Naomi Watts' 10 Best Performances
Image: Universal Focus/Photofest
10. St. Vincent
It takes a rare skill to accept the role like this — a Russian tart with a heart — and make it work, but in Theodore Melfi's sentimental comedy, Watts pulls it off.
Image: The Weinstein Company/Photofest
9. Flirting
Flirting features Watts in a supporting role as a sweet, bespectacled blond named Janet who is friends with Thandie Newton's sexier, more exotic boarding-school classmate.
Image: The Samuel Goldwyn Company/Photofest
8. Ellie Parker
Watts, also one of the film's producers, channels her own experiences and personality to create the unbreakable Ellie Parker, a talented, sunny but slightly gawky slogger with an uncanny ability to change clothes while driving.
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7. Eastern Promises
Watts, wearing scruffy attire and an expression of grim determination, is a steady human heartbeat amidst the frequent shots of dead bodies, gore and violence.
Image: Focus Features/Photofest
6. Birdman
It's not an especially showy role but once again Watts shows off fine comic chops and a team-player attitude by keeping perfect time with the ensemble's jazzy rhythms.
Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures/Photofest
5. Funny Games
Bound, often gagged and wearing just her underwear for most the film as she watches psychopaths abuse her family, Watts adds class, empathy and skill to what's essentially a posh bit of torture porn.
Image: Warner Independent Pictures/Photofest
4. While We're Young
In Noah Baumbach's satirical take on male rivalry, the actress is second-banana to Ben Stiller but her fierce hip-hop dancing in a class is one of the movie's comic highlights.
Image: A24/Photofest
3. The Impossible
This thoughtful disaster film gives Watts many opportunities to sob on cue, and she might just get you weeping with her.
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2. 21 Grams
Watts stars alongside Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro as a housewife floored by an unendurable tragedy, who finds herself backsliding into addiction in order to cope. Both extremely sexy and wrenchingly moving.
Image: Focus Features/Photofest
1. Mulholland Drive
It's almost certainly become her most iconic role, marking the moment when everyone started asking, "Who is that woman, and who is her agent?"
Image: Universal Focus/Photofest