For Fans of Colin Farrell

Martin McDonagh's debut feature handed Farrell the role that reframed his career entirely. As Ray, a guilt-wrecked hitman hiding in a fairy-tale city he cannot appreciate, Farrell plays comedy and tragedy in the same breath without ever letting one swallow the other. The film works because he commits to Ray's self-loathing so completely that the jokes land harder for it. Ralph Fiennes's Harry and Brendan Gleeson's Ken are both excellent, but Farrell's raw nerve is the engine.

Reuniting with McDonagh on an island off the Irish coast, Farrell plays Padraic Suilleabhain with a deceptive simplicity. He seems ordinary, even a little dim, and that is the point. When his oldest friend abruptly ends their relationship for reasons that feel both absurd and devastating, Farrell charts the slide from confusion to grief to something darker with microscopic precision. He was nominated for the Academy Award and deserved it.

Season two of True Detective was received poorly against the impossible standard of its predecessor, but Farrell's Ray Velcoro is a genuinely compelling creation: a corrupt cop trapped between two criminal masters, slowly trying to locate whatever remains of his conscience. The season's weaknesses are real, but Farrell's work is not among them. Watch it now that expectations have settled.

Buried under prosthetic transformation for his Oswald Cobblepot in The Batman, Farrell then carried an entire HBO spin-off series in the same makeup. The Penguin is a crime-family rise-and-fall story in the tradition of The Sopranos more than a superhero saga, and Farrell uses the physical restriction to push everything into voice, posture, and eyes. It is the kind of commitment that separates actors from stars.