Frances McDormand is one of the most talented actresses currently working. She frequently collaborates with some of the greatest directors of this era, such as the Coen Brothers. She has six Academy Award nominations and three wins, which are just a testament to her talent.

Frances McDormand has become a legend in Hollywood, receiving numerous nominations and awards. Throughout her career, she's played several iconic roles. However, some stand out more than others. Here are her ten best performances.

10 Blood Simple Was Her First Major Role

Blood Simple is the first of Frances McDormand's many collaborations with the Coen Brothers and was her feature film debut (as well as their first film together). It tells the story of a bartender who, while he is having an affair with his boss's wife, finds himself as a hitman's target. McDormand starred as the boss's cheating wife alongside John Getz as the bartender and Dan Hedaya as her husband.

Though it was her first film, she earned massive critical acclaim. It helped her cement herself as one of the strongest working actors of the century and paved the way for her to work with the Coens numerous other times (and even go on to marry one of them). She brought depth to her character Abby, who on the other hand may have become two-dimensional and therefore deeply unrealistic. It was the first sign that she was going to be someone to watch, and is still one of the strongest entries in her filmography.

9 Women Talking Proved She Can Do a Lot in Just a Little Screen Time

Women Talking was one of the strongest movies of 2022. It's a heart-wrenching tale of Mennonite women forced to decide if they're going to stay in the colony they love so dearly or leave it behind after they are assaulted by the men who also live there. It garnered much critical acclaim and even went on to win Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards (where it's worth noting, that it was also nominated for Best Picture).

Though McDormand didn't play a major role in terms of screen time, her character, Scarface Janz, was remarkably important to the story's development. She's the oldest and most respected of the women in the colony, and her opinion means a lot to the other members of her society. She believes the women shouldn't do anything about the problem - that they should remain in the situation they're in and just hope it gets better. As soon as that option gets ruled out, she storms out of the meeting and only reappears one or two more times. She may not get to be part of the story for long, but she makes the most of what she's given and cements herself as one of the most memorable parts of the film.

8 Burn After Reading Shows Off Her Comedic Chops

Another collaboration with the Coen Brothers, Burn After Reading lets McDormand take a turn for the zany. She once again takes center stage as Linda Litzke, a gym employee who wants nothing more than to get plastic surgery. However, she can't seem to find the money. Her perfect opportunity comes when she unearths what she believes to be classified government documents (in reality, they're a former CIA analyst's memoirs, which, though interesting, are meaningless in the grand scheme of things) and tries to profit from them.

McDormand is typically renowned for her dramatic talent, especially for bringing complicated women to the screen, so to see her take on a role that's so different from what she usually does proves her range. She's one of the most versatile actresses currently working, and her work in Burn After Reading only cements that. Critics noticed this as well. McDormand earned a nomination for Best Actress - Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, though she lost to Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky. Regardless, it's such a departure from her usual performances that it was a great joy to watch.

7 Moonrise Kingdom Made Her a Uniquely Struggling Mother

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom is regarded by many to be one of his best films. It highlights his remarkable ability to show innocent love between young people and to build an entire cast of characters the audience can't help but root for, no matter how difficult it may be at times. It tells the story of an orphan boy who runs away from his scout camp to reunite with a girl he fell in love with. Together, they escape their lives in favor of an isolated beach where they can live without being scrutinized by anybody else. Their families, of course, don't take this well. They send out search parties to find their children.

In Moonrise Kingdom, McDormand plays Mrs. Bishop, Suzy (the love interest)'s concerned mother. She does an excellent job portraying a flawed mother who, though she wants the best for her daughter, isn't entirely sure how to make that happen in the situation she's currently in. Her marriage is falling apart, and she's trying to manage four children. Because of that, she can't necessarily prioritize her daughter or her well-being. McDormand puts a sympathetic spin on this somewhat absentee parent, and the character wouldn't work nearly as well if she had been played by anyone else.

6 Raising Arizona is Another Scene-Stealing Turn

Yet another collaboration with the Coens, Raising Arizona marks another return to comedy for Frances McDormand. The movie follows ex-convict H.I. (played by Nicholas Cage) and his wife Ed when, after realizing they're unable to have children, they steal one of a notable furniture salesman's quintuplets. After all, he doesn't need all of those children, and it's not fair that he gets to have so many while others have none at all.

Frances McDormand stars as Hi's foreman's wife who - along with her numerous badly behaved children - comes to visit him not long after he steals the child from the Arizonas. Despite how awfully their children act, Dot and her husband offer Hi and Ed lots of unsolicited parenting advice, whether it's about vaccines or making sure they have life insurance in case of any emergency. She contributes to the atmosphere of one of the most overwhelming scenes the Coens have put to the screen and does a fantastic job with it.

5 Mississippi Burning Earned McDormand Her First Oscar Nomination

Throughout her prolific career, Frances McDormand has been nominated for six Academy Awards - three for Best Supporting Actress and three for Best Actress in a Leading Role. The first of these came from her role as Mrs. Pell, a deputy's wife who was the first one to find out that three civil rights workers who had previously been presumed missing were actually murdered. This revelation kicks the story into gear and establishes her arc, as her husband mistreats her because of how she handles this situation.

Once again, Frances McDormand breathes life into this character the way no other actor possibly could. Though the film itself is mired in controversy (as it wasn't necessarily the most accurate depiction of the people the story was based on), McDormand earned near-universal praise. Publications like Variety and the Los Angeles Times considered her the standout of the film, and the Academy clearly agreed. Though she didn't win the Academy Award - it went instead to Geena Davis for The Accidental Tourist - it was the beginning of her run as an Academy darling.

4 Almost Famous Gives McDormand Some of Her Most Iconic Lines

In Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, William, a fifteen-year-old boy ends up working as a journalist for Rolling Stone when rock band Stillwater takes him under their wing as their official correspondent. There's only one problem with this: he has to start traveling with them, which wouldn't be an issue if not for his young age - and his mother's concern about him. McDormand appears in a scene-stealing turn as William's overbearing mother who hates all things rock and pop culture. Though she's trying to let him flourish in his own way, she still can't shake the maternal instinct and fear that she's going to lose her son - and all of that plays out in her character.

For this performance, McDormand earned yet another Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (though, once again, she unfortunately lost, this time to Marcia Gay Harden for Pollock). More importantly, however, some of her most iconic lines came out of Almost Famous. Her confrontation with Russell, the lead singer of Stillwater, before she lets her son go off with them is one of the best acting moments in her entire career. The moment where she screams to William to not "take drugs" earns laughs from audiences every time they see it. She's one of the most memorable characters in the film, and a woman who could've been just an overbearing mother evolves into someone far greater.

3 McDormand is the Beating Heart of Nomadland

2021 Best Picture winner Nomadland is one of the most unique movies in recent years. It follows Fern, a grieving widow who, after she also loses the job she's had for years, gives up her life to live in a van and travel the country. Interestingly, the film is populated almost entirely by non-actors. It's based on a true story, and in most cases, people appear as themselves rather than having actors cast to portray them.

At the core of this fascinating story, however, is a beautiful performance by Frances McDormand. There's nothing artificial about it - she hardly even feels like she's acting (which is a mark of true brilliance). She portrays Fern's grief over the life she used to have with tact and beauty, and the audience feels every ounce of her pain right alongside her. Even her smallest choices carry great weight in the grander scheme of the story, and they build to form a true-to-life representation of what it means to persist in the face of unspeakable loss.

2 Fargo Is Her Best Coen Collaboration

Fargo is widely regarded as one of the Coen Brothers' best features. The crime comedy was nominated for countless awards upon its release. When it premiered at Cannes, it contended for the Palme D'Or (though it ultimately lost), and earned seven nominations at the Academy Awards for that year. It spawned a wildly successful spin-off television series, Fargo, that has, up to this point, run for five seasons and is expected to be renewed for a sixth. It left a massive mark on the landscape of cinema in the first place, and its influence doesn't show signs of slowing down any time soon.

Like most of these other movies, Fargo wouldn't work without Frances McDormand at its center. As Marge Gunderson, the pregnant police chief tasked with solving a triple homicide, she anchors the (at times) absurd story in realism. She created a backstory for Marge all on her own and let it inform her performance, which proves her dedication to her craft and this character. It earned McDormand her first Academy Award for Best Actress and has gone down as perhaps one of her most iconic roles of all time.

1 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Is the Pinnacle of McDormand's Career

McDormand's role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is the culmination of all her previous successes. The film tells the story of Mildred Hayes, a mother who rents three abandoned billboards outside her town to force the local police to handle her daughter's unsolved rape and murder. In addition to McDormand, it stars Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Lucas Hedges, and Kerry Condon. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Mildred is the culmination of McDormand's career. It puts the skills she learned throughout all of her previous roles to use in one beautiful performance that rightfully won her another Academy Award for Best Leading Actress. She's trapped trying to solve this mystery to resolve the guilt she feels about her potential role in her daughter's death, and the different facets of her personality play out every moment she's on the screen. It's the best role she's taken on to this point and should be celebrated as such.