Lily Collins has been in a smattering of movies and TV shows since she made her debut in the industry at the age of 10. Her gateway into Hollywood was in a supporting voice-acting role in the 1999 animated film Tarzan. She got her part in that film through her famous father, British musician Phil Collins, who famously composed the music for Tarzan.

Since working alongside her dad, Collins has come to step out into more central roles in recent years. After Tarzan, her next roles came a decade later, including parts in 90210 and The Blind Side. From there, her career has heated up, and she’s gone on to have increasingly more central roles, though she has struggled throughout her career with the highly variable critical reception of her work. Looking at Collins’ career as a whole, here is a breakdown of her top 10 roles and what made them key parts of the actor’s career.

10

The Blind Side (2009)

Lily Collins Plays Collins Tuohy

Though The Blind Side has gone on to be highly controversial, the film was received decently during the time of its release. Chronicling the story of the Tuohy family, a middle-class white family who takes in Michael Oher, an at-risk Black teenager who goes on to become a football star, Collins steps in to play the appropriately named Collins Tuohy, the daughter in the Tuohy family. Collins’ Tuohy is a supporting character in The Blind Side, as the film largely focuses on Michael as well as the mother, Leigh Anne Tuohy.

Still, playing the Tuohy daughter was a key jumping-off point in Collins’ career. Early on in her filmography, The Blind Side provided her a chance to act in a high-profile, Oscar-nominated film, significantly elevating her profile as an actor. Collins’ role in The Blind Side may be less significant in terms of screen time, but she performs solidly as a key member of the Tuohy family unit.

9

Tolkien (2019)

Lily Collins Plays Edith Bratt

In the years since The Blind Side, Collins went on to act in a series of movies that received relatively poor reviews. This included Love, Rosie, and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which received rotten 32% and 13% scores on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively. This put Collins in a precarious place in her career in the early to mid-2010s, as she was on a streak of a lot of negatively received work.

2019’s Tolkien helped recover Collins’ reputation. The film is still far from perfect, as Tolkien’s mixed reviews left it with a 51% Tomatometer. Still, Collins is given the chance to shine in a lead role in the docudrama about J.R.R. Tolkien’s early life and inspiration. Collins plays Edith Bratt, an orphan that Nicholas Hoult’s Tolkien falls in love with in the film. She does so with a decent amount of grace, grounding the film’s drama.

8

Mirror Mirror (2012)

Lily Collins Plays Snow White

In Mirror Mirror, Collins gets her chance at playing the classic princess Snow White in this reimagining of the tale. Mirror Mirror was released in an era where adaptations of the work seemed increasingly popular. A year earlier, the Kristen Stewart-starring Snow White and the Huntsman was released to mixed reviews, giving Mirror Mirror pressure to outperform as a fellow adaptation of the fairy tale.

Mirror Mirror’s reviews were also mixed, but the film arguably features the better presentation of Snow White. As opposed to Stewart’s characteristically empty performance, Collins’ is charming in her lead role as she battles against the Evil Queen. Fare-skinned and dark-haired, Collins’ physical appearance also makes it such that she naturally blends into the princess role, aiding the aesthetics of Mirror Mirror. While still not a stellar piece of cinema, Mirror Mirror helped better establish Collins as a capable lead.

7

MaXXXine (2024)

Lily Collins Plays Molly Bennett

While the bulk of reactions to A24’s horror threequel MaXXXine focus on the stirring and chilling performance from Mia Goth, the actress is also surrounded by a strong supporting cast. One such cast member is Collins, who plays an actress in the fictional horror film The Puritan in the film. Collins is properly disconcerting in the Molly Bennett role, a character who becomes somewhat of a mentor to the lead.

Collins’ performance in MaXXXine has received a mixed response. While some love her in the role, others have been quick to critique Collins’ distractingly bad accent, which is intended to imitate someone from Northern Yorkshire. Still, MaXXXine is a critical film in Collins’ career, as it sees the actress experience somewhat of a Rotten Tomatoes recovery after a slump. MaXXXine currently holds a 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes, an X franchise low, but still a fresh score.

6

Les Misérables (2019)

Lily Collins Plays Fantine

One of Collins’ more underrated roles is in the TV miniseries Les Misérables, which aired in 2019. Despite receiving largely positive reviews, the show has been largely forgotten, even in the mere five years since its initial release. Collins steps into the show to play Fantine, a working-class Parisian woman who is impregnated by a rich student and struggles to raise her daughter, Cosette.

Collins appeared as Fantine in three of the Les Misérables episodes. Her acting does not have nearly the same gravitas as someone like Anne Hathaway, though it is hard to compare the 2012 musical — which is replete with the power ballad “I Dreamed a Dream,” with its songless miniseries counterpart. Even paling in comparison to some past versions, Collins shows off her acting range in this more dramatic role, fitting in swimmingly with an overall well-cast series.

5

Rules Don’t Apply (2016)

Lily Collins Plays Marla Mabrey

Released in 2016, Rules Don’t Apply is yet another example of Collins’ fraught Rotten Tomatoes streak. The film received a 55% Tomatometer and a 34% audience approval score, becoming yet another title on Collins’ poor streak in the 2010s. Critics did not appreciate the unevenness of the story as well as the choppy editing, leaving the film with reviews that slant negatively.

That said, the film deserves high praise in any discussion of Collins’ work due to how good the actor is in the role of Marla Mabrey. The lead is an uncomfortable role to play, to say the least, as it involves a massive age-gap relationship between Mabrey and Howard Hughes. Collins’ spot-on performance in Rules Don’t Apply received award recognition, earning the performer a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

4

Okja (2017)

Lily Collins Plays Red

Okja is one huge exception to the trend of Collins’ Rotten Tomatoes struggles during the 2010s. This pre-Parasite Bong Joon Ho action film is an adventurous take on environmental crisis and food production that spins in wild direction. It is one of the more creative films to come out of this era, and undeniably one of the most well-regarded movies in which Collins has appeared.

Collins plays a smaller role, Red in the film. Red is a member of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the animal rights activism group that is a stand-in for PETA in Okja. The lines that the ALF has to say are often times over-the-top as the group engages in guerilla efforts to save animals. While Collins’ role is not as extravagant as the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal or Tilda Swinton within the film, she fits well within the Okja cast, making the part a small yet significant part of her oeuvre.

3

To the Bone

Lily Collins Plays Ellen (2017)

Collins’ lead role in To the Bone was arguably the most challenging role for the actress. In the Netflix drama, Collins plays a young woman named Ellen who is grappling with severe, life-threatening anorexia. In the movie, Ellen’s life changes when she meets an understanding doctor who will challenge her in ways that she has never been challenged before, and highly encourage her on a path to recovery.

Collins delivers a resonant performance in the lead role in To the Bone. The film helped to establish Collins as a dramatic lead, in a part that was working on a far deeper level than something like The Blind Side or The Mortal Instruments. To the Bone itself was somewhat controversial, as its portrayal of eating disorders was highly discussed, but as a work of acting, it stands up as one of Collins’ best parts.

2

Emily in Paris (2020)

Lily Collins Plays Emily Cooper

Nowadays, Collins’ name is most synonymous with the Netflix show Emily in Paris. In the series, Collins plays Emily Cooper, an American woman who finds a job at a marketing firm in Paris, where she is tasked to give her perspective on all things United States. Emily in Paris‘s reviews are mixed for the show as a whole. While it initially received awards recognition, including an Emmy nod for Outstanding Comedy Series, the show has been thought to go downhill since then.

That said, Collins’ role in Emily in Paris is her most significant part to date. As Emily, she has to grapple with workplace drama, complicated friendships, and rom-com-style plots, wearing as many proverbial hats as the fashionista herself may don in the series. Emily in Paris is Collins’ only starring role in a major TV show, making it one of the most vital parts of Collins’ career.

1

Mank (2020)

Lily Collins Plays Rita Alexander

Topping the list of Collins’ roles is Mank. Collin plays Herman Mankiewicz’s real-life secretary, Rita Alexander, in the Oscar-nominated David Fincher biopic. Collins’ had to conquer the feat of tackling a character largely unknown to film history, and she did so with grace in this substantial part. Mank was well-regarded, receiving an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Mank itself is easily one of the best movies she has been in, along with Okja and To the Bone. Shot to mimic the sensibilities of Citizen Kane, Mank is a cinematographic feat that well-deserved its Oscar win for Best Cinematography and its nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor. Collins herself was not recognized for her role at any major awards shows, but she nonetheless plays Rita with great elegance as she helps maintain the film’s potent dramatic beats.