Actor Edward Harrison Norton rose to fame playing an altar boy charged in the murder of an archbishop in the 1996 legal thriller “Primal Fear.” The portrayal earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and won him a Golden Globe in the same category.
After featuring in “The People vs. Larry Flynt” (1996) and co-starring alongside Matt Damon in “Rounders” (1998), Norton appeared in two of the defining films of his generation: “American History X” (1998), in which his portrayal of a rehabilitated neo-Nazi won him an Oscar nomination as Best Actor, and the cult favorite “Fight Club” (1999).
His conflict with director Tony Kaye over the final edit of “American History X” gave Norton a reputation as an unbending perfectionist. Nonetheless, he remained a much sought-after and critically acclaimed actor for years to come. Indeed the 2010’s brought with them some of Ed Norton’s most memorable roles. He worked with director Wes Anderson on “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014), and (as a voice actor) “Isle of Dogs” (2018), and earned his third Academy Award nomination (his second for Best Supporting Actor) for his role in 2014’s “Birdman or (The Unexpected Value of Ignorance).” (Find big picture classics like these and more on our list of the 100 Best Movies of the Last 100 Years, According to Critics.)
24/7 Tempo has assembled a list of Ed Norton’s 22 best movie performances, based on an index of IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings. (IMdb is an online movie database owned by Amazon. Rotten Tomatoes is an online movie and TV review aggregator.) Only films with 25,000 reviews or more on IMDb were considered for this analysis. Each movie’s domestic box office was obtained from The Numbers, an online movie database owned by consulting firm Nash Information Services.
Norton stars in yet another Wes Anderson film, “The French Dispatch,” to be released later this year. Can’t wait to get back to the movies to see this and other forthcoming films? See if your state makes our list: COVID-19: States Doing the Best in the Race to Roll Out Vaccines.)
Click here for best and worst movies starring Edward Norton
22. Stone (2010)
> Fellow leads: Milla Jovovich, Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy
> Director: John Curran
> Domestic box office: $1.81 million
Norton plays an incarcerated arsonist pleading with his caseworker (Robert DeNiro) to find a way to get him out of prison early.
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21. Collateral Beauty (2016)
> Fellow leads: Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Michael Peña
> Director: David Frankel
> Domestic box office: $31.02 million
Norton’s role is as an executive at an advertising agency attempting to convince his estranged friend and majority shareholder (Will Smith) to sign away his control of the firm.
20. Pride and Glory (2008)
> Fellow leads: Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, Jon Voight
> Director: Gavin O’Connor
> Domestic box office: $15.74 million
Here, Norton plays a New York City cop who is dragged into department corruption by his family and his troubled past.
19. Death to Smoochy (2002)
> Fellow leads: Robin Williams, Catherine Keener, Danny DeVito
> Director: Danny DeVito
> Domestic box office: $8.36 million
Playing an actor (who performs as the titular Smoochy the Rhino), Norton is caught off guard by the corruption that surrounds the children’s entertainment business.
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18. Leaves of Grass (2009)
> Fellow leads: Keri Russell, Henry Max Nelson, Lucy DeVito
> Director: Tim Blake Nelson
> Domestic box office: $70,006
This is a dual role for Norton, who plays twin brothers, a professor and a drug dealer, who can only drag each other down.
17. The Bourne Legacy (2012)
> Fellow leads: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Scott Glenn
> Director: Tony Gilroy
> Domestic box office: $113.20 million
As an air force colonel, Norton attempts to destroy any evidence of an ill-fated military program by any means necessary.
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16. Keeping the Faith (2000)
> Fellow leads: Ben Stiller, Jenna Elfman, Anne Bancroft
> Director: Edward Norton
> Domestic box office: $37.04 million
Norton plays a Catholic priest who struggles to find a balance between his religious vows and his budding romantic feelings for an old friend.
15. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
> Fellow leads: Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt
> Director: Louis Leterrier
> Domestic box office: $134.81 million
Norton’s performance as Dr. Bruce Banner, otherwise known as The Hulk, was a departure from other Marvel films, focusing less on spectacular battles than on Banner’s search for a cure for his condition as a fugitive in South America.
14. The Score (2001)
> Fellow leads: Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, Angela Bassett
> Director: Frank Oz
> Domestic box office: $71.07 million
In this film, Norton plays a young thief who gains intelligence on a lucrative score by posing as a differently abled employee.
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13. Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
> Fellow leads: Woody Allen, Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts
> Director: Woody Allen
> Domestic box office: $9.73 million
Norton performs here as one of a young couple trying their best to ignore the chaos surrounding them.
12. Red Dragon (2002)
> Fellow leads: Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel
> Director: Brett Ratner
> Domestic box office: $92.96 million
Norton plays Will Graham, the FBI agent responsible for the capture of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Graham is brought out of retirement to chase another killer, and accepts Lecter’s help in the pursuit.
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11. The Italian Job (2003)
> Fellow leads: Donald Sutherland, Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron
> Director: F. Gary Gray
> Domestic box office: $106.13 million
Here Norton works for a group of professional thieves as their man on the inside for a heist in Venice.
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10. Rounders (1998)
> Fellow leads: Matt Damon, Gretchen Mol, John Malkovich
> Director: John Dahl
> Domestic box office: $22.92 million
Norton and Matt Damon are a pair of talented card players who end up deeply in debt to the wrong people and have to win big to survive.
9. The Illusionist (2006)
> Fellow leads: Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, Rufus Sewell
> Director: Neil Burger
> Domestic box office: $39.87 million
Norton plays a late 19th Century magician who uses his craft to win his beloved’s heart and protect her from the power of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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8. The Painted Veil (2006)
> Fellow leads: Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Catherine An
> Director: John Curran
> Domestic box office: $8.06 million
As a doctor in a loveless marriage, Norton travels with his wife to China, where he has agreed to help treat a cholera outbreak.
7. 25th Hour (2002)
> Fellow leads: Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson
> Director: Spike Lee
> Domestic box office: $13.08 million
This film follows Norton as a man on his last day of freedom before he turns himself in to serve seven years in prison for dealing drugs.
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6. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
> Fellow leads: Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Brett Harrelson
> Director: Milos Forman
> Domestic box office: $20.19 million
Norton plays real-life attorney Alan Isaacman, who argues the landmark Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell case before the Supreme Court in 1988.
5. Primal Fear (1996)
> Fellow leads: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney
> Director: Gregory Hoblit
> Domestic box office: $56.12 million
In this award-winning performance, Norton plays an altar boy accused of murdering his archbishop.
4. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
> Fellow leads: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Andrea Riseborough
> Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
> Domestic box office: $42.34 million
As a famous method actor co-starring in another performer’s last gasp at artistic credibility, Norton proceeds to make life impossible for everyone involved.
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3. Isle of Dogs (2018)
> Fellow leads: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Bob Balaban
> Director: Wes Anderson
> Domestic box office: $32.02 million
In this stop-motion animated fantasy, Norton appears as the voice of Rex, one of many dogs exiled to a landfill by a vengeful city mayor after “canine flu” ravages the local dog population.
2. Fight Club (1999)
> Fellow leads: Brad Pitt, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
> Director: David Fincher
> Domestic box office: $37.03 million
Norton plays The Narrator in this cult classic, an insomniac who struggles with the monotony and emptiness of modern life.
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1. American History X (1998)
> Fellow leads: Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo, Jennifer Lien
> Director: Tony Kaye
> Domestic box office: $6.72 million
Norton plays a neo-Nazi who, after three years in prison, comes home reformed and attempts to prevent his younger brother from following in his footsteps.
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