The 7 Best Finn Wolfhard Performances, Ranked

The Turning handed Finn Wolfhard one of his darkest, most psychologically complex roles, and he delivered a performance that deserved a far better film around it. Playing Miles, a potentially possessed young man in this gothic horror adaptation, Wolfhard made a fascinating choice: he went cold instead of hot. Where many young actors would have leaned into theatrical menace or obvious creepiness, Wolfhard opted for eerie calm and unsettling politeness.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, The Turning sits at a dismal 12% critical approval rating, but even critics who panned the film acknowledged Wolfhard's unsettling effectiveness. Within the broader landscape of Finn Wolfhard performances, The Turning represents important artistic risk. It showed he was willing to play genuinely unlikable, morally ambiguous characters without seeking audience approval, which separates actors who mature into interesting careers from those who do not.

Jesse Eisenberg's directorial debut asked Finn Wolfhard to do something most young actors avoid: be intentionally, thoroughly unlikable. As Ziggy Katz, a self-involved teenage folk singer who livestreams his mediocre performances, Wolfhard delivers one of his most precise and uncomfortable performances. There is no winking at the camera here. Ziggy's narcissism feels real, invasive, and painfully familiar to anyone who has spent time on social media platforms.

What elevates this among the best Finn Wolfhard roles is the courage required. Wolfhard never begs for audience sympathy. He allows Ziggy's flaws to remain fully visible, trusting that discomfort serves the film's larger critique of performative empathy and digital-age narcissism. According to IndieWire, Eisenberg's film is "a devastating portrait of emotional disconnection," and Wolfhard's willingness to lean into that devastation without softening the edges demonstrates remarkable maturity for a young actor.

Nostalgia is a dangerous drug in modern Hollywood, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife was absolutely swimming in it. Finn Wolfhard, playing Trevor Spengler, grandson of Harold Ramis' Egon, had an equally delicate job. He needed to exist inside this franchise without becoming a distraction. Wolfhard's solution was smart: play Trevor as quietly skeptical of the whole situation. Instead of wide-eyed wonder or forced enthusiasm, he gives us a teenager who is genuinely confused and displaced.

Among Finn Wolfhard performances, this one highlights his ensemble skills and emotional grounding. He does not chase spotlight moments or try to dominate scenes. According to Box Office Mojo, Ghostbusters: Afterlife earned over $200 million worldwide. But the film's emotional success belongs largely to its young cast, particularly Wolfhard's ability to make Trevor feel contemporary rather than like a period-accurate recreation of 1980s teenager templates, which helps modernize the beloved franchise.

The Goldfinch arrived in theaters with enormous expectations and promptly face-planted at the box office. Critics were not kind. Audiences stayed away. But buried inside this bloated, uneven Donna Tartt adaptation is one of Finn Wolfhard's most ambitious and emotionally open performances. As young Boris Pavlikovsky, the chaotic, charming Ukrainian teenager, Wolfhard injects desperately needed energy into the film's sagging middle section with genuine unpredictability and emotional vulnerability.

Within the context of best Finn Wolfhard roles, The Goldfinch represents artistic risk. Accent criticism aside, Wolfhard commits completely to Boris' emotional demands. He embraces the character's volatility and refuses to smooth the rough edges. According to Vanity Fair, The Goldfinch's failure had more to do with adaptation choices and pacing than performances, and Wolfhard's work stands as one of the film's few unqualified successes, proving his willingness to stretch beyond comfort zones in challenging material.

Richie Tozier could have been a disaster. The motor-mouthed, joke-cracking member of the Losers' Club exists primarily to provide comic relief in Stephen King's doorstop novel. Finn Wolfhard, in what was essentially his breakout film role, threaded that needle perfectly. His Richie is funny, yes, but the humor comes from defense, not confidence. Every joke is emotional armor. Every sarcastic comment is a way to avoid confronting genuine terror and vulnerability.

Director Andy Muschietti's It became a cultural phenomenon, earning $701 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing horror film of all time. According to IMDb, the film's success launched all of its young stars into new levels of fame. Among Finn Wolfhard performances, Richie remains important because it established his range early. He proved he could handle tonal complexity, balancing humor and horror without undermining either, giving the Losers' Club genuine emotional cohesion.

Playing the same character across multiple seasons of television presents unique challenges that film work simply does not. Actors must sustain emotional authenticity over years, tracking character evolution while maintaining core identity. Finn Wolfhard has done all of this across five seasons of Stranger Things, turning Mike Wheeler into one of the show's most consistently grounded emotional anchors. Mike begins as earnest, loyal, and idealistic, then evolves into a conflicted adolescent shaped by trauma.

What elevates this role within the best Finn Wolfhard roles is sustained quality over multiple years. According to Netflix, Stranger Things remains one of the platform's most-watched series, with season four breaking multiple records. That kind of cultural saturation could easily lead to phoned-in performances. Wolfhard avoids that trap by allowing Mike to mature naturally. His chemistry with the ensemble cast, particularly Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven, has deepened over time, making their relationship feel genuinely lived-in and emotionally authentic.

Voice acting is the purest test of an actor's craft. There are no facial expressions to lean on, no physical gestures to clarify intention. In Guillermo del Toro's stop-motion reimagining of Pinocchio, Finn Wolfhard voices Lampwick, the rebellious boy who befriends Pinocchio at carnival boot camp and meets a tragic fate. It is not a large role in terms of screen time. But it is absolutely devastating, and it represents Wolfhard's most mature, controlled performance to date.

What places this at the top of Finn Wolfhard performances is the confidence and restraint it requires. Wolfhard trusts silence and tone. He does not feel the need to fill every moment with vocal performance. Some of Lampwick's most powerful moments happen in what Wolfhard does not say. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Wolfhard's voice work is a crucial part of that success, proving definitively that his talent extends far beyond on-camera performance into the demanding realm of pure vocal acting.