How cool is it that Vera Farmiga is now a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since appearing in Disney+’s Hawkeye cast? The Academy Award nominated actress has already worked with legends like Martin Scorsese, has reigned supremely as a scream queen for years since starring in The Conjuring movies (among other films and TV shows), and now we might get her in more upcoming Marvel movies, potentially.
There are plenty more titles we consider to be among the best Vera Farmiga movies and TV shows that are also available now on streaming or for digital rental. However, let’s get things started with her debut comic book adaptation role in one of the coolest Marvel TV shows on Disney+.
Hawkeye (2021)
Looking to finally settle down and retire from being an Avenger (for the last time), Clint Barton (Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner) must partner-up with a young, aspiring archer (Academy Award nominee Hailee Steinfeld) to help him take on a nefarious foe and get back home to his family in time for Christmas.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga show: As Eleanor Bishop - the wealthy CEO of Bishop Security and mother of Hailee Steinfeld’s character, Kate Bishop - Vera Farmiga is one of several Oscar nominees in the cast of Hawkeye - the latest of Disney+’s action-packed MCU-canon TV series, and its most festive yet.
The Conjuring (2013)
A distraught family enlists the help of married paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) to rid the old farm house they recently moved into of its malevolvent, demonic inhabitants in early 1970s Rhode Island.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: While Vera Farmiga was already known for a few notable horror titles (which we will get to soon), she started to became a modern icon of the genre after starring in director James Wan’s The Conjuring - one of the best haunted house movies in recent years - as real-life demonologist Lorraine Warren, whom she would reprise in four more films, so far.
Stream The Conjuring on Netflix.
Stream The Conjuring on HBO Max.
Rent/buy The Conjuring digitally on Amazon.
Orphan (2009)
After suffering a recent tragedy, a woman (Vera Farmiga) and her husband (Peter Sarsgaard) take in a precocious 9-year-old girl (Isabelle Fuhrmann) whom they are, at first, completely charmed by, until a darker side to her personality begins to emerge, leading the couple to question if there is more to their new daughter than meets than eye.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: One of Vera Farmiga’s first and best horror movies was Orphan - a strange and more frighteningly believable thriller than some of the actresses’ other contributions to the genre, from director Jaume Collet-Sera, which is often noted for its killer twist reveal.
Rent/buy Orphan digitally on Amazon.
Bates Motel (2013-2017)
As teenager Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) begins to grow closer to his mother (Vera Farmiga), his own psyche begins to unravel and reveal dark, deep-seated tendencies.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga show: In the same year The Conjuring made her a horror movie icon, Vera Farmiga resurrected one of horror’s most iconic characters with an Emmy-nominated performance as Norma Bates on Bates Motel - A&E’s arresting and disturbing hit series, which serves as a modernized prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
Stream Bates Motel on Peacock.
Stream Bates Motel on IMDbTV.
Buy Bates Motel digitally on Amazon.
The Many Saints Of Newark (2021)
As young Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) begins to grow closer to his uncle (Alessandro Nivola), a violent clash between rival Italian-American gangs emerges in New Jersey.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Vera Farmiga resurrected one of cable TV’s most iconic characters with an inspired performance as Livia Soprano in The Many of Saints of Newark - a gritty, old school mafia picture that serves as a prequel to creator David Chase’s acclaimed HBO original series, The Sopranos.
The Many Saints Of Newark is currently available for Premium Digital Ownership at Amazon.
Up In The Air (2009)
An expert in corporate downsizing (Academy Award winner George Clooney) begins to question if his solitary life of constant air travel is what he really wants, when he meets a fellow frequent traveler (Vera Farmiga).
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Vera Farmiga brought back George Clooney’s faith in humanity with an Oscar-nominated performance as Alex Goran in this adaptation of Walter Kirn’s novel, Up in the Air - one of the funniest and most inspiring dramedies from director Jason Reitman.
Stream Up In The Air on HBO Max.
Rent/buy Up In The Air digitally on Amazon.
The Departed (2006)
A young cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) endures an exhausting infiltration of South Boston’s Irish mafia, led by a ruthless criminal (Jack Nicholson), while a high-ranking detective (Matt Damon) struggles to keep his involvement in the same crew a secret.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Vera Farmiga plays a psychiatrist who cannot help but fall for two men secretly hiding on opposite sides of the law in the 2007 Best Picture Oscar winner, The Departed - a thrilling English-language adaptation of the Chinese crime thriller Infernal Affairs, that also finally earned Martin Scorsese his first win for Best Director.
Stream The Departed on HBO Max.
Rent/buy The Departed digitally on Amazon.
The Commuter (2018)
On the same train that he has taken back and forth to work everyday for the past decade, a former cop turned insurance salesman (Liam Neeson) must wield the skills he used on the force when a stranger (Vera Farmiga) asks him to identify a certain passenger of interest, or this train ride could be his last.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Reuniting with Orphan director Jaume Collet-Sera, and her fellow Conjuring cast member Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga had a brief but pivotal and memorably ominous role in The Commuter, which is a fun guilty pleasure for audiences who love to watch Liam Neeson do what he does best.
Rent/buy The Commuter digitally on Amazon.
The Front Runner (2018)
Colorado-based U.S. Senator Gary Hart (Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman) sees his promising presidential campaign go up in flames after evidence of his extramarital affair with a young woman (Sara Paxton) evolves into a media frenzy.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Reuniting with Up in the Air director Jason Reitman, and co-star J.K. Simmons, Vera Farmiga plays Oletha “Lee” Hart, the burdened wife of an adulterous politician, in The Front Runner, which tells the true story of one of the first highly publicized and most damaging political scandals in history.
Rent/buy The Front Runner digitally on Amazon.
Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
A group of young, ambitious activists (including Academy Award winner Hilary Swank) work tirelessly and not without costly sacrifices to secure the right for women to vote and run for office in early 1900s America.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Speaking of true stories in groundbreaking political history, Vera Farmiga plays Polish-American suffragist and dedicated National Women’s Party member Rusa Wenclawska in the HBO original movie, Iron Jawed Angels - an inspiring, stylistically unique, Emmy-nominated retelling one of the most important movements in the name of social justice.
Stream Iron Jawed Angels on HBO Max.
When They See Us (2019)
A group of five, racially diverse men from Harlem spend a quarter of a century fighting to prove their innocence after, as teenagers, they become wrongfully accused of brutally and sexually assaulting a white woman in New York City’s Central Park in 1989.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga show: Speaking of social justice, Vera Farmiga plays Elizabeth Lederer (a former New York assistant DA who led the prosecution in the Central Park Five case) in one of 2019's best Netflix original shows, When They See Us - creator and director Ava DuVernay’s heart-wrenching, Emmy-winning retelling of one of the most infamous cases in American history.
Stream When They See Us on Netflix.
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (2008)
After moving from Berlin, Germany, to a European countryside, an 8-year-old boy (Asa Butterfield) starts a friendship with a boy his age who lives on the side of a fence surrounding a Nazi concentration camp, which his father (David Thewlis) happens to be the commandant for.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Speaking of infamous history, Vera Farmiga plays the mother of a young boy who learns about the horrifying events of the Holocaust from an inside source in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - writer and director Mark Herman’s captivating and heartbreaking adaptation of John Boyne’s historical fiction novel.
Rent/buy The Boy In The Striped Pajamas digitally on Amazon.
Source Code (2011)
An Army captain (Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal) is selected to participate in a special program that inserts him into the body of a terrorist-bombing victim just minutes before his death, in order to gather information about the culprit.
Why it’s a great Vera Farmiga movie: Vera Farmiga plays an Air Force captain who communicates with Jake Gyllenhaal’s character about his special task in Source Code - the sophomore effort from Moon director Duncan Jones, and one of the most clever and entertaining sci-fi movies of its time.
Stream Source Code on Showtime.
Rent/buy Source Code digitally on Amazon.
As far as I am concerned, Vera Farmiga is one of the most talented and versatile actors of our time. We just provided you 13 examples of evidence to back up that claim.
