Since seven Best Picture Oscar nominees in just over a dozen years.

As A24's highest-grossing movies prove, the company's films aren't just critically successful but also typically do well commercially. A24 becomes more impressive every year, producing and distributing some of the most inventive movies in recent years. The best A24 movies can be characterized by genre-bending and experimenting with filmmaking techniques to tell unique stories full of brilliant performances. Some of the greatest acting of the last decade can be found in A24 movies, with these specific ones standing out amongst the rest.

15 Andrew Garfield in Under the Silver Lake (2018)

Garfield Plays Sam, An Unlikely Riff On The Detective Archetype

Anchored by a lead strong performance from Andrew Garfield, David Robert Mitchell's absurdist LA neo-noir comedy follows the weird misadventures of Sam as he becomes obsessed with finding a missing woman. Andrew Garfield brings a brooding energy to the distraught and lost Sam. It's an engaging twist on the noir archtype, filtered through modern perspectives.

The potentially frustrating character is given a genuine touch by Garfield. It's an important aspect of the performance, which makes the character endearing. The film's exploration of masculinity is fraught with metaphors, and if not for Garfield's sincerely aloof performance, the symbolism would feel silly.

14 Florence Pugh in Midsommar (2019)

Pugh Brings Real Emotional Weight To Dani

Ari Aster has made a name for himself as a horror director, with three A24 horror movies to boot. His sophomore feature follows Dani, played by Florence Pugh, during her time at a Swedish midsummer festival she's forced to attend by her boyfriend and his friends. Dani is emotionally fragile, still coping with the freak accidental death of her whole family.

Pugh expertly blends this wounded vulnerability with Dani's responses to the harrowing events she has to witness and participate in. It's a tragic performance that steadily builds to a more complex character than she initally appeared. It's an impressive performance that helped establish Pugh as a star.

13 Brie Larson in Room (2015)

Larson Plays The Tragic Joy "Ma" Newsome

The first A24 film to win an Academy Award for acting, Room is an endearing mother-daughter survivalist drama that follows Ma, played by Brie Larson, and her son, played by Jacob Tremblay. The plot centers around them as they try to escape captivity. Larson's layered and compelling performance won her an Academy Award for Best Leading Actress.

It shows Larson's ability to depict complex characters dealing with trauma and heavy emotional baggage. While the story is mostly told from the son's perspective, it provides Larson with a stage to show off her skills as an actress. It's a beautifully tragic performance, and one that highlights her skills as an actor.

12 Sasha Lane in American Honey (2016)

Lane Plays Star With A Sweet Core Broken By A Difficult Journey

Andrea Arnold's Magnum Opus, American Honey is an epic story that follows Star, played by Sasha Lane, on her journey with a group who have a hedonistic lifestyle. It paints a bleak picture of youth culture, embodied by Lane's performance. The film depicts how they have been abandoned by society and the government in a reality where they have little hope of surviving beyond a certain age or ever finding satisfaction in a job.

Lane's performance is perfectly calibrated, likable yet prickly. Lane embodies Star's loss of innocence with small cues in her body language that gradually develop into the climactic exhalation. It's a stunning performance that relies on subtle elements to really stand out.

11 Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird (2017)

Ronan Plays The Relatably Ambitious Lady Bird Mherson

Saoirse Ronan became an overnight sensation and a household name among cinephiles after the release of Greta's first movie as a director in almost a decade. Playing the titular character of Lady Bird, Ronan perfectly embodies the youthful angst of her character and holds her own opposite veteran actress Laurie Metcalf.

Saoirse Ronan is the second youngest person to accrue four Academy Award nominations.

Explosive emotionality and quiet softness both coexist in Ronan's Lady Bird. The actress seamlessly captures the volatile nature of the character's mental state at any given point in the movie. Alongside Little Women, Lady Bird is one of the best movies Saoirse Ronan has starred in.

10 Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Washington Brings New Energy To A Classic Role As Macbeth

The first movie made by Joel Coen since his brother and he split away from being a directing duo, The Tragedy of Macbeth, is a haunting recreation of the stage play about the titular character.With elaborate set-pieces, a high-contrast black-and-white color scheme, and a haunting score, it stays highly faithful to the source material.

While s McDormand makes her mark as the iconic Lady Macbeth, Denzel Washington steals the show as the titular character. His talent is on full display as he delivers Shakespearan dialogue like a true thespian. It's one of the actor's most quietly imprssive performances, which is especially impressive given his resume of award-nominated performances.

9 Mia Goth in Pearl (2022)

Mia Goth Reprises Her Role Of Pearl From X

While Mia Goth has been on the horror scene for 8 years since A Cure for Wellness, Goth really made waves with her performance in Ti West's X. Her best performance is in the X prequel Pearl, where she plays as the titular character. This is the performance that elevated Goth in the horror genre, and with good reason.

Pearl's descent into murderous instability as she struggles to break through the unforgiving industry is brought to life with frightening ion by Goth. The composure with which she portrays Pearl's murderous instincts makes Mia Goth's performance an instant horror movie classic. It's a highlight of the X trilogy, even when compared to her strong performances in X and MaXXXine.

8 Barry Keoghan in The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Keoghan Holds His Own With Huge Movie Stars As Martin Lang

In true Yorgos Lanthimos fashion, The Killing of a Sacred Deer explores a horrifying moral dilemma — what should be a fitting punishment for negligent medical practice? Barry Keoghan plays Martin Lang, the son of a man who lost his life on the operating table because his surgeon was under the influence during the procedure and botched up the operation. Keoghan brings a deceptively ferocious quality to Lang.

Only Keoghan could make viewers feel primal fear just by aggressively eating pasta, a testament to his growing presence on the big screen.

Keoghan has significantly less screen time than both Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, but holds his own. It's a quietly important who character who leaves a lasting impression on the film. Only Keoghan could make viewers feel primal fear just by aggressively eating pasta, a testament to his growing presence on the big screen.

7 Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Yeoh Explores A Multiverse Of Possibility As Evelyn Wang

The Daniels' surrealist family sci-fi drama Everything Everywhere All At Once is one of the best martial arts adventure movies, as well as a great emotional story. The film follows Evelyn Wang, a woman who suddenly discovers that she can access a multiverse worth of versions of herself and must tap into the capabilities of her various selves to protect herself and her family from a multiversal threat. Yeoh brings her expertise in martial arts and her dramatic talent to the role of Evelyn.

Yeoh blends comical body language with skillfully choreographed and executed stunt work to embody the emotional turmoil that Evelyn experiences. The actress also explores different worlds from a humanist perspective. Yeoh's vast talent makes her one of the only performers who could bring Evelyn to life.

6 Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems (2019)

Sandler Finds New Heights As Howard Ratner

The Safdie brothers, in their second film under the A24 banner, provided Adam Sandler with the stage to showcase his dramatic chops for the first time in almost two decades since Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love. Sandler shine in the role of the New York jeweler whose life unravels over the course of the film in almost spectacular fashion.

The anxiety created by the movie is beautifully embodied by Sandler in his career-best performance.

The anxiety created by the movie is beautifully embodied by Sandler in his career-best performance. Sandler's performance as Howie builds on the energetic elements of his previous performances and filters them through a compelling grounded perspective. Sandler's performance earned him a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination, and remains a highlight of his career.