(Photo by Netflix/ Courtesy Everett Collection. ADOLESCENCE.)
Stephen Graham Movies and Shows (Adolescence), Ranked By Tomatometer
Looking at esteemed British character actor Stephen Graham’s career arc as a whole, he’s portrayed many villains, sidekicks and antiheroes (including Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, through Gangs of New York, This Is England, Public Enemies) early on, and as more leading roles have come into the picture, he’s taken on more detective and paternal roles. This includes his heavy involvement in Adolescence (Certified Fresh and on Netflix) as co-creator, co-writer, and co-executive producer, in addition to co-star. Graham plays the grieving father of the titular adolescent Jamie Miller, played by Owen Cooper, who’s drawn in by online “manosphere” influencers and as a result, is arrested for murder of another teenager. Adolescence shows Graham’s deep concern for Internet culture and its effect on men specifically.
And now we look at Stephen Graham’s best movies and shows, ranked below by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first.
Cast into the early Guy Ritchie vehicle Snatch as the lunkheaded sidekick Tommy to Jason Statham’s crooked boxing promoter Turkish, Graham is extraordinary from jump, as his character may not be as dull as he appears.
CNN‘s Paul Tatara on Snatch: “[Jason] Statham and Graham are especially amusing as the quibbling fight promoters.”
After Snatch, Graham kicked off a career of playing morally questionable characters from then onward, never more apparent than the ten-times-Oscar-nominated Gangs of New York, which won Martin Scorsese a Golden Globe for Best Director. In that ensemble film, Graham plays Shang, the young leader of the Dead Rabbits gang, which specializes in thievery. Other than his memorable scenes, Graham is best remembered during filming for nearly breaking Leonardo DiCaprio’s leg with a golf cart.
Graham’s next memorable and critically acclaimed role was Combo, the skinhead antagonist in This is England, who draws his working-class gang further into the far-right, National Front politics of the time, but comes to regret his actions. This film made numerous lists as one of the best of 2007, and was followed up by a trio of miniseries where Graham reprised his role.
John Hartl on This Is England: “Graham gives the kind of scary yet strangely sympathetic performance that transcends arguments about nature vs. nurture. He simply is what he is: a human black hole who threatens to obliterate everything that comes into contact with him.”
After that, Graham ate up the screen in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies as George “Baby Face” Nelson, a sociopathic lieutenant in John Dillinger’s (Johnny Depp’s) bank-robbing gang. Additional meaty roles followed soon after, including one of his first leading roles, the Fresh thriller A Patch of Fog, as an obsessive, stalking security guard, and his turn as Al Capone on the long-running HBO show Boardwalk Empire.
More recently, Graham starred in the intense kitchen workplace thriller Boiling Point, an expansion of a short film also starring Graham, where he plays a hard-driving head chef with alcohol and drug issues, presaging shows like The Bear that covered similar subject matter. He returned to reprise this role in the follow-up four-part TV miniseries.
Christina Newland on Boiling Point: “At the centre of it all is Graham, one of Britain’s finest actors, piercingly compelling as Andy. He summons all his lumpen bulldog ferocity and startling vulnerability for the part of a man fraying at the edges.”
Graham also played a leading role as a detective in Little Boy Blue, a dramatized true crime miniseries about the death of a schoolboy in Liverpool. And he portrayed another detective in the second and third Venom movies, the latter of which sees him taken over by one of many symbiotes.
And now ABC News‘ Peter Travers calls Adolescence “[an] emotional powerhouse that sneaks up and floors you. The young TV season sets a new gold standard with a series sure to rank with the year’s very best. Polish up Emmys for Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper as the father and son at the heart of the tale.” (Steve Horton)
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