Stardom came quickly for Anne Hathaway when she first began her career. After one season on an unsuccessful sitcom, Hathaway found herself cast as the star of Garry Marshall’s film “The Princess Diaries.” It was kind of a case of art imitating life since in the film a young high school girl finds out she is really a princess and is launched into the public eye.
The same thing pretty much happened to Hathaway. The acting bug was in her system since after all she was named after the wife of William Shakespeare and her mother was a former actress who gave up her career to raise a family. In one great coincidence, her mom’s last role before motherhood was in a national touring company of “Les Misérables.” In that production she was an understudy for the role of Fantine, the doomed factory worker turned prostitute who sings the shows big song “I Dreamed a Dream.” Coincidentally many years later Hathaway would be cast in that role for the film version of the musical and go on to win an Academy Award for it as Best Supporting Actress.
Hathaway has had a remarkably diverse career for someone her age. She has pretty much worked in all genres from comedy to serious drama to musicals to science fiction with even a stop along the way as Catwoman in a Batman movie. Let’s take a look at her career in a photo gallery offering her 15 greatest film performances, ranked from worst to best. Our list includes the movies mentioned above, plus her Oscar-nominated turn in “Rachel Getting Married,” “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Brokeback Mountain.”
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15. GET SMART (2008)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Peter Segal. Writers: Tom J. Astle, Matt Ember. Starring Steve Carell, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin.
“Get Smart” was an extremely popular television series from the sixties starring Don Adams as the inept secret agent Maxwell Smart and Barbara Feldon as his intelligent sidekick Agent 99. Hathaway teamed with Steve Carell to recreate the characters which were initially created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Hathaway brought her own spin to her character and played a slightly more glamourous and sassy version of the character then was done on the television series.
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14. HAVOC (2005)
Image Credit: Media 8 Ent./Vip 2/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Barbara Kopple Writer: Stephen Gaghan. Starring Bijou Phillips, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Laura San Giacomo.
Hathaway began to try to transition to more adult and darker roles with this film only meeting with mixed results. The film struggled to find an audience and received mixed reviews but Hathaway was able to start getting less teen oriented roles after this. The film tells the story of two privileged Los Angeles women who get involved in the hip hop scene which only leads them to involvement in the darker side of Los Angeles including the drug scene.
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13. ELLA ENCHANTED (2004)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Tommy O’Haver. Writers: Laurie Craig, Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith, Jennifer Heath, Michele J. Wolff. Starring Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Joanna Lumley.
Appealing to the same demographic audience that first made Hathaway a star with “The Princess Diaries” this fantasy film is a charming tale and Hathaway is quite radiant in it. Based on a popular novel the film tells the tale of Ella a young girl who is given a gift of obedience meaning she must do what ever she is told by others. The film is interesting in how it eventually reveals how this so-called gift which sort of sounds like a curse proves to actually be a positive thing.
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12. ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010)
Image Credit: Disney/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Tim Burton. Writer: Linda Woolverton. Starring Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Deep.
In visionary director Tim Burton’s take on the classic story Hathaway plays the White Queen, in a sense the good queen while Helena Bonham Carter plays the Red Queen the more villainous one. “The Globe and Mail” praised Hathaway’s interpretation with “Anne Hathaway makes sure we can detect a sibling resemblance, playing her with a regal air that borders on the haughty. That’s nicely in keeping with Carroll’s topsy-turvy world, where nothing, not even goodness, is quite what it seems.”
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11. NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (2002)
Image Credit: Simon Mein/Hart-Sharp Ent./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Douglas McGrath. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, Christopher Plummer.
As with most of the stories of Charles Dickens this story has been adapted many times on both stage and screen. This version was particularly well done with joyous moments mixed in with the sadness as the title character tries to fend off a greedy uncle and protect his mother, sister and his crippled friend Smike. Hathaway plays the love interest of Nickleby, a young artist who has to support her oppressive father who has gambled away all their money.
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10. THE INTERN (2015)
Image Credit: Francois Duhamel/Waverly/Warner Bros./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Nancy Meyers. Starring Robert De Niro, Rene Russo, Linda Lavin.
On paper the synopsis of this film seemed a bit hokey: a seventy-year-old man becomes an intern for an online fashion entrepreneur but somehow the combination of De Niro, Hathaway and writer director Nancy Meyers pulled it off. Hathaway is strong and confident and quite touching in her relationship with De Niro.
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9. COLOSSAL (2016)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Nacho Vigalando. Starring Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Tim Blake Nelson.
This bizarre fantasy film features Hathaway as a messed up alcoholic struggling writer forced to move back home. Somehow Hathaway’s character finds out that a huge monster that is terrorizing South Korea is mimicking her movements. The film didn’t perform particularly well at the box office but Hathaway got some strong reviews for her risky and adventurous performance.
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8. THE PRINCESS DIARIES (2001)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Garry Marshall. Writer: Gina Wendkos. Starring Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, Mandy Moore.
Rarely does an actress get a star making role their first time up at bat but that is exactly what happened to nineteen-year-old Anne Hathaway when cast in the lead role of this popular film. Hathaway plays a gawky and awkward San Francisco high school student who upon meeting her grandmother for the first time finds out she is actually a Princess. With the help of Julie Andrews at her classiest Hathaway is transformed into a proper heir to a throne. Things don’t go smoothly but as with most Garry Marshall films it all works out in the end.
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7. INTERSTELLAR (2014)
Image Credit: Paramount/Warner Brothers/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Christopher Nolan. Writers: Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn.
This complicated science fiction film features Hathaway as part of an excellent ensemble. She plays a scientist who travels through a wormhole in space in order to assure humanities survival. While the actors are often dwarfed in this film by the story and special effects Hathaway is completely believable as the intellectual and daring doctor she plays.
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6. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Christopher Nolan. Writer: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan. Starring Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy.
Hathaway joined the ever-growing list of women who got to play Catwoman in the many Batman incarnations over the years. She follows in the footsteps of Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriwether, Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry. While Pfeiffer had one of the biggest triumphs of her career in the role, Berry had one of the biggest disasters of hers. Hathaway falls in the middle. Her take on the role isn’t as flamboyant as others but she brings a gravitas to the alter ego Selina and ultimately makes a very desirable love interest for Bruce Wayne/Batman.
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5. LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS (2010)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Edward Zwick. Writers: Charles Randolph, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, George Segal, Jill Clayburgh.
This film received a bit of a backlash upon its release with critics decrying the cutesy magazine covers and sexy poses Hathaway and Gyllenhaal participated in to promote the film. Once you get past that you’ll find one of Hathaway’s more interesting performances as a woman suffering from early onset Parkinson’s Disease. She fears becoming involved with men because she feels she will become a burden on them. Gyllenhaal plays a juvenile pharmaceutical salesman who grows up via his involvement with Hathaway.
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4. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)
Image Credit: Focus/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ang Lee. Writers: Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana. Starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams.
One of the most talked about films ever made “Brokeback Mountain” tells the story of two cowboys who maintain an extramarital affair over many years. The film’s last-minute loss for its predicted Best Picture win at the Oscars remains one of the most controversial loses in Academy history. Hathaway has a small but complicated role as Jake Gyllenhaal’s wife. Her emotionally detached phone call at the end of the film when she informs Heath Ledger’s character of Gyllenhaal’s death remains one of the most analyzed moments in film. The debate centers on whether Lureen, Hathaway’s character actually knows of the relationship her husband has had with the other man. It was a complicated part for the young Hathaway to take on. Hathaway has sometimes been criticized for having a cold almost condescending tone in some of her work and personal appearances but that quality is used quite well in this performance.
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3. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: David Frankel. Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna. Starring Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt.
One of Hathaway’s great triumphs is her performance as the put-upon employee of a fashion magazine who is terrorized at every turn by her imperious boss. Meryl Streep got to chew the scenery and create one of her most memorable characters as Miranda Priestly but she couldn’t have done it without Hathaway’s sturdy support. Hathaway plays a young woman who wants to be a writer and reporter and stumbles into the world of high fashion, an area that doesn’t really interest her. Hathaway is bemused and wry as she navigates the perplexities of her boss’s mind games. It is really a gem of a performance.
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2. RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (2008)
Image Credit: Marc Platt Productions/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Jonathan Demme. Writer: Jenny Lumet. Starring Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger, Bill Irwin.
Hathaway received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as a younger sister fresh out of rehab attending her sister’s wedding. The sisters each have great resentment towards each other and things come to a head as the ceremony approaches. This was a brave performance from Hathaway in that she took on a character who is rather unlikeable at times. Her character is a drug addict who has caused severe harm to her family. It is at times a grim performance and ultimately one that really began to show Hathaway’s full range as an actress.
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1. LES MISERABLES (2012)
Image Credit: Working Title Films/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Tom Hooper. Writers: William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer. Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne.
Hathaway won every award imaginable for her work as the doomed factory worker turned prostitute Fantine in this film adaptation of the beloved stage musical. Hathaway creates a great arc for her character going from desperate mother trying to feed her child to blousy street hooker completely lost in despair to lovely spectral remembrance at the end of the film. The big moment of course is the song “I Dreamed I Dream.” Sung on stage by countless actresses the song was introduced to a wider audience when Susan Boyle rose to fame singing the song on a British talent show, a video of which became an internet sensation. This exposure could have made the song seem a bit out of place in the musical but Hathaway managed to put her own spin on it and make it one of the most memorable movie musical moments ever.
By shooting Hathaway just in closeup and having her sing live and not lip-synched director Tom Hooper gave Hathaway the opportunity to really act the song. The vocal skills are all there too but Hathaway’s story telling never gets lost in the music. The sad remembrance of a long ago love that took her childhood and left her in desperate straights is a piece of acting magic. Hathaway is able to go from blissful recollection to panicked fear as she gasps that she “had a dream her life would be, so different from this hell I’m living.” All in all it was a majestic performance and the Oscar was well deserved.
