase characters in an interesting light while being able to manipulate emotions with his eyebrows and smirks alone. Harrelson’s still hard at work, with his memorable (for many reasons) stint in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, work in Triangle of Sadness, and even Netflix’s The Man from Toronto.

What’s the best of Woody, though? Here are Harrelson’s 15 best movies and TV shows — ranked, naturally.

15. LBJ (2016)

LBJ wasn’t even the best movie about President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 2016, with that honor going to the excellent All the Way starring Bryan Cranston. However, while LBJ as a whole isn’t great, Harrelson is excellent in it.

Johnson was a strange, eccentric man and Harrelson channels that, bringing his A-game while keeping the character broadly realistic. There aren’t too many people who can capture the weirder sides of Johnson, but Harrelson does it with aplomb (even through some slightly distracting make-up).

14. Game Change (2012)

Harrelson has frequently dipped his toe into political drama, as well as periodically playing Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live!. But it’s in 2012 HBO movie Game Change that he really shines. This dramatizes John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, with Ed Harris as McCain and Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin. Harrelson plays Steve Schmidt, with the movie seeing him become gradually more and more alarmed by Palin’s odd behavior and inexperience.

Harrelson picked up several nominations for his performance, including nods from the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and the Emmys.