The Best Jodie Foster Movies

Ranker Film
Updated August 11, 2023 3.9K votes 810 voters 70.2K views
Over 800 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Jodie Foster Movies
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Vote for your favorite movies, regardless of critic reviews or how big the role was.

With more than 800 votes cast by movie fans, it's clear that Jodie Foster is one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood. Her roles have ranged from quirky comedy to hard-hitting drama, making her an enduring star with a vast and varied body of work. From her early breakout performances in movies like Taxi Driver to her Oscar-winning turns in The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused, Foster has never failed to captivate audiences around the world.

Foster excels at playing characters who are strong yet vulnerable; resilient yet fragile; smart yet emotionally raw. This unique blend of strength and vulnerability has made many of her films resonate deeply with viewers - especially female audiences - for decades. Just think back on seminal works like Panic Room and Contact: each performance shows why she became such a respected figure within Hollywood circles so quickly after breaking out onto the scene as a child actor.

From intense crime thrillers to lighthearted comedies, there's something for everyone on this list of Jodie Foster movies ranked by fans' votes. So why not take some time out today explore all these titles? Vote up your favorites and discover what makes this remarkable actress so special.

Most divisive: The Beaver
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  • The Silence of the Lambs
    1

    The Silence of the Lambs

    Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
    204 votes
    • Released: 1991
    • Directed by: Jonathan Demme
    The Silence of the Lambs, a gripping thriller, introduces audiences to FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). She's assigned an unnerving task: to extract information from the infamous and incarcerated cannibalistic serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). The objective? To help apprehend another active serial killer, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), before he strikes again. This chilling narrative, directed by Jonathan Demme, won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It interweaves suspense, crime solving and psychological manipulation, creating a film that is as thought-provoking as it is horrifying.

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  • The Accused
    2

    The Accused

    Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, Bernie Coulson
    138 votes
    • Released: 1988
    • Directed by: Jonathan Kaplan
    Out drinking one night after a fight with her boyfriend, Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster) is brutally raped by three men in a bar while people watch and cheer. District Attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) takes the case, however allows the rapists to receive a mild sentence. A distraught Sarah decides to seek punishment for the men who witnessed and encouraged the rape. To get justice, Sarah must take the stand and revisit the night of her attack in this drama based on true events.

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  • Panic Room
    3

    Panic Room

    Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam
    137 votes
    • Released: 2002
    • Directed by: David Fincher
    Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her young daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Raoul (Dwight Yoakam) and Junior (Jared Leto) - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.

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  • Contact
    4

    Contact

    Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods
    154 votes
    • Released: 1997
    • Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
    In Contact, Dr. Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a dedicated scientist, steadfast in her search for extraterrestrial intelligence. She toils away at the SETI program, scouring the cosmos for signs of life. Her relentless pursuit finally pays off when she intercepts a mysterious message from outer space. Matthew McConaughey stars as Palmer Joss, a spiritual man who challenges Arroway's scientific worldview. As Arroway deciphers the enigmatic communique, she embarks on an extraordinary journey that tests her faith in science and humanity. This gripping sci-fi drama directed by Robert Zemeckis was nominated for multiple awards including an Academy Award for Best Sound.

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  • Taxi Driver
    5

    Taxi Driver

    Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
    127 votes
    • Released: 1976
    • Directed by: Martin Scorsese
    Taxi Driver unfolds as a brooding psychological drama, tracing the slow descent into madness of a Vietnam War veteran turned New York City cabbie. The protagonist, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), is a loner consumed by urban decay and societal corruption. His obsession with purifying the city spirals into violent intent, culminating in an explosive climax. Directed by Martin Scorsese, this classic film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival and earned four Academy Award nominations. It showcases compelling performances from Jodie Foster as Iris, a teenage prostitute, and Harvey Keitel as her exploitative pimp.

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  • Flightplan
    6

    Flightplan

    Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen
    108 votes
    • Released: 2005
    • Directed by: Robert Schwentke
    Airplane engineer Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is heading home from Germany to New York on a double-decker Elgin 474 to bury her husband. But three hours into the flight, she awakens to find her young daughter missing -- and the entire flight crew, including Capt. Rich (Sean Bean) and Air Marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard), claims that the child was never on board. Determined to find her daughter, Kyle searches the limited space of the plane, all the while trying to maintain her sanity.

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