Early roles (2005–2010) After graduating from Juilliard, Isaac continued to write music and performed in small New York clubs, and played
Proteus in
Two Gentlemen of Verona (2005) in
The Public Theatre. Also in 2006, he briefly appeared on the television series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and played
Joseph in the biblical epic
The Nativity Story, opposite
Keisha Castle-Hughes. It was the first film to hold its world premiere in the Vatican City. Having grown up in a religious family, Isaac believed it was important to portray his character "as human as possible" and approach him like any other role. To understand Joseph's background better, he read a book titled
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $46million against a budget of $35million. A critic for
The Abbotsford News wrote that Isaac brought the role "a freshness and vulnerability it usually" lacks. Toddy Burton of
The Austin Chronicle found Isaac "endearing", yet thought that his character's selfless personality made him seem unreal. Isaac played
Romeo alongside
Lauren Ambrose in the Public Theater's
Romeo and Juliet (2007). Michal Daniel of
The Record believed that a "persuasively young and inexperienced" Isaac was overshadowed by Ambrose but had an enthusiastic speech and a passionate behavior. For much of the rest of the 2000s, Isaac played minor roles in films—the thriller
The Life Before Her Eyes (2007), the biopic
Che (2008), the spy thriller
Body of Lies (2008) and the Spanish historical drama
Agora (2009). In a book published by
Rutgers University Press, which analyzes the performances of rising actors in the 2010s, Rick Warner believed that Isaac "momentarily steals the scene" as a
United Nations interpreter in
Che. Isaac won the
AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as
José Ramos-Horta in
Balibo (2009). Chris Barsanti of
PopMatters opined that he played his role with "improbable charm". According to R. Kurt Osenlund of
Slant Magazine, Isaac became "a bona fide scene-stealer" after
Balibo. Isaac began the 2010s with the role of the villain
King John in the film
Robin Hood. The film had a mixed critical consensus and grossed $321million against a budget of $200million. For R. Kurt Osenlund, Isaac skillfully overshadowed
Russell Crowe (who played
Robin Hood), "bringing new, magnetic venom to the done-and-done-again role". He played a security guard in
Madonna's
W.E. (2011), a critical failure that
British Vogue saw as his "one misjudgment", although Drew Taylor of
IndieWire believed he was "one of the few worthwhile aspects" of the film. Isaac then portrayed a musician in
10 Years, in which he performed his own song "Never Had", and an ex-convict in
Nicolas Winding Refn's critically acclaimed action drama
Drive (2011). Initially hesitant about
Drive, he accepted the offer after working out a "more nuanced" and less stereotypical version of the character with Refn and screenwriter
Hossein Amini.
Todd McCarthy of
The Hollywood Reporter praised Isaac's "unanticipated intelligence and sincerity"; Madison Diazm, writing for
Comic Book Resources in 2022, called the film an early testament to Isaac's ability to create tension.
Drive earned $81.3million against a production budget of $15million. '' in 2013|alt=Oscar Isaac smiling to his left Isaac had four film releases in 2012. His first, the Mexican epic historical drama
For Greater Glory, had him play a freedom fighter, for which he was nominated for an
ALMA Award for Favorite Movie Actor – Supporting Role. After playing the main character's cousin in the comedy-drama
Revenge for Jolly!, Isaac appeared in the action thriller
The Bourne Legacy. Director
Tony Gilroy originally considered Isaac for the lead role in the latter, but the film's production company decided against casting an unknown actor. Isaac instead won the brief part of a brainwashed assassin. The film was released to a mixed critical reception and box-office success. Lizzie Logan of
Vulture opined that "Isaac took a character with very little screen time and turned him into a living, breathing, hurting person". It received negative reviews and was a box-office failure. In 2013, Isaac played
the titular character of a struggling folk singer in 1961
Greenwich Village in the
Coen brothers' drama
Inside Llewyn Davis. Isaac accepted the project due to his high regard for the Coen brothers, who in turn were impressed with his musical talent. In preparation for the part, Isaac learned the guitar technique
Travis picking and worked with musicians
Erik Frandsen and
T Bone Burnett. Before production began, Isaac behaved and dressed like Davis to observe people's reaction to him. The film received acclaim, as did Isaac's performance in what proved to be his breakthrough role. Critics from
The Oregonian and
St. Louis Post-Dispatch added that Isaac "anchors this film with a star-making, soulful performance", and "has a gift for being appealing even when he's unpleasant".
A. O. Scott of
The New York Times wrote, "Isaac, a versatile character actor here ascending to the highest levels of his craft, refuses the easy road of charm. Like his character, he trusts his own professionalism and the integrity of the material." Scott opined that the musical performances elevated the film, especially Isaac's "
The Death of Queen Jane" and "
The Shoals of Herring". For the film, Isaac was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He next starred as Laurent LeClaire, a man who seduces his friend's wife (
Elizabeth Olsen) in the erotic thriller
In Secret (2013).
Michael Phillips of the
Chicago Tribune praised Isaac as the film's prime asset, noting that his "sly delineation of the charismatic Laurent provides the
through-line". In 2014, Isaac appeared in the thriller
The Two Faces of January, starring alongside
Viggo Mortensen and
Kirsten Dunst. Described by Isaac as "a gangster movie without the gangsters", Chandor first met Isaac upon Chastain's insistence and, finding him "precise, wild and alive", cast him in the part. The film failed to recoup its budget but was a critical success. Ann Hornaday of
The Washington Post praised Isaac for "deliver[ing] a master class in that skill from the very first moment of
A Most Violent Year to the last", adding, "he's a commanding screen presence, even when he's saying nothing." Tad Friend of
The New Yorker believed that Isaac's portrayal was reminiscent of the work of actors
Treat Williams,
Dustin Hoffman and
Al Pacino. For his performance in the film, Isaac won a
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor.
Mainstream success (2015–2017) In 2015, Isaac portrayed Nathan Hamlet Bateman, the reclusive inventor of a
humanoid artificial intelligence, in the science fiction film
Ex Machina. He based his character's look and accent on director
Stanley Kubrick and observed his speech patterns. Isaac modeled Bateman's personality on chess champion
Bobby Fischer and played the game during filming to get "in that mode of constantly trying to be a few steps ahead". with praise for Isaac's performance.
Matt Zoller Seitz of
RogerEbert.com commended Isaac for possessing "an electrifying star quality, cruelly sneering yet somehow delightful, insinuating and intellectually credible". Isaac followed with his first leading role on television—the 6-episode
HBO miniseries
Show Me a Hero, in which he played politician
Nick Wasicsko. Isaac was approached for the role shortly after he had finished filming for
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Although he found the story "fascinating", he was initially reluctant to sign on as it was "a little impenetrable" for him. He agreed after finding footage of Wasicsko interacting with the media. Isaac's performance, which won him the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, was lauded by critics. Emily Nussbaum of
The New Yorker praised it as "a star performance agile enough to elevate scenes that might veer into agitprop". , where his film
The Promise premiered|alt=Oscar Isaac looking to his left Isaac co-starred as
Poe Dameron, an
X-wing pilot, in the epic
space opera film
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Having liked
Star Wars films since childhood, he initially considered himself unfit for the part, but director
J. J. Abrams convinced him in a meeting. A fan of
Inside Llewyn Davis, Abrams described Isaac as "a far more sophisticated actor than one might get for a role". Isaac suggested to Abrams that his character be from the moon
Yavin 4, which first appeared in
Star Wars (1977) in scenes filmed in his country Guatemala; this idea was incorporated. While filming
The Force Awakens, Isaac initially felt insecure, but soon found a sense of belonging with co-stars
Daisy Ridley and
John Boyega, who were also newcomers to the film series. In preparation for the role, Isaac read about war, including a book called ''What It's Like to Go to War
. The Force Awakens
received positive reviews and grossed $2billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2015. Forbes and TheWrap'' critics praised the cast additions, including Isaac, as "outright terrific", and "engaging performers" who "make strong impressions very quickly, and who are charismatic enough to make us care about their characters". Isaac agreed to play
the titular villain in the film
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) because he was a fan of
X-Men comic books since childhood. Critics
Angelica Jade Bastién and
Glenn Kenny believed Isaac, though a "charismatic and dynamic" actor, "feel[s] so torpid here", and "fares poorly through no fault of his own". Years after
Apocalypse underwhelming critical performance, Isaac commented that he wished the film and his character had been better handled. Also in 2016, he starred alongside
Charlotte Le Bon and
Christian Bale in
The Promise, a historical drama about a love triangle set during the
Armenian genocide. Critics were dismissive of the film, believing that the outstanding cast and powerful real-life story was wasted on a love triangle that failed to engage.
Richard Roeper of the
Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the film was "derivative of better war romances" but was "bolstered by strong performances from Isaac and Bale, two of the best actors of their generation". The film's producers intended to donate the profits to charity, but it accrued a $102million loss. Outside film in 2016, Isaac narrated the
Nike ad Unlimited You, and voiced a soldier trying to rejoin civilian life in the podcast series
Homecoming. About late 2016, Isaac spent most of his time caring for his dying mother. As her condition worsened, he began reading her
Hamlet by
Shakespeare, whose work he had been a fan of since childhood. In honor of his mother, who died later in February 2017, Isaac starred as
Prince Hamlet in The Public Theater production of
Hamlet. The play, directed by Sam Gold, ran from July to September 2017.
The Hollywood Reporter David Rooney praised Isaac as the production's prime asset, and Jeremy Gerard of
Deadline Hollywood described him as "the rare actor as comfortable onstage as before the camera", highlighting his "committed, fully conceived performance". Also that year, Isaac played an insurance investigator in the black comedy
Suburbicon, written by the Coen brothers who directed Isaac in
Inside Llewyn Davis.
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone called Isaac's performance the film's best, and David Sims of
The Atlantic wrote, "The film's only really electrifying moments are generated by Oscar Isaac[...] it's in his scenes that the darkly funny spark of the Coens' writing flickers to life." For the film, Isaac was nominated for a
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor. Isaac's final work in 2017 was in the sequel
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in which he reprised the role of Poe Dameron. J. J. Abrams originally intended to kill Dameron off in
The Force Awakens, but Isaac convinced him otherwise.
The Last Jedi grossed $1.3billion becoming
2017's highest-grossing film.
Professional expansion (2018–present) Isaac filmed
Annihilation (2018) simultaneously with
Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the same studio. As such, he did not have enough time rehearsing for his role in the former and credited co-star
Natalie Portman (who played his wife) with helping him film their intimate scenes with ease. The film received positive reviews. Tasha Robinson of
The Verge complimented Isaac's chemistry with Portman, and
Caryn James of the
BBC took note of his ability to act well with a mere glance. Isaac debuted as a producer filming the historical drama
Operation Finale (2018), in which he played
Peter Malkin, the Israeli secret agent who captured Nazi fugitive
Adolf Eichmann in 1960. When asked about his first time producing, he said he wanted to contribute to the stories he is part of. He believed that the film's topic still remains relevant in modern times, where extreme views are deemed acceptable. Critical consensus for
Operation Finale was that it is "well-intentioned, well-acted, and overall entertaining, even if the depth and complexity of the real-life events depicted can get a little lost in their dramatization". Bhaskar Chattopadhyay of
Firstpost thought Isaac was brilliant in certain scenes, but mainly highlighted the performances of the supporting actors. The film was a commercial failure. Isaac's other films in 2018 include ''
At Eternity's Gate (where he played Paul Gauguin), Life Itself and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which featured his voice during the post-credits. Isaac co-starred with Olivia Wilde in the box-office failure Life Itself
; Caroline Siede of Consequence'' found the two leads unconvincing and their roles to be poorly written. After Isaac finished filming
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in October 2018, he intended to take a prolonged acting hiatus but was cast as
Duke Leto Atreides in
Dune (2021) a few months later. It received mixed reviews but was profitable. Earlier in 2019, Isaac starred as an agent working against a drug cartel in South America in J. C. Chandor's
Netflix film
Triple Frontier. To avoid feeling exhausted during scenes in which he is running at high altitude, Isaac
trained in a New York hall where one can decrease oxygen. He said that filming in a
favela with no water or sewer made him realize his privileged life. Reviews for the film were generally positive. Critics
Christy Lemire and Richard Roeper highlighted Isaac's screen presence as "charismatic" and "electric". Isaac next voiced the role of
Gomez Addams in
The Addams Family (2019), an animated film based on the
titular characters created by
Charles Addams. For years, fans suggested Isaac be cast in the part as they claimed he resembled
Raul Julia who played Gomez Addams in live-action films in the 1990s.
The Addams Family received mixed reviews and grossed $203million on a $24million budget. Isaac's only role in 2020 was of a kindhearted prison officer in the short film
The Letter Room, for which he was also an executive producer. Roktim Rajpal of the
Deccan Herald believed that Isaac "is the backbone of the short and makes an impact with his sincere performance", yet he fails to "internali[z]e the character as much as expected". The following year, he starred alongside Jessica Chastain in
Scenes from a Marriage. A remake of
the 1973 Swedish series of the same name by
Ingmar Bergman, it switches gender roles, and explores the themes of monogamy, marriage and divorce. To film the show, Isaac and Chastain employed their experiences from past relationships and parents' marriage. Isaac performed in a full frontal nude scene in the series. Reviews for the show were positive, particularly for the duo's chemistry. Carol Midgley of
The Times praised them for giving "masterclass performances and delivering crackling, wounding dialogue faultlessly". He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award,
Screen Actors Guild Award and
Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a miniseries. |alt=A picture of Oscar Isaac smiling To avoid what he saw as "
green screen alien space land", Isaac starred as William Tell—a troubled, gambling military veteran—in the
Paul Schrader-directed crime drama
The Card Counter. Because his character writes in his journal every night, Isaac took a penmanship course. To portray Tell's military experience, he drew inspiration from his time as a high-school graduate when he and his friend wanted to join the marines. Near the end, the film's production was halted due to the
COVID-19 lockdown; per Isaac's suggestion, he finished it with only Schrader and the cinematographer on set.
Justin Chang of
NPR lauded Isaac for "bring[ing] his usual sly, soulful magnetism to the role" and embodying his character's trauma in his "dark, haunted gaze". The film earned him a nomination for the
London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year. After reprising the role of Gomez Addams in
The Addams Family 2, Isaac starred in
Dune as the father of the protagonist
Paul Atreides (played by
Timothée Chalamet). Based on the
1965 namesake novel by
Frank Herbert,
Dune premiered at the
78th Venice International Film Festival to mixed reviews but was nominated for 10
Academy Awards. It earned over $400million against a budget of $165million. Isaac began 2022 with the black comedy
Big Gold Brick in a brief role that Nick Schager of
Variety found "
out of left field". In the
Marvel Cinematic Universe series
Moon Knight (2022), he played the
titular superhero, a man with
dissociative identity disorder (DID) who serves as an avatar to the Egyptian moon god
Khonshu. He also executive produced the show, which is based on
Marvel Comics'
namesake comic book. Initially reluctant to join another franchise, he had several conversations with
Marvel Studios president
Kevin Feige before signing on. He read
Robert B. Oxnam's book
A Fractured Mind to research DID. To distinguish the three alters, Isaac gave them different nationalities. For example, he suggested that the alter Steven Grant be English, and was inspired by comedians
Karl Pilkington (from the British travel comedy series
An Idiot Abroad) and
Peter Sellers to develop his English accent. The third alter, Jake Lockley, speaks Spanish as Isaac wanted to add an aspect of his own life to the role.
Moon Knight was released to a positive critical reception. In a review of the fifth episode, Matt Fowler of
IGN took note of Isaac's "dynamic and dazzling performance" and "ace acting", highlighting the dramatic scene in which his character revisits his traumatic past. He was nominated for an
MTV Movie Award for Best Hero. Isaac also dropped out of starring in the
Francis Ford Coppola film
Megalopolis. In 2023, Isaac starred as the title character in the revival of
Lorraine Hansberry's ''
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window opposite Rachel Brosnahan. The production had its initial run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music before its Broadway transfer which began in April 2023. Later that year, he voiced the role of Spider-Man 2099, a version of the namesake superhero, in the animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The film received critical acclaim and was a commercial success. Critic Maya Phillips of The New York Times'' found Isaac to be well-cast as a slightly unhinged and self-serious Spider-Man. In 2025, Isaac voiced
Jesus Christ in the
Angel Studios film
The King of Kings. Isaac then starred in
Julian Schnabel's drama
In the Hand of Dante, based on the
novel of the same name by
Nick Tosches. He ended the year portraying the lead role of
Victor Frankenstein in
Guillermo del Toro's horror film
Frankenstein. About his experience filming it, Isaac declared: "It was the most fucking fun I've ever had in my life. Running around in the rain, up and down steps, this Christ-like thing on a crucifix and Guillermo in the corner, screaming! It was hard to fathom that it was actually happening. It's such dark material, but was approached with so much joy. Like 14 year olds had keys to the kingdom – it had that kind of energy to it." During this time, Isaac dropped out of lead roles in the films
Behemoth!,
Kockroach, and
Flesh of the Gods. Isaac was the subject and executive producer of the 2025 documentary film
King Hamlet, shot in 2017 and directed by his spouse Elvira Lind, that focused on his actor's preparations for the Public Theatre production of
Hamlet. Isaac also had a starring role as Joshua Martin in the second season of
Beef, created by
Lee Sung Jin, released on April 16, 2026 on
Netflix.
Upcoming In 2027, Isaac will reprise his voice role as Miguel O'Hara in
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. On May 22, 2026, Isaac is set to receive an
honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from his
alma mater Juilliard. ==Reception and acting style==