Jacob Elordigrew up performing in school plays in Australia before making it big in Hollywood, and his best movies and television shows demonstrate that he has what it takes to carry a project on his shoulders. He only recently made his professional acting debut, in 2018, with movies in both Australia and the United States, so his filmography is not as extensive as some of his costars.
He might not have very many acting credits to his name, but he does have a good variety of credits. Elordi has appeared in teen comedies, biographical dramas, satires, and tear-jerking dramas. Not all of his movies have been the most successful, but they have provided stepping stones for his career, and his best movie and TV roles provide a showcase for the kind of performer he is growing into.
The Kissing Booth
Cast
Beth Reekles' romantic teen comedy novel arrives in movie form as The Kissing Booth, starring Joey King as Elle, a teen with a significant crush on high school senior Noah, her best friend’s brother. When Elle participates in a Kissing Booth and the two share one themselves, jeopardizing her friendship and complicating things greatly.
ThoughThe Kissing Boothhas been discussed negatively by rom-com fans and critics alike, it helped to usher in a resurgence of teen romances, especially on Netflix. The movie is an adaptation of a novel with Jacob Elordi starring as the male lead.
Elordi plays the older brother of Joey King’s best friend. While King’s character has a slight crush on the boy that everyone else sees as a bit of a bad boy, she does not initially believe he could ever have feelings for her. The two grow closer, however, thanks to him realizing how much she has grown up, and with a little help from a kissing booth at a school function.
For much of the movie, they hit a lot of the teen rom-com tropes and hide their relationship from those around them.The movie marks one of Elordi’s best-known roles, though it’s certainly not one of his most dramatically demanding. It does, however, demonstrate that he can carry a rom-com and that he can be effortlessly charming on screen, even ifElordi himself has gone on to call them“ridiculous.”
Every Kissing Booth Movie Ranked From Worst To Best
Now that The Kissing Booth 3 has wrapped up Elle, Noah, and Lee’s stories, we rank all three films in the Netflix rom-com franchise.
2 Hearts
2 Hearts is a romance-drama film that intertwines two love stories spanning different generations and settings. Directed by Lance Hool, the film follows the journeys of Chris, played by Jacob Elordi, and Jorge, portrayed by Adan Canto. Their paths intersect in unexpected ways, exploring themes of love, destiny, and the impact of life-altering decisions. Revelations and connections lead to profound consequences for both couples.
Though2 Heartsis inspired by a true story, it is a mostly fictional account of the events. It tells the story of two men who both fall in love and experience serious illnesses during the movie. One of the men, as it turns out, is actually narrating the story of how his organ ended up in the other’s body following his death.
LikeThe Kissing Booth, the movie demonstrates that Elordi can lead a romance, but this time around, that romance is a drama instead of a comedy.The movie was generally panned by critics, but Elordi’s performance was not at fault. Many critics did not like the “twist” delivered to reveal just who was getting whose organs.
That being said,2 Heartsis certainly not as good of a showcase of Elordi’s acting ability as other movies on his resume.It only outranksThe Kissing Boothbecause it gives him a little bit more drama to play with, and he does not spend so much of the movie as a brooding or jealous teenager.
Oh, Canada
An American author, facing a crisis in his life and career, retreats to a secluded cabin in the Canadian wilderness. Hoping to find tranquility and reignite his passion for writing, he instead finds himself wrapped up in the mysterious and troubled lives of the locals. This journey of introspection and revelation pushes him to face his deepest fears and regrets, framed by the unforgiving yet breathtaking Canadian landscape.
Oh, Canadais an interesting (fictional) examination of a filmmaker’s career.Richard Gereplays the dying man whose former students want to make a documentary about his career. He, however, is not interested in talking about his work in film, which he tells them he really just fell into, but instead in confessing his sins one last time. He has repeatedly lied to, used, and discarded people in his life, and the documentary becomes his way to admit that.
Jacob Elordi plays the younger version of Gere’s character as he reminisces for the documentary.Eloridi would have had a wealth of past performances to study Gere’s mannerisms and approach to characters, but he also manages to make the character his own.
Because the bulk of the story is told from Gere’s character’s point of view, it’s hard to know how much of the narration is truly reliable.Some of the information presented in the memories, after all, is a bit conflicting, but Elordi plays it all straight, allowing the audience to believe it.
Deep Water
Based on the celebrated novel by popular mystery writer Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley), Deep Water takes us inside the marriage of a seemingly perfect couple, Vic and Melinda Van Allen, to discover the dangerous mind games they play and what happens to the people that get caught up in them. Revealing to various lovers that they have an open relationship, their neighbors begin to talk, and bodies begin to appear in perceived acts of passion.
Deep Wateris an erotic thriller in the vein ofBasic InstinctorWhat Lies Beneath. At the heart of the story is a couple, played byBen AffleckandAna de Armas, who have reached the point in their relationship where they have an arrangement. He looks the other way and focuses on his hobbies while she is allowed to take lovers so as not to become bored with their life. During the movie, however, it becomes apparent that neither is truly happy with their arrangement.
As she longs for her husband to pay attention to her, he gives into his jealousy, ending the lives of some of her lovers.While the movie is largely carried by Affleck and de Armas, Elordi plays one of those lovers. His role is not a prominent one, but the couple is bolstered by those supporting players who push their story forward.
The tone and pacing of the movie have a lot in common withGone Girl, and it’s a hint at the direction Elordi’s career could take in the future.
The Sweet East
The Sweet East is a drama film that follows a high-school senior named Lilian (Talia Ryder) as she goes on a class trip to Washington, D.C., from her home of South Carolina. When Lilian is separated from her classmates, she finds herself on a new journey through the United States. She witnesses how different the country is and gains a practical education on the more incredible world at large.
The Sweet Eastis very different from Elordi’s other projects so far. It is a mostly satirical road trip storythat begins with a teenager on a field trip. When her life ends up in danger, she is saved by an anarchist, and each chapter of her journey sees her meet a new person depicting a segment of the American population, from violent racists to religious extremists to movie stars.
Elordi plays an actor that she crosses paths with in the movie when she is “discovered” while trying to escape another dangerous situation. While the two have a mild flirtation, their dalliance is cut short by yet another danger.
Elordi’s part in the movie is a relatively small one as there is a large number of characters that appear as part of the teenager’s journey.The road trip takes the audience along a satirical version of the American dream, one that includes increasing amounts of violence before appearing safe and beginning the cycle anew. Some might believe it relies more on shocking the audience than getting its point across, but it still creates a compelling narrative.
5The Mortuary Collection (2019)
As Jake Matthews
The Mortuary Collectionis actually a horror anthology. The movie includes multiple segments of different horror stories, framed by a larger story. Elordi stars in the second segment as a college student in the 1960s who pushes sexual liberation and free condoms as a way to get women to sleep with him. After a one-night stand with a mysterious woman, however, he is in for the surprise of his life.
The anthology has been praised for having consistently good stories all the way through, and it takes a unique approach by placing its stories in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s before framing the anthology with a story set in the ‘80s.
Elordi’s segment in the horror anthology is a commentary on the double standards associated with sexual liberation as his character experiences everything a woman might experience following a one-night stand in a compressed timeline.It features an unnerving use of body horror that the audience might not be ready for, and it’s incredibly well done.
How The Mortuary Collection Perfectly Sets Up A Sequel
Shudder’s latest horror anthology, The Mortuary Collection, ends with the perfect set-up for a sequel; here’s how a follow-up movie could happen.
On Swift Horses
On Swift Horses is a historical drama set in the 1950s, where a young woman delves into the burgeoning gambling scene of San Diego to track down her missing brother-in-law, uncovering secrets and the dark underbelly of post-war America in the process.
On Swift Horsespremiered at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, so most of the audience who have seen the movie at the time of writing this are movie critics, not general movie-goers. As many of those critics pointed out, the movie was not initially marketed as exactly what it was.
The movie will get a theatrical release in July 2025.
The story follows a husband and wife as they settle down after he returns from the Korean War. His little brother entering their lives shakes things up, but not as the marketing would suggest. Initial descriptions of the movie made it sound as though there was a love triangle between those three characters. In reality, the younger brother (played by Elordi) develops a relationship with a man during the course of the movie while the wife (Daisy Edgar-Jones) does with a woman.
The movie is an exploration of love in the LGBTQ+ world in a very different time. Critics who have been able to see the movie have termed it stunning.The Hollywood Reportereven praised Elordi’s performance, calling the movie:
…beautiful, heartbreaking, and demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Elordi gives his best performance yet as Julius, showing his more sensitive, vulnerable side on the big screen for perhaps the first time.
Priscilla
Based on the memoir written by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon, Priscilla is a biography-drama that follows the titular woman through the journey that was her and Elvis Presley’s relationship. From the moment they met at a party through their marriage, Priscilla takes viewers through the eyes of the lovers through the highs and lows of their relationship.
There have been a few movies concerning the life of Elvis Presley over the last few years. While the more famous of them is going to beAustin Butler’stake on the singer, Priscilla tells the story of the young woman who would go on to marry Presley. It gives her a voice in the story and gives the audience a new point of view to understand.
The movie tracks Priscilla’s first meeting with Elvis at 14 (and he 24) all the way totheir eventual separation.Elordi plays Elvis as slightly darker than Butler, but also more human, and less of a larger-than-life figure on a stage.While it’s made clear that he cares for Priscilla, it’s also made clear that his growing fame and their age difference does not make for a great recipe for a relationship between them.
The quieter of the two Elvis movies released in recent years, it earned a slew of nominations for awards from film festivals and critical associations. Cailee Spaeny was also awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice International Film Festival.While Elordi might not received as much recognition, the work of the two actors under Sofia Coppola was continually praised.
Marlow Stern ofRolling Stonepointed out how perfectly suited Coppola was for this particular story:
You couldn’t ask for a better person to handle this material than Coppola, who’s no stranger to depicting young female protagonists and the powerful men who enjoy keeping them locked in gilded cages, whether it be the Park Hyatt Tokyo, the Chateau Marmont, the Palace of Versailles or Graceland. As the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, she’s lived it, and is uniquely equipped to show what it’s like to put a big, flawed man on a pedestal only to see that pedestal crack.
Saltburn
Written and directed by Emerald Fennell, Saltburn is a 2023 comedy-thriller film. When Oxford student Oliver Quick is invited to his friend Felix’s family’s wealthy estate, Saltburn, for a summer vacation, he is drawn into the world of eccentric characters and increasingly chaotic events as his obsession with Felix comes to a head.
Though Elordi had been acting for years beforeSaltburnlanded in theaters,Saltburnis the movie that many credit as the one that made critics stand up and take notice of Elordi outside of his teen dramas.Directed by Emerald Fennell, the movie takes inspiration from Gothic stories and spins a tale of obsession and excess.
What Was Saltburn Really About?
Saltburn is one of the most baffling movies of the year, with mixed messaging about its themes of the class divide. So, what is it all about?
Barry Keoghan stars as Oliver, a university classmate of Elordi’s Felix. Oliver becomes increasingly obsessed with Felix, though Felix is not entirely aware of that. Felix, believing Oliver’s stories about an unlucky past, invites Oliver to spend time at his family estate. It’s at the estate that Oliver’s obsession becomes more evident and the family dynamics become strained as people begin to die.
BBC’s reviewcalled Elordi a “revelation” in the film, though the ensemble as a whole was praised for their chemistryand their ability to allow every member a chance to shine.
Jacob Elordi was nominated for a BAFTA for his role inSaltburn.
Euphoria
Euphoria is a teen drama created by Sam Levinson and starring Zendaya, Maude Apatow, and Angus Cloud. The series deals with the dark reality of a drug-addicted teen on her road to recovery as she faces a multitude of challenges and issues.
Euphoriais Elordi’s only television role to date and the project he is best known for.Considering the audience has been able to see Elordi play the same character since 2019, it makes sense that it would be the role most associated with him so far.Euphoriais also Elordi’s best project.
The series, which follows a group of teenagers, centers around Rue (Zendaya) and her struggles with addiction and the relationships in her life. All of the other characters in the show spin out from their connection to her.
Elordi plays one of Rue’s classmates, a football player who has abused his girlfriend in the past. His own anger issues actually provide a mask for his deeper insecurities.Many might have initially dismissed Nate as an “angry jock” stereotype, but Elordi has been able to make the character more layered than that, thoughNate is beyond redemption at this point. The explosive and dramatic nature of the series means that Elordi has been able to showcase his skills on a regular basis.
While some of his movie roles might be considered more prestigious,EuphoriaisJacob Elordi’s best project so far. With his career path steadily moving upward, it’s very likely another project will surpass it soon.
