Hollywood royalty is very well-established and hasn’t varied a lot in recent decades. Classic actors are the ones you always hear about, and Tinseltown’s greatest directors and producers are usually the ones you see on Oscar night or preparing the next big franchise. No surprises at all.

However, if there’s a performer who has always deserved to be such royalty, that actor is Jodie Foster. Clarice, Iris, and Nell. The winner of two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes is an experienced actor whose legacy speaks for itself and cannot be questioned. What’s more important is that she’s joined the ranks of industry actors who have become directors, and she’s done a pretty good job in that regard as well.

Nevertheless, today we’ll stick to the acting. Foster’s range has always been exceptional. And while we wait for this to be proven once again with her performance in True Detective, which we’re sure will elevate the series, here’s a rundown of Jodie Foster’s best performances.

Taxi Driver (1976)

Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver tells the story of Travis Bickle, a war veteran who’s forced to drive a taxicab in a gloomy version of ’70s New York City. Bickle is a witness to the city’s collapse from a moral perspective, and it affects him to the point of his collapse. Foster gives life to Iris, a 12-year-old sex worker who Bickle connects with and becomes his main motivation to “save” the city.

What’s Great About Foster’s Performance

The fall of man, a principal theme in the film, is finely represented by the character of Iris. Due to her participation in giving life to the very controversial character, Foster had to undergo a thorough analysis because of her young age, as producers felt she was too young to play a prostitute and evidence the mayhem that is the film’s third act. However, Foster’s confident display of innocence mixed with her connection to a very broken man resulted in her receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was a child prodigy, and her performance in Taxi Driver is great proof of this.

The Accused (1988)

1989’s The Accused was Foster’s transition to becoming an adult actor. And what a performance she gave! In the film, she plays Sarah Tobias, a woman who gets sexually assaulted in a bar, and right after, she decides to do everything in her power to get a trial. Sarah pairs up with District Attorney Kathryn Murphy as they set out to prosecute the men who participated in the attack and also those who encouraged it.

Why Foster’s Performance Belongs Here

The Academy Award-winning performance by Foster is a classic and undoubtedly one of her best. She doesn’t merely play a surviving victim who stands up to the circumstances. This calls for Foster’s performance to be raw and emotional when it must be. The depth of Sarah’s trauma is visible throughout, but she doesn’t deny who she was before or how it may have affected people’s consideration of the attack. It was a strong return to Hollywood after Foster had temporarily retired to go to Yale and get her degree. Now imagine doing that and receiving an Oscar.

Sommersby (1993)

Sommersby is a 1993 romantic drama with a pinch of mystery. In the film, Foster plays Laurel Sommersby, a widow whose husband is presumed dead after leaving to fight in the Civil War. She has advanced in her life and is ready to remarry, when, suddenly, Jack Sommersby shows up at the front door. After reconnecting with the man she thought had died, she starts suspecting Jack may not be who he says he is.

What’s Great About Foster’s Performance

Foster’s portrayal of a transition from a hopeful widow to a woman reencountering the demons of her past is accomplished with her usual versatility and highly emotional range. She makes us believe in Laurel’s fear of reuniting with something she was glad to leave behind. But she doesn’t exactly speak out loud and represents a female figure in the mid-1800s, when women weren’t “supposed” to follow their intuition. But Foster does a great job at giving her character the necessary “switch” to make her a hero on her own terms.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Silence of the Lambs is a classic horror thriller starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins that tells the story of FBI specialist Clarice Starling hunting down a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. Due to Hannibal Lecter’s knowledge of psychology, he could be the key to understanding how Bill works, and this puts Starling in the vulnerable student’s position as Lecter has been imprisoned because of cannibalistic crimes.

Why Silence of the Lambs Is One of Jodie Foster’s Best

Foster’s participation as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs will forever be recognized as the actor’s most important performance. Starling is prey in a den of wolves, as her line of work is mostly dominated by men, but early on, Foster’s unrestrained performance confirms Starling is capable of standing above them and more. And then she meets Lecter, and all bets are canceled. The chemistry between the two is reminiscent of the relentless magnetism between opposite sides that can’t be mixed. But their almost romantic relationship is perfectly represented by two actors at their best, and the direction such a relationship takes is anything but questionable. The very disturbing film had the ability to be accepted into the mainstream, mostly because of its two leads.

“Nyad” (2023)

Who Foster plays: Bonnie Stoll, an athletic trainer recruited by her best friend, long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad (Annette Bening), to train her. “Nyad” focuses on the title character and Stoll’s work to prepare for a 110-mile nonstop swim from Cuba to Florida, which the real Nyad completed in 2013 (if not without some dispute).

Why she’s great: The best thing about the so-so “Nyad” is that it’s willing to spotlight the title subject’s abrasive, unlikable qualities. That leaves Foster with the task of providing the film with the heart it needs to become the straightforward inspirational biopic it desperately wants to be, acting as Bening’s warmer, sweeter counterpart and the person who brings the best out of our hero. It’s a sneakily difficult role, but Foster manages to make it work, and it’s no surprise that the film is most interesting when it lets her explore the frustrations and resentments inherent in this complex friendship.

“True Detective: Night Country” (2024)

Who Foster plays: Liz Danvers, the Chief of Police in the remote town of Ennis, Alaska. The fourth season of the HBO anthology series focuses on Danvers as she teams up with state trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) to solve the bizarre disappearance case of eight men from a nearby research station.

Why she’s great: A good 30 years after “Silence of the Lambs,” Foster again plays a cop in “Night Country,” and it’s easy to see Danvers as an older, jaded version of the idealistic Clarice. Foster plays the character as a bit of a pill, blunt and snide with a messy sex life and a dismissive attitude towards the concerns of her town’s Indigenous population. Foster leans into all of Danvers’ worst qualities — she’s often quite funny in the role — while balancing her hidden softer side she exhibits to Navarro and her few loved ones. “True Detective” is a show famous for its unconventional, troubled police officers, and it’s thrilling to see Foster take on a role in that vein.