Willem Dafriend and Willem Dafoe: Top 10 Willem Dafoe Performances
Sometimes I watch movies for the plot, sometimes I watch movies for the director. But if Willem Dafoe is in the movie, I’m 100% watching it for him.
You can spot his iconic mug in over one hundred films to date, cast as everything from a haggard soldier to a caring landlord, a seedy businessman to an ever-growing list of anthropomorphic animals. In all of these performances, Dafoe makes the absolute most of his screen time, bringing a borderline uncomfortable intensity even when it is not at all warranted (hello, Finding Nemo).
Somewhat terrifying aura aside, Dafoe is one of my favorite actors, and it’s always a delight to watch him do his thing on the big screen. In the following list, I have compiled some of my all-time favorite performances from him: my Dafoe GOATs. While by no means an objective ranking (and definitely not a review of the movies themselves), these ten roles represent his best work in my eyes… until I watch the half a dozen movies he’ll be in next year and change everything.
10. Togo (2019) – Leonhard Seppala
At number ten is Dafoe’s portrayal of real-life historical figure Leonhard Seppala. Seppala and his team of sled dogs, led by the titular Togo, carried life-saving medicine to an isolated Alaskan town in 1925. With Dafoe at the helm, this story gets the big-screen treatment, and I had a blast watching him fumble around in a huge parka and hug huskies for an hour. Fun aside, though, he also proves himself to be an emotional powerhouse in the film’s latter half. All in all, Dafoe gives us an excellent addition to the man-and-his-dog cinematic universe.
9. Death Note (2017) – Ryuk
Wait, wait, PLEASE hear me out—PLEASE—I know. The live-action Death Note movie is a uniquely awful experience, one that I would never attempt to defend, but it has exactly one redeeming quality: Willem Dafoe as Ryuk. Through his voice-only performance, Dafoe is able to bring a sinister whimsy very befitting a god of death. It’s a shame you need to watch the rest of the movie to see it, though.
8. American Psycho (2000) – Donald Kimball
In a movie where every actor is doing the absolute most, Dafoe holds his own as the cryptic Detective Donald Kimball. His interrogations with Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman are tense and leave you guessing how much he really knows. In one moment, Kimball seems certain he’s sitting across from a serial killer; in the next, he looks completely fooled. Dafoe flexes his knack for subtlety in this role, taking the film’s suspense to the next level with the quirk of an eyebrow.
7. Nosferatu (2024) – Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz
2024 brought us a new Dafoe classic with Nosferatu’s Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz. The Professor is an absolute freak, although in a movie full of them, he fits right in. Throughout the film, he serves as an impassioned believer in the supernatural and, ironically, the voice of reason to our protagonists. Dafoe is clearly having a blast in this role, rambling about the arcane and lighting tombs on fire with unabated glee. Bonus points for that glorious top hat.
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) – Rat
Another killer vocal performance, this time as a shady security guard (aptly named Rat). While Rat is only on screen for a few minutes, I find him endlessly entertaining. Why is he built like that? Where did he get a tiny switchblade? Why does he have the inflection of a spaghetti Western villain? So many questions, so few answers. I’m obsessed.
5. Platoon (1986) – Sergeant
In a totally different direction, Dafoe’s portrayal of Sergeant Elias is considered his breakout role, and for good reason; Elias is the beating heart of Platoon, an otherwise punishingly bleak movie. As the titular platoon descends into chaos and Elias struggles to hold onto his sanity, Dafoe shows off the full range of his dramatic acting capabilities in a moving (Oscar-nominated) performance.
However…
4. Finding Nemo (2003) – Gill
…I’m sorry. There’s no justifying putting Gill the fish over a gut-wrenching portrayal of the horrors of war, yet here we are.
In yet another voice performance, Dafoe plays the most locked-in fish ever put on screen. I was obsessed with Finding Nemo growing up, in no small part because of Gill and his heist subplot, but I only recently realized he was played by Dafoe. It all makes sense, though. He’s incapable of playing a boring character, even if it’s an aquarium fish living in a dentist’s office.
3. The Florida Project (2017) – Bobby Hicks
We’ve made it to the top three!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Dafoe’s role as Bobby in The Florida Project. Among all of the eccentric characters he’s played, this might be his most grounded. Bobby is the manager of a run-down Orlando motel, home to the film’s young protagonists. Dafoe plays Bobby with so much tenderness as he does what he can for his tenants, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when he is unable to meaningfully change their circumstances.
2. The Lighthouse (2019) – Thomas Wake
As one of only two characters in The Lighthouse, Dafoe gets center stage to show off his absolutely deranged acting chops. Not a soul is matching Thomas Wake’s freak. Whether he’s downing buckets of turpentine, delivering a three-minute monologue of sailor’s curses, or releasing all manner of bodily fluids into the nether. This performance (and movie) is a total feverdream. Dafoe effortlessly shifts from horror to comedy to horror again, tapping into an uncanny frequency that genuinely unsettles me. Ten out of ten.
And finally…
1. Spider-Man (2002) – Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
…we have our winner!
On sheer cultural relevance alone, this has to be number one. Dafoe’s Norman Osborn is the perfect campy supervillain, to the point where they didn’t even bother making a new enemy for Spider-Man: No Way Home; they just brought him back.
Dafoe brings a level of commitment to this role that probably wasn’t necessary for a 2002 comic book movie, but is very welcome nonetheless. He sells the distinction between Norman’s personalities through posture and vocal cadence alone, giving us an iconic mirror sequence that scared the hell out of me as a kid. He’s also just so ridiculously fun as the Green Goblin, zooming around on his glider and cackling in true villain fashion. This was my first Willem Dafoe movie, and it sparked a fascination with his acting that (evidently) has persisted into the present. For that alone, this performance will always be my favorite.
Written by: Emily Hiltunen
Edited by: Katie Breuche