Cillian Murphy's top-rated roles ranked in new study

IrishCentral Staff

Irish actor Cillian Murphy's perfor‐ mances in "Oppenheimer" and "Peaky Blinders" have been ranked as his most popular roles by a new study.

The study, commissioned by Betfair Casino, ranked Cillian Murphy's most popular performances based on IMDb, Metacritic, and Rotten Tomatoes rat‐ ings.

Audiences were split between Murphy's performance in the title role of Christopher Nolan's 2023 summer blockbuster "Oppenheimer" and his per‐ formance as Tommy Shelby in the hugely popular BBC crime series "Peaky Blinders."

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Cillian Murphy in "Oppenheimer" Meanwhile, his performance in the Ken Loach film "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" has been ranked as his thirdmost popular performance. Murphy plays Damien O'Donovan in the 2006 film, which won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The film centers on two Cork brothers during the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Civil War, pitting them against each other in heartbreak‐ ing circumstances.

His performance in the 2021 post-apoc‐ alyptic horror-thriller "A Quiet Place Part II" was named his fourth-most pop‐ ular role in the new study, with his per‐ formance in "Cold Mountain," a 2003 film that follows a Confederate deserter toward the end of the US Civil War, completed the top five. "Sunshine," which takes place in 2057 and follows a group of astronauts work‐ ing to save the sun, was named his sixth-most popular role, with comedythriller "The Party" taking seventh place. His performances in Irish films "Inter‐ mission" and "Breakfast on Pluto" also feature in the top ten in addition to the apocalyptic thriller "28 Days Later."

Cillian Murphy’s top-rated film and TV roles (index score created using ratings from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic):

1. "Oppenheimer" (tie) 1. "Peaky Blinders" (tie) 2. "The Wind that Shakes the Bar‐ ley" 3. "A Quiet Place Part II" 4. "Cold Mountain" 4. "Sunshine" 5. "The Party" 6. "Intermission" 7. "28 Days Later" 8. "An‐ thropoid" 9. "Breakfast On Pluto" 10. "Free Fire"

Murphy, 47, has been nominated for the Best Actor Award at the upcoming Os‐ cars for his performance in "Oppen‐ heimer" last summer and recently opened the Berlin International Film Festival with his new movie "Small

Things Like These."

The film, which is based on the Claire Keegan book of the same name, follows an Irish father who accidentally discov‐ ers the harsh conditions of a Magdalene Laundry in 1980s Ireland.