The 10 Best Charlie Hunnam Movies & TV Shows Ranked

British actor Charlie Hunnam has had the quintessential road to stardom, appearing in smaller but notable films and TV performances, gaining a main role in a prestige TV show, and then continuing after as one of Hollywood’s leading action stars. Hunnam began acting in 1998 in Byker Grove as the recurring character Jason Chuckle. It’s a serendipitous role, as Byker Grove depicts the first gay kiss on children’s television and Hunnam later went on to star in a well-known LGBTQ+ TV show, and the title “Byker Grove” now serves as an Easter egg for one of Hunnam’s most prominent roles.

With his slicked-back, long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and goatee carefully combed to a point, Hunnam has the aesthetic to play a charismatic villain, though he rarely does. But instead, his talents lie in the antihero realm. Hunnam is a consummate performer of characters with dark personalities and pasts who are ultimately good. Even in action-packed blockbusters where character development is secondary, Hunnam manages to imbue his swashbuckling swagger with a deep complexity, and his best TV shows and movies take advantage of his full scope of talents.

10

Jungleland (2019)

Hunnam Plays Stanley Kaminski

In Jungleland, a sports drama, Charlie Hunnam co-stars as Stanley Kaminski opposite Jack O’Connell as Walter “Lion” Kaminski. Lion is a former professional boxer and Stanley is his older brother and former boxing manager. The down-on-their-luck pair travel the country to deliver a sex worker for a gangster they’ve angered and take part in an underground boxing competition to earn enough money to open a dry cleaner. It’s a moving and thrilling sports drama that sees Hunnam playing a different sort of character than usual.

Here he is the elder and ostensibly wiser brother, though he often puts Lion in danger in his quest to improve their lives. In past roles, Hunnam often plays the young hotshot, who grows throughout the movie, but in Jungleland, he’s a character past his prime. It signals a switch to the mature kinds of characters Hunnam can play now that he’s grown from his more youthful acting years.

9

Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

Hunnam Plays Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby is one of Charlie Hunnam’s earliest roles. An adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic book, the period comedy-drama follows the titular character (Hunnam) as he goes on adventures through London, attempting to protect and provide for his mother and sister after his father passes away. With Anne Hathaway, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Plummer, Alan Cumming and Nathan Lane in the cast, it’s a testament to Hunnam’s skill at a young age that he can share the screen with such talents and not shrink.

It’s an old-fashioned kind of movie that balances comedy and pathos in equal measure, and Hunnam slides right into the tone of the sprawling adventure. He’s capable of an intensity needed for the dramatic moments of the film, but there’s always a lightness to his performance that is necessary for the freewheeling film.

8

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

Hunnam Plays King Arthur

When Guy Ritchie announced he would be making a historical epic movie based on Arthurian legend, the idea was met with some surprise. After all, Guy Ritchie movies tend to be set in modern times, or at least within the past two centuries, featuring criminals, detectives, and wisecracking hoodlums. The results of this unexpected combination were mixed. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword did bomb at the box office, earning $149 million over a $175 million budget (via Box Office Mojo), but those poor returns don’t illustrate how much of the movie works.

The rapid-fire cutting, intense action with up-close camera angles, and heist-style storytelling with Excalibur at the center rather than a briefcase filled with money is a surprisingly effective blend. As King Arthur, Hunnam looks and feels just like what a legendary king would be like if he were raised by paupers and thieves. He’s charming, dangerous, and inspiring; and the audience still roots for him up to the end, even as the film gets overloaded with CGI.

7

Triple Frontier (2019)

Hunnam Plays William “Ironhead” Miller

Hunnam plays William “Ironhead” Miller in Triple Frontier and joins an action hero quintet including Ben Affleck as Tom “Redfly” Davis, Pedro Pascal as Francisco “Catfish” Morales, Oscar Isaac as Santiago “Pope” Garcia, and Garrett Hedlund as Benjamin “Benny” Miller. A fairly conventional action thriller, Triple Frontier follows a group of U.S. Army Delta Force operators who reunite for a big heist in Colombia. Tightly written, exciting, and harrowing, it’s a throwback action-adventure.

Ironhead, despite his name, is the most level-headed of the crew and Hunnam is in top-action hero form, proving himself a star of the genre. It’s a good reminder that Hunnam does not have to be the star of a film to shine. He can stand out even in a stacked cast of contemporaries. Serious, but never overly so, Hunnam wholeheartedly sells the fear of the situation.

6

Undeclared (2001-2002)

Hunnam Plays Lloyd Haythe (18 Episodes, 2001-2002)

After the relatable high school TV show Freaks and Geeks was canceled, Judd Apatow tried his hand at another series, Undeclared, which premiered in 2001. Sadly, like his first show, it lasted only one season. Also like Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared has since gained a strong cult following. The series depicts a group of freshmen college students who are trying to figure out what they should major in, and more importantly, who they are. Hunnam plays Lloyd Haythe, protagonist Steven Karp’s (Jay Baruchel) English roommate.

A ladies’ man who often kicks Steven out of the room when he’s in the middle of a hookup, Lloyd is a theater major with a quick temper who may be self-centered but generally looks out for Steven and their friends. The role is an early showcase of Hunnam’s leading man personality and comfort with comedy, even if he’s not the one making the jokes.

Watch on Amazon Prime Video

5

Queer As Folk (1999-2000)

Hunnam Plays Nathan Maloney (10 Episodes, 1999-2000)

While the American remake of Queer as Folk may be the more popular and remembered TV show, it’s the 1999 British series that laid the foundation for the groundbreaking franchise. Charlie Hunnam co-stars as Nathan Maloney, a 15-year-old gay teen who is not shy about his sexuality nor is lacking in confidence. The series also follows two other gay men, Stuart Allen Jones (Aidan Gillen), an active and successful young man, and his long-time friend Vince Tyler (Craig Kelly), who is less comfortably out of the closet.

Their day-to-day lives in Manchester’s gay village near Canal Street are depicted throughout the series’ 10 episodes. When the show premiered, it was criticized for not taking many of the problems affecting the gay community seriously, but it has since grown in estimation. The intention is clear. Queer as Folk is not intended to be an introspective and thematic show; it’s only interested in showing the fun and lighthearted sides of gay life and doesn’t let itself get bogged down with “serious” conversations, and characters like Nathan are key to that ambling, almost fantastical feel.

Watch on Amazon Prime Video

4

The Gentlemen (2019)

Hunnam Plays Raymond Smith

The second collaboration between Guy Ritchie and Charlie Hunnam, The Gentlemen follows an American marijuana dealer, Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), whose attempts to sell his empire ignite a Ritchie-style explosion of plots and schemes. Hunnam plays Mickey’s right-hand man, Raymond Smith, a polite and dangerous fixer who has the kindest manners right up until the moment he’s beating someone to a pulp. It’s a funny and rich role that allows Humman to emote and play with his character more than he usually does.

Hunnam once again fits right in with Ritchie’s style, able to balance heart, comedy, and action in equal measure. Most importantly, he never takes himself too seriously. A huge box office success at $115 million opposite a $22,000,000 budget (via Box Office Mojo), The Gentlemen has led to a 2024 Netflix series also by Ritchie, though sans Hunnam, McConaughey, and many other actors from the film.

3

Pacific Rim (2013)

Hunnam Plays Raleigh Becket

In Guillermo del Toro’s science fiction monster movie Pacific Rim, aliens attempt to terraform Earth for their habitation by releasing massive, city-destroying kaiju out of a fault in the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Produced by Legendary Pictures, Pacific Rim is not related to the rest of Godzilla and King Kong’s “Monsterverse”, but in some way, it feels like the originator of the franchise. Few of the monster films since have managed to capture the terror and weight that the creatures in Pacific Rim possess.

Their frightening and realistic designs make it all the more satisfying when Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), piloting the Jaeger “Gypsy Danger”, slices them in half. Hunnam is physical, intense, and a powerful enough force that it’s completely believable he’d have the willpower to drive a giant mech and defend humanity. Pacific Rim‘s dialogue is borderline goofy, but Hunnam’s dedication to the role makes even the odder lines sound cool.

2

The Lost City Of Z (2016)

Hunnam Plays Percy Fawcett

The Lost City of Z is a biographical epic based on the book of the same name by David Grann about real-life explorer Percy Fawcett, a British adventurer who went to Brazil several times to find the mythical city of the title. While the title and poster may promise a jungle adventure, The Lost City of Z is a much slower and hypnotic film. That slow pace may test some viewers’ patience, but it also rewards with breathtaking cinematography and one of Hunnam’s most internal and complex performances.

Fawcett is not a swash-buckling hero; he’s an obsessive who continues to search for a city that most likely isn’t there, long after he should have stopped. There are many scenes of Fawcett walking quietly through the jungle, and it’s in these scenes that Hunnam does some of his best work, able to add layers of meaning and emotion to just a look or a simple line.

1

Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014)

Hunnam Plays Jackson “Jax” Teller (92 Episodes, 2008-2014)

Charlie Hunnam appears in every episode of the motorcycle crime drama, Sons of Anarchy, and it’s his starring role as SAMCRO VP then president, Jackson “Jax” Teller that made the series a phenomenon and jumpstarted his career. Hunnam was a known quantity before the FX series, but the Golden Globe-winning show is what positioned him as one of TV’s most complex actors. Jax is a multifaceted character in Sons of Anarchy. He can be cruel, sympathetic, dangerous, and caring.

Jax’s downward spiral from a criminal wanting to go legitimate to one of the more evil characters on the show is fascinating to watch and Charlie Hunnam never makes Jax’s deterioration feel forced. Jax changes from a cocksure kid into a damaged, angry man from season 1 to season 7 and while the rest of the series has plenty of high points, it’s Hunnam’s performance that holds it all together.