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God’s Own Country is the essential starting point, but Josh O’Connor’s best films show how far he has moved beyond the breakthrough role. This ranking weighs three things: how distinctive his performance is, how well the film works as a whole, and what the role adds to his range. The order is an editorial judgment, not a critics’ consensus or a measured score.
The list is movies-only. The Crown helped introduce O’Connor to international audiences, as the Guardian noted in its 2024 profile, but it is a television series. For a different first impression, skip to the entry that best matches what you want to watch.
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10 best Josh O’Connor movies, ranked
1. God’s Own Country
Francis Lee’s intimate rural drama remains O’Connor’s defining film performance. As Johnny Saxby, a young farmer whose life is shaped by isolation and hard work, he makes guardedness feel like both a habit and a defense. The role depends on what Johnny cannot easily say; O’Connor gives that silence weight without turning it into a show of suffering.
The film’s closeness to its setting and its attentive portrayal of a relationship give the performance room to change gradually. It is also the clearest career landmark: both the Guardian and the Associated Press describe it as O’Connor’s breakthrough. For a first watch, this is the strongest choice.
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2. La Chimera
Alice Rohrwacher’s offbeat drama gives O’Connor one of his most unusual lead roles. Arthur is an Englishman entangled with a group of tomb raiders in rural Italy, and O’Connor plays him as a man whose fixation on the past is both comic and melancholy. The film’s dreamlike, deliberately unruly style is a major part of its appeal; it is less a conventional crime story than a portrait of longing.
Where God’s Own Country makes emotional change feel small and tangible, La Chimera lets O’Connor move through a stranger, more elusive world. It is the best pick for viewers who want his most idiosyncratic screen presence.
3. Challengers
In Luca Guadagnino’s sports romance, O’Connor plays Patrick Zweig, a tennis player caught in a charged triangle with Art and Tashi. He brings a loose, provocative energy to a character who can be funny, frustrating and difficult to trust. That mercurial quality is central to the film’s push and pull.
Challengers is a larger, more kinetic showcase than O’Connor’s early independent dramas, and its tennis matches are part of its storytelling rather than mere decoration. It is the obvious recommendation for anyone who came looking for the movie that made his name newly prominent with a broad audience.
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Rank #2
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4. Only You
Harry Wootliff’s relationship drama centers on Elena and Jake, played by Laia Costa and O’Connor, as they build a life together and confront the strain of trying to have a child. O’Connor’s Jake is tender without being idealized; the performance registers how love can coexist with disappointment, fear and resentment.
The film belongs on this list because it shows the emotional precision of his quieter work. The Guardian reported that O’Connor won a second British Independent Film Award for best actor for Only You, following his win for God’s Own Country.
5. Emma.
Autumn de Wilde’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel casts O’Connor as Mr Elton, the self-important clergyman whose interest in Emma Woodhouse is badly misplaced. He makes the character’s vanity legible and amusing without flattening him into a gag. The role is a sharp contrast with the restrained romantic leads that first defined O’Connor on screen.
Emma. earns its place through the ensemble and its playful period style as well as his comic turn. It is a good choice for viewers who want to see him in a polished literary adaptation rather than a contemporary drama.
Rank #3
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6. Mothering Sunday
Eva Husson’s period drama follows a housemaid, Jane, and her relationship with Paul Sheringham, the upper-class man played by O’Connor. Their connection is shaped by class, secrecy and the constraints of the era. O’Connor gives Paul warmth, but also a sense of privilege and uncertainty that keeps the romance from feeling uncomplicated.
The film is a natural companion to Only You for viewers interested in O’Connor’s portrayals of love and intimacy. Its more fragmented, reflective approach makes it a less direct watch than the films above it, but it adds a distinct period register to his filmography.
7. The Mastermind
Kelly Reichardt’s crime film gives O’Connor a very different kind of character: JB Mooney, an art thief. The role connects neatly with La Chimera, another film concerned with stolen art, but the films approach that material in different ways. Here, O’Connor’s appeal lies in the contrast between the scale of Mooney’s plans and the uncertainty beneath them.
Reichardt told the Associated Press in October 2025 that she first noticed O’Connor in God’s Own Country, then later saw him in The Crown without realizing at first that it was the same actor. Her recollection underscores how different his screen identities can be; the ranking of this film reflects its place in that range, not a claim that the sources establish it as a consensus favorite.
Rank #4
8. The History of Sound
In Oliver Hermanus’s period drama, O’Connor plays Lionel, a singer and music student whose connection with David leads them to travel through Maine collecting folk songs. The role draws on a more open, romantic register than his guarded farmer in God’s Own Country, while keeping the focus on feeling conveyed through small gestures.
The film also extends a recurring thread in O’Connor’s work: relationships tested by time, circumstance and what people are able to express. The Associated Press included it among his busy 2025 slate. Its release and viewing options can vary by country, so check local listings rather than assuming it is available everywhere.
9. Rebuilding
Max Walker-Silverman’s drama places O’Connor in a quieter, contemporary story about a man named Dusty rebuilding his life after losing his home to a wildfire. The film’s emphasis is not on crime, romance or period manners, but on displacement and the effort to reconnect. That understated dramatic mode is a useful counterpoint to the more flamboyant roles on this list.
The Associated Press named Rebuilding as part of O’Connor’s 2025 run of films. As with any recent release, availability depends on territory and date; its inclusion here is about the role and the variety it represents, not a claim about where it can currently be streamed.
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10. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Rian Johnson’s third Benoit Blanc mystery places O’Connor among a large ensemble as Father Jud Duplenticy. The film brings him into a studio-scale murder mystery, a markedly different setting from the intimate dramas that established his reputation. His presence adds another example of how readily he can shift between grounded character work and a more stylized ensemble world.
The Associated Press listed the film among O’Connor’s 2025 projects. Its exact release or streaming status may differ by market, so consult local listings for current information.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where should you start?
- For the defining performance: Start with God’s Own Country.
- For something strange and emotionally searching: Choose La Chimera.
- For a fast-moving, high-profile role: Watch Challengers.
- For romance and relationship drama: Try Only You or Mothering Sunday.
- For comedy and period styling: Pick Emma.
What to watch after Challengers
If Patrick Zweig’s unruly charisma is what brought you to O’Connor, La Chimera is the most revealing next step: it puts him in another morally slippery role, but in a far more eccentric and contemplative film. For a more grounded contrast, move to God’s Own Country; for a period romance, choose Mothering Sunday.
Why The Crown is not on this list
The Crown is a major part of O’Connor’s public profile, but it is television, not a movie. The Guardian’s 2024 account says the series largely introduced him to international audiences; it belongs in a survey of his screen career, not a ranking of his films.
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