15 Jennifer Connelly Movies Ranked From Least To Most Acclaimed
Her career never stayed in one lane. Jennifer Connelly made bold pivots, took unexpected turns, and kept finding new angles that worked.
Fantasy, heavy drama, and quieter films all show up along the way. Some flicks blew up, some got slept on, but the talent? Fuggedaboutit.
Note: Editorial ranking of Jennifer Connelly films is shared here, and the order reflects a subjective take shaped by critical reception and general audience reputation. Opinions and reputations can shift over time.
15. Career Opportunities
A late-night lock-in at a big-box store sets the stage for an unlikely romance. Jennifer Connelly plays Josie McClellan in Career Opportunities, portraying a wealthy small-town woman who crosses paths with a night janitor after getting trapped overnight in a department store.
Style outweighs substance throughout the film, with visual flair, chemistry, and fantasy sequences doing more work than the actual plot.
Critical response landed on the harsh side, yet cult status followed thanks to dreamy aesthetics and Connelly’s magnetic presence.
Memory tends to linger on the iconic white dress rather than story details, perfectly capturing the feel of an early-1990s time capsule.
14. Hulk
Ang Lee’s artsy take on the green giant divided comic book fans everywhere. Connelly steps into the role of Betty Ross, a scientist caught between loyalty to her father and feelings for Bruce Banner, whose anger issues come with gamma-ray consequences.
The film prioritizes emotional depth over action spectacle.
Split-screen panels and psychological drama replace typical superhero beats, leaving many viewers puzzled rather than thrilled. Connelly delivers solid work, but even her grounded performance can’t save a movie that feels more therapy session than blockbuster adventure.
13. Alita: Battle Angel
Futuristic chaos fills Iron City, where cyborg bodies and fragile human emotion constantly clash. In Alita Battle Angel, Jennifer Connelly portrays Chiren, a conflicted doctor navigating a harsh world shaped by mechanical upgrades and moral tension.
Visual ambition dominates the experience, delivering groundbreaking CGI while narrative impact struggles to keep pace, even as her performance adds warmth to a role that could have felt cold in less capable hands.
Faithful touches drawn from the original manga pleased longtime fans, while broader critical response remained more reserved.
12. The Hot Spot
Oppressive Texas heat sets the tone for dangerous attractions simmering beneath small-town calm.
Gloria Harper emerges as a young woman tangled in blackmail, murder, and steamy affairs in The Hot Spot, with Jennifer Connelly bringing a watchable intensity to the role.
Film noir influences dominate the mood with sultry atmosphere, yet sharp dialogue never fully ignites in the way classic noir demands. Direction by Dennis Hopper delivers visual style, while pacing drags like heat on asphalt and plot twists grow more confusing than clever.
Patience can wear thin despite the talented cast, leaving time-checking temptation as persistent as the humidity.
11. The Rocketeer
Jetpacks and gangsters light up 1930s Hollywood.
Connelly shines as Jenny Blake, a starry-eyed actress and girlfriend to a stunt pilot who stumbles onto experimental rocket technology that everyone wants to steal.
The film captures old-fashioned adventure spirit with Art Deco flair and wholesome romance, offering family-friendly thrills without the cynicism that marks modern superhero fare. Critics appreciated the nostalgic charm but wished for deeper character development beyond the period costumes and whiz-bang action sequences that dominate the runtime.
10. Labyrinth
Fantasy chaos fills the screen with goblins, twisting mazes, and David Bowie’s unforgettable hair.
At the center of Labyrinth, Sarah must navigate a surreal maze to rescue her baby brother from Jareth the Goblin King, with Jennifer Connelly grounding the journey in genuine emotion as childhood gives way to maturity.
Handcrafted magic defines the world, as Jim Henson filled every corner with tactile creatures and imaginative detail that still feel alive.
Initial box office disappointment eventually faded, turning the film into a cult favorite where earnest performances, surreal imagery, and the presence of David Bowie continue to enchant new generations discovering it decades later.
9. Blood Diamond
Political unrest and the conflict diamond trade frame a story driven by moral weight and uneasy choices.
Maddy Bowen comes into focus as an American journalist determined to expose violence tied to illicit diamonds in Blood Diamond, with Jennifer Connelly bringing conscience and restraint to every scene. Chemistry shared with Leonardo DiCaprio adds emotional depth, helping serious themes land without tipping into lectures.
Heavy subject matter receives an unflinching treatment, earning praise for spotlighting real atrocities while still engaging audiences, and an understated performance proves quiet conviction can carry the greatest truth.
8. Phenomena
Italian horror leans into the bizarre under the guidance of Dario Argento. Set at a Swiss boarding school, Phenomena follows Jennifer Corvino, a teenager who discovers an unsettling ability to communicate with insects.
That strange gift becomes essential once a serial killer begins targeting students. Gloriously offbeat imagery takes over, blending sleepwalking scenes, swarming creatures, and bursts of shocking violence.
Reactions split sharply, with some praising the audacity and others pointing out glaring plot gaps.
Emotional grounding still holds, thanks to a committed performance from Jennifer Connelly that lends sincerity to even the wildest moments.
7. Dark City
Memory, identity, and reality bend in this neo-noir science fiction mind-bender. Connelly plays Emma Murdoch, a lounge singer whose relationship with an amnesiac man unravels a conspiracy involving mysterious beings who reshape the city and its inhabitants each night.
The film’s visual design influenced The Matrix and countless others.
Alex Proyas creates a haunting world where nothing is quite what it seems, and Connelly brings vulnerability to a role that could have been just window dressing, making audiences care about love that might be entirely fabricated.
6. Noah
Biblical mythology takes a darker turn in Noah, where apocalyptic imagery replaces familiar Sunday school tones. Rock creatures and moral uncertainty define the vision shaped by Darren Aronofsky.
Naameh emerges as the emotional anchor, with Jennifer Connelly portraying a wife watching her husband slip into dangerous zealotry while trying to protect her family.
Faith clashes with survival as rising waters turn devotion into something frighteningly rigid. Controversy followed for treating scripture as dark fantasy rather than gentle parable.
Critical response often praised the ambition, noting performances that lifted the spectacle beyond standard disaster film territory even when execution felt uneven.
5. House Of Sand And Fog
Domestic calm fractures as a single house turns into contested ground for two lives on the brink.
Kathy Nicolo stands at the center of House of Sand and Fog, where an inherited home lost to a bureaucratic mistake brings her into collision with an Iranian immigrant buyer, neither side willing to surrender dignity or claim, portrayed with stark intensity by Jennifer Connelly.
Tragedy advances with a sense of Greek inevitability, as pride and desperation tighten their grip and choices narrow toward heartbreak.
Hollywood polish disappears in favor of raw vulnerability, delivering a performance that earned major critical attention, including a Best Actress nomination from the Broadcast Film Critics Association (Critics Choice).
4. Once Upon A Time In America
Time stretches across decades in a sweeping gangster saga shaped by friendship, betrayal, and vanished dreams. Set in 1920s New York, Once Upon a Time in America introduces young Deborah, a dancer whose quiet presence sparks lasting romantic longing within a Jewish gangster’s life.
Brief appearances carry surprising weight, as Jennifer Connelly gives early scenes an emotional charge that echoes across the film’s four-hour runtime.
Operatic scale defines the approach of Sergio Leone, turning crime drama into reflection on memory, regret, and time lost. An indelible impression emerges despite limited screen time, reinforcing the film’s reputation as a masterpiece and revealing how carefully chosen moments can linger long after credits roll.
3. Little Children
Suburban boredom breeds risky choices and shattered illusions.
Connelly portrays Kathy Adamson, a documentary filmmaker married to a man struggling with compulsive online explicit-content use, her character representing the quiet desperation hiding behind manicured lawns and minivans.
Todd Field directs with surgical precision, dissecting modern marriage and parenting with dark humor and uncomfortable honesty.
Connelly’s supporting role provides crucial contrast to the main affair storyline, showing how betrayal comes in many forms. The film earned Oscar nominations and critical acclaim for its refusal to offer easy answers or comfortable resolutions to messy human problems.
2. Requiem For A Dream
Relentless collapse drives four lives toward ruin with no easy escape.
Marion Silver emerges as a young woman whose substance addiction strips away ambition and dignity, as Jennifer Connelly portrays dreams of fashion design curdling into desperation and degradation in Requiem for a Dream.
Harsh realism defines the approach taken by Darren Aronofsky, refusing to soften the consequences of addiction or offer comfort. Fearlessness shapes the performance, delivering psychological and physical collapse without vanity.
Critical response highlighted how scenes still shock years later, cementing the work as one of her most devastating and unforgettable roles.
1. A Beautiful Mind
Mathematical genius meets mental illness in this biographical drama about John Nash.
Connelly portrays Alicia Nash, the brilliant mathematician’s wife who stands by him through schizophrenia, delusions, and years of struggle, providing the emotional anchor that allows his eventual recovery and Nobel Prize.
Ron Howard’s film won Best Picture, and Connelly took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, finally receiving recognition that her talent had long deserved.
Her performance balances strength with vulnerability, showing a woman who refuses to abandon love even when reality becomes impossible to distinguish from hallucination.
