Best Brad Pitt Movies, Ranked: A Guide to His Most Essential Roles
In short: Our top five Brad Pitt films: Fight Club, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (his acting Oscar), Se7en, Moneyball and 12 Monkeys. He has won two Oscars, Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Best Picture as a producer of 12 Years a Slave, and his 2025 racing film F1 became one of his biggest hits.
Get movie picks based on this article
Want a great movie for tonight? Get picks matched to your mood.
Get movie picksPrefer to answer a few questions? Take the 8-question movie quiz →The ten best, ranked
1. Fight Club (1999)
David Fincher's satire of consumerism and masculinity, with Pitt as the charismatic Tyler Durden opposite Edward Norton. A box-office disappointment that became a cult landmark.
2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
As Cliff Booth, an easygoing stuntman with a dark past, Pitt is effortlessly cool in Quentin Tarantino's love letter to 1969 Los Angeles. It won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
3. Se7en (1995)
Fincher again: a young detective (Pitt) and a weary veteran (Morgan Freeman) hunt a killer staging the seven deadly sins. The ending is one of cinema's most famous.
4. Moneyball (2011)
Bennett Miller's film about Oakland A's manager Billy Beane using statistics to build a team on a tiny budget. A quiet, funny, Oscar-nominated performance.
5. 12 Monkeys (1995)
In Terry Gilliam's time-travel thriller, Pitt's twitchy mental patient Jeffrey Goines earned his first Oscar nomination and showed he was more than a pretty face.
6. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Tarantino's Second World War revenge fantasy, with Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine leading a squad of Nazi hunters. Very funny, especially his attempts at Italian.
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Andrew Dominik's slow, beautiful western, with Pitt as a paranoid, ageing Jesse James. It won him the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival.
8. Ocean's Eleven (2001)
As Rusty Ryan, always eating, Pitt is the perfect cool sidekick to George Clooney in Steven Soderbergh's heist remake.
9. F1 (2025)
Joseph Kosinski's racing drama, from the director of Top Gun: Maverick, casts Pitt as a former driver who returns to mentor a rookie. Shot at real Grands Prix, and a major hit.
10. Thelma & Louise (1991)
A small part as a charming drifter in Ridley Scott's road movie, and the role that made him famous almost overnight.
Honourable mentions
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): a man aging backwards; Oscar-nominated.
- Snatch (2000): his almost incomprehensible Irish Traveller boxer.
- Burn After Reading (2008): the Coen brothers' farce, with Pitt as a dim gym trainer.
- The Tree of Life (2011): Terrence Malick's Palme d'Or winner.
- World War Z (2013): his biggest zombie blockbuster.
Our verdict
Start with Se7en and Fight Club for Fincher, then Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. For a crowd-pleaser, Ocean's Eleven or F1.
Frequently asked questions
Has Brad Pitt won an Oscar? Two: Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), and Best Picture as a producer of 12 Years a Slave (2013). He was also nominated for 12 Monkeys, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Moneyball.
Was F1 a hit? Yes. Joseph Kosinski's F1 (2025), with Pitt as a veteran driver returning to Formula 1, was one of the biggest box-office successes of his career.
Want a movie for tonight?
Our movie quiz can match one to your mood, with runtimes for each pick.