Daniel Day-Lewis movies in order

There aren’t many high-profile actors who have made a huge name for themselves while appearing in a limited number of movies, and yet Daniel Day-Lewis has done exactly that. The British-born actor is one of the most celebrated and most prolific actors of all-time, and yet since he entered the film industry as a teenager in the 1970s, he has kept his on-screen roles to a minimum.

Daniel Day-Lewis has picked his roles carefully, being very selective about his work, and has only taken on movies he really believes in. He avoids anything he has no interest in, including franchise films, but as a result he has won multiple Oscars.

His first role came in 1971 via an uncredited performance in John Schlesinger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday. His next movie appearance came ten years later in 1981, via the television film, Thank You, P.G. Wodehouse.

The 1980s provided more roles, including the part of Colin in Gandhi, Fryer in The Bounty, and Johnny in the acclaimed British movie, My Beautiful Laundrette. Day-Lewis took on the part of Cecil Vyse in A Room with a View, and played Tomas in The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

However, it was his performance in the Jim Sheridan-directed, biographical comedy-drama, My Left Foot, which really caught the world’s attention. Playing the part of Irish writer and painter, Christy Brown, Daniel Day-Lewis not only wowed critics and audiences, he also won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Moving into the 1990s, and films such as The Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence, and The Crucible continued to provide Day-Lewis with opportunities to showcase his acting skills. His performance in 1993’s biographical crime-drama, In the Name of the Father, also earned him an Academy Award nomination. 

Re-teaming with director Jim Sheridan, Day-Lewis took on the part of Gerry Conlon – a real-life Irish man dubbed one of the Guildford Four. In 1975, Conlon was wrongly convicted of being a provisional IRA bomber and spent 15 years in prison.

Moving into the 2000s, and Daniel Day-Lewis was nominated for another Academy Award for his part in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. In the film, Day-Lewis played the role of ‘Bill the Butcher’ Cutting, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.

Although he didn’t win the Academy Award for Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis did go on to pick up an Oscar for the 2007 period drama, There Will Be Blood. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film told the story of silver miner turned oilman, Daniel Plainview, who seeks wealth during the South California oil boom.

Another Academy Award followed in 2012, when Day-Lewis took on the title role of US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s biographical drama, Lincoln. This was then followed by another Academy Award nomination for his turn as Reynolds Woodcock in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread.

Phantom Thread was set to be Day-Lewis’ final film, with the actor announcing his retirement from acting in 2017; however, this wasn’t to be. In 2025, after eight years away from the spotlight, he returned to acting with Anemone.

Should you wish to see a list of all of Daniel Day-Lewis’ movies, keep reading. Below you will find the titles of every film, listed in chronological order.

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Daniel Day-Lewis movies in order

Below is a list of all of Daniel Day-Lewis’ movies. The list includes 24 films and runs from 1971 through to 2025.

• Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)*
• Thank You, P.G. Wodehouse (1981)
• Artemis 81 (1981)
• Gandhi (1982)
• The Bounty (1984)
• My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
• A Room with a View (1985)
• Nanou (1986)
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
• Stars and Bars (1988)
• My Left Foot (1989)
• Eversmile, New Jersey (1989)
• The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• In the Name of the Father (1993)
• The Crucible (1996)
• The Boxer (1997)
• Gangs of New York (2002)
• The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)
• There Will Be Blood (2007)
• Nine (2009)
• Lincoln (2012)
• Phantom Thread (2017)
• Anemone (2025)

*Uncredited role

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Editor/writer/terrible actor

Alex Wiggan

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Thank you for taking the time to read this post about Daniel Day-Lewis’ movies on It’s A Stampede!. For more movie posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.