Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 10 Best Performances, Ranked

People massively underestimate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acting abilities; he’s proven with movies like Maggie and The Terminator that he’s not just a one-note action hero. Schwarzenegger started out as a bodybuilder before making the transition to acting, and as with anyone who comes to acting from another field – whether that field is music, wrestling, or something else – his dramatic capabilities have been consistently underrated. There’s a misconception that Schwarzenegger plays the same character in every movie, like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but that’s simply not true. Schwarzenegger has played all kinds of roles, from a killer cyborg to a pregnant man.

Schwarzenegger certainly has a familiar on-screen persona that can be seen in a lot of his action movies, like Commando and The Expendables saga, and that on-screen persona is a lot of fun to watch. But he’s shown time and time again that he’s capable of so much more than that. He’s shown a darker side of that persona in Sabotage and End of Days. He’s shown off his comedic chops in the family-friendly farce Kindergarten Cop and the self-aware satire Last Action Hero. Schwarzenegger has given some genuinely great performances throughout his career.

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Related 10 Arnold Schwarzenegger Characters, Ranked Villainous To Heroic

Most Arnold Schwarzenegger characters are heroes, like True Lies’ Harry Tasker, but others are more villainous, like Batman & Robin’s Mr. Freeze.

10 Sabotage

2014

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Sabotage is a 2014 action flick starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger plays John ‘Breacher’ Wharton, the leader of a DEA task force that is hunted down by a drug cartel. Alongside Schwarzenegger stars Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Olivia Williams, Joe Manganiello, and Josh Holloway. David Ayer helms the film with a script written by himself and Skip Woods.

Director David Ayer Release Date March 28, 2014 Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , Sam Worthington , Terrence Howard , Olivia Williams , Joe Manganiello , Josh Holloway , Max Martini , Mireille Enos Runtime 109 Minutes

David Ayer turned Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None into a high-octane action thriller with Sabotage. Schwarzenegger plays the leader of a DEA squad whose officers start getting picked off one by one after they steal a fortune they seized from a drug cartel. It’s an interesting morality tale: these law enforcement officers break the laws they’re supposed to protect and end up paying the ultimate price for it.

Although the film itself was criticized for an uneven screenplay and an excess of graphic violence, Schwarzenegger’s performance was universally praised. He could’ve played Special Agent John “Breacher” Wharton as a run-of-the-mill action hero, but he brings an unexpected amount of depth to the role. As he loses people under his watch and races against time to prevent more loss, Schwarzenegger shows Breacher to be surprisingly vulnerable.

9 True Lies

1994

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In James Cameron’s 1994 action comedy True Lies, the spy Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) lives a double life as a mellow computer salesman and keeps his real job secret from his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis). However, she joins him when he discovers a terrorist plot to destroy America.

Director James Cameron Release Date July 15, 1994 Runtime 141 minutes

James Cameron’s True Lies imagines what would happen if Schwarzenegger was cast to play James Bond (and if the Bond movies were even sillier). True Lies is a fun blend of action-packed spy thriller and wacky family sitcom about a government agent who leads a double life as a globetrotting operative and a suburban husband and father. Harry Tasker’s worlds collide when his wife discovers that he’s not a mild-mannered I.T. technician, but a real-life super-spy.

True Lies combined Schwarzenegger’s abilities as an action hero with his abilities as a comedian for a totally unique performance. Cameron tailored the script to Schwarzenegger’s over-the-top idiosyncrasies and it resulted in one of his best performances. Schwarzenegger nails both the spy action and the family comedy, and he shares intoxicating chemistry with his on-screen spouse, Jamie Lee Curtis.

8 The Last Stand

2013

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The unlikely duo of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Knoxville team up in the action thriller The Last Stand by director Kim Jee-woon. When a disgraced LAPD turned Sheriff of a small town in Arizona is suddenly caught in the middle of a manhunt for a notorious international cartel leader, he’ll need to team up with a quirky vintage gun dealer to assist the FBI in taking down the wanted criminal.

Director Jee-woon Kim Release Date January 18, 2013 Cast Forest Whitaker , Harry Dean Stanton , Rodrigo Santoro , Genesis Rodriguez , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Luis Guzman , Peter Stormare , Jaimie Alexander , Johnny Knoxville Runtime 110minutes

Schwarzenegger brought his comedic chops to one of his typical action vehicles with The Last Stand. The Last Stand is essentially a contemporary western – a modern-day version of Rio Bravo – in which a small-town sheriff and his ragtag band of deputies stand between a drug lord fleeing the country and the Mexican border. Sheriff Ray Owens is more of an everyman than the invincible supermen that Schwarzenegger usually portrays in the action genre.

Owens is a grizzled veteran in a sleepy, mostly crime-free town who’s suddenly thrust into action and forced to prove he’s still got it. Schwarzenegger leans into that archetype brilliantly, and there’s a meta element since it was his first leading role in a decade. He also shares a hilarious comic dynamic with Johnny Knoxville as an eccentric vintage arms collector who provides Owens with an unconventional arsenal for the showdown.

7 Total Recall

1990

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Based on Philip K. Dick’s short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”, Total Recall tells the story of Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a construction worker who receives an implanted memory of an adventure in humanity’s colony on Mars. Quaid finds his memories playing out in real time, hunted by agents of a mysterious organization as he works to topple the tyrannical regime of a Martian dictator (Ronny Cox).

Director Paul Verhoeven Release Date June 1, 1990 Cast Marshall Bell , Ronny Cox , Sharon Stone , Rachel Ticotin , Michael Ironside , Arnold Schwarzenegger Runtime 113 minutes

Based on the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” Total Recall sees Schwarzenegger’s futuristic blue-collar joe Doug Quaid visiting a company that implants memories of vacations into the minds of people who can’t afford the real thing. He asks to be implanted with memories of an espionage mission to Mars, but the procedure goes awry and he thinks he’s actually a spy with unfinished business on Mars. And as the men in black come after him, it becomes unclear if he actually is an intergalactic secret agent.

Schwarzenegger had to stretch well beyond his usual action-hero persona to convey Doug’s confusion. He’s essentially the audience surrogate, since he’s just as baffled by these mysterious plot turns as the audience is. If Schwarzenegger’s performance didn’t work, then the movie wouldn’t work – and the movie definitely works.

6 Last Action Hero

1993

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Last Action Hero follows young Danny Madigan, who magically enters the world of his favorite action film through a special ticket. Inside the movie, he teams up with action hero Jack Slater, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, to battle cinematic villains. Directed by John McTiernan, the film blends reality and fiction, offering a whimsical take on action film tropes.

Director John McTiernan Release Date June 18, 1993 Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , F. Murray Abraham , Art Carney , Charles Dance , Frank McRae , Tom Noonan , Robert Prosky , Anthony Quinn Runtime 130 Minutes

Schwarzenegger had already shown off his comedic chops when he teamed up with Danny DeVito to make Twins – and proven that he could deftly handle a starring role in a comedy – but he added a layer of self-awareness when he appeared in Last Action Hero. Last Action Hero was way ahead of its time in its meta deconstruction of the action genre. And not only that; it required him to play as many roles as Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove.

Schwarzenegger’s trifecta of roles in
Last Action Hero
is a comic tour de force.

Schwarzenegger’s main role in Last Action Hero is franchise star Jack Slater, who’s magically transported from the movie world into the real world, and he’s hilarious in that fish-out-of-water role. But he also plays a fictionalized version of himself, Curb Your Enthusiasm-style, and an absurdist action-hero take on Hamlet. Schwarzenegger’s trifecta of roles in Last Action Hero is a comic tour de force.

5 The Terminator

1984

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The Terminator is a sci-fi action film directed by James Cameron. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a cyborg assassin sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, whose son will lead a resistance against machine domination. Michael Biehn portrays Kyle Reese, a soldier also sent back in time to protect Sarah. The film explores themes of time travel, artificial intelligence, and survival.

Director James Cameron Release Date October 26, 1984 Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , Michael Biehn , Linda Hamilton , Paul Winfield , Lance Henriksen , Bess Motta Runtime 107 Minutes

It would be easy to take a cheap shot at the fact that Schwarzenegger gave one of his finest performances as a killing machine who doesn’t express a single emotion. But his titular android in The Terminator is one of the most iconic villains in movie history. It’s harder than it looks for a human being to come off as totally cold and emotionless, but Schwarzenegger nailed it in The Terminator, and it made the character a suitably chilling on-screen presence.

From his phonebook murders to his police station massacre, Schwarzenegger’s T-800 is absolutely terrifying. He can frighten the audience with nothing more than a cold look. Schwarzenegger is always included in the pantheon of great action stars with Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, but he should also be included in the pantheon of great slasher villains with Robert Englund and Nick Castle.

4 Kindergarten Cop

1990

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Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in Ivan Reitman’s 1990 comedy Kindergarten Cop as John Kimble, an undercover police detective who poses as a kindergarten teacher in order to catch an elusive drug dealer. Penelope Ann Miller co-stars as teacher Joyce Palmieri, with Pamela Reed as Detective Phoebe O’Hara and Richard Tyson as the criminal Cullen Crisp.

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Director Ivan Reitman Release Date December 21, 1990 Runtime 111minutes

Schwarzenegger’s character in Kindergarten Cop, Detective John Kimble, starts off as a typical Schwarzenegger role. He’s a renegade cop who doesn’t play by the rules in his ruthless pursuit of a notorious drug kingpin. But the character takes a turn into brand-new territory for Schwarzenegger – and for Kimble – when he’s forced to go undercover as a substitute teacher in a kindergarten class to get close to the drug lord’s ex-wife and figure out his whereabouts.

Initially, Kimble is totally unfit for his role as a kindergarten teacher and he frequently loses his temper with his students. But as he gets to know the kids and starts to care about them, he proves to be a surprisingly great teacher. Schwarzenegger nails this emotional arc, and even does a terrific job with some of the more dramatic scenes, like confronting an abusive father.

3 Predator

1987

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A team of elite commandos led by Major Dutch Schaefer is sent on a rescue mission deep in the Central American jungle. However, they soon find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior with advanced technology and a penchant for collecting human trophies. As the creature picks them off one by one, Dutch must rely on his wits and combat skills to survive the ultimate test of man versus alien​.

Director John McTiernan Release Date June 12, 1987 Runtime 107 Minutes

On the surface, Predator might seem like a standard ludicrous ‘80s action movie, but it’s actually much deeper and smarter than that. It’s the quintessential man-versus-beast story about the biggest, baddest human being on Earth relying on his primal instincts to defeat an alien: the perfect killing machine who came down from space to hunt humans for sport. Schwarzenegger’s Dutch uses not only his brawn, but his brains to outwit the Predator and get the upper hand.

Schwarzenegger’s bombastic, matter-of-fact acting style would be out of place in a movie like Roma or Manchester by the Sea, but it’s right at home in a movie like Predator. No one else could convincingly beat the Predator in hand-to-hand combat, but Schwarzenegger’s victory in that boss battle is totally believable. Predator is one of the ultimate Schwarzenegger movies.

2 Maggie

2015

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Written by John Scott 3 and directed by Henry Hobson, Maggie is a post-apocalyptic Drama and Horror film featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin. The plot sees a father set out to find his daughter after she leaves home when she’s bit during a zombie apocalypse and knows she will soon turn.

Director Henry Hobson Release Date May 8, 2015 Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , Abigail Breslin Runtime 95minutes

Perhaps Schwarzenegger’s most radical departure from his usual roles was in Maggie. One might expect a zombie movie starring Schwarzenegger to be an action-packed extravaganza like Planet Terror, with Schwarzenegger plowing through the walking dead with a sawn-off shotgun. But Maggie is actually a somber drama that’s more about the responsibilities of fatherhood and the fear of losing a child than the battle against the undead.

Schwarzenegger plays her father, who ignores her warnings and goes searching for her

The movie takes place in a world struggling to contain a zombie apocalypse. Abigail Breslin plays a young woman who’s bitten by a zombie and runs away from home to protect her family. Schwarzenegger plays her father, who ignores her warnings and goes searching for her, intent on looking after her for the few weeks she has left before the virus takes hold. It’s a surprisingly moving father-daughter story.

1 Terminator 2: Judgment Day

1991

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Directed by James Cameron, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a direct sequel to the original Terminator and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick, and Linda Hamilton. In this installment, John Connor is being hunted by an advanced Skynet prototype from the future. Thankfully, he receives help from a reprogrammed T-800 sent back in time by the resistance to protect him.

Director James Cameron Release Date July 3, 1991 Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , Linda Hamilton , Robert Patrick , Edward Furlong Runtime 137 Minutes

After playing the T-800 as a terrifying villain in the first Terminator movie, Schwarzenegger played a different T-800 as a watchful protector in the sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The difference between these two Terminators is night and day. It’s a testament to Schwarzenegger’s acting abilities that he could play the same Terminator model with the same leather jacket and the same monotonous line deliveries, and still make the audience believe that it’s a totally distinctive character from the previous one.

In the first movie, Schwarzenegger’s Terminator never had to learn how to feel, but in T2, he becomes a caring father figure. Showing emotion creeping through the facade of an emotionless machine is an even greater acting challenge than pure emotionlessness. And again, Arnold Schwarzenegger knocked it out of the park with an unforgettable performance.

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