You knew Emma Stone was destined for Hollywood success when her first leading role – in 2010’s Easy A – saw her lavished with praise from critics, nominated for a slew of major awards including the BAFTA Rising Star, and earn a devoted fanbase.

Within a year of Easy A’s release, she’d appeared as part of the ensemble cast for Crazy, Stupid, Love (her first on-screen performance alongside reoccurring co-star Ryan Gosling) and in the Oscar-winning The Help.

In 2012 her Hollywood equity grew even further with the crowd-pleasing reboot of Marvel Comics Spider-Man which saw Andrew Garfield in the role of the web-slinger.

Emma Stone in promotional art for Easy A (2010).

Her string of critical and commercial successes put her in a select group of women whose careers began with hit-after-hit (such as Meg Ryan with Top Gun, Innerspace and When Harry Met Sally between 1986 and 1989, and Julia Roberts with Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman and Sleeping with the Enemy between 1989 and 1991). Quite astonishing then that Stone’s best was still yet to come.

What’s the best Emma Stone movie?

Emma Stone’s depiction of The Hundred and One Dalmatians villain Cruella de Vil in the stylish adaptation of the iconic children’s story cemented the actress’s status as one of Hollywood’s biggest female stars.

It was a role that showcased her ability to bring a dynamism to a larger-than-life character without caricaturing; highly expressive and vampy with an undercurrent of subtle vulnerability.

Emma Stone in The Favourite (2018).

A financial success in 2021 despite the challenges posed by both Covid-19 anxiety and territorial constraints on cinema openings and capacity, Cruella is the film that married Stone’s unique talent of mixing bold, leftfield, quirky projects with mainstream attractions.

Without any doubt, it’s one of her best films. But it joins a group of movies since her first acting role in 2007’s Superbad that contains a number of contenders for that title. There’s the delightful, multi-award winning musical La La Land, the visionary hit Birdman, and director Yorgos Lanthimos‘ unique period black comedy The Favourite.

Top 10 Emma Stone Films

10. The Amazing Spider-Man

Dir. Webb (2012)

Marc Webb’s version of Spider-Man sees a young Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) sent to his Auntie and Uncle’s home by his parents before they mysteriously disappear. Growing up, Peter, now seventeen, discovers scientific notes hidden by his father prior to his disappearance.

On researching the internet, he discovers his father worked with a geneticist named Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) and believes the notes his father left behind have something to do with genetic mutation, something he finds out Connors is working on in order to re-grow limbs and human tissue. On visiting Connors laboratory, Parker is bitten by a genetically modified “super spider” and begins to take on superhuman powers.

Emma Stone is love interest Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man. She’s smart and charismatic and lends her talents to making the romantic angle of the film work well. It’s natural and less complicated than previous incarnations of Spider-Man and his romantic entanglements. There is certainly chemistry between the actors.

9. Zombieland

Dir. Fleischer (2009)

Emma Stone gives this variation of the zombie apocalypse a quirky feminine hero with soft-centred sensuality and a good set of balls. In Zombieland, Jesse Eisenberg plays Columbus who, after a mutated strain of mad cow disease turns the rest of the world into flesh-eating zombies, tries to make his way from his college dorm to his parent’s hometown to see if they are still alive. He lives by a certain set of rules that have served him well so far such as to always check the backseat of a car before driving off, and shooting the cannibalistic monsters twice to ensure their demise.

When he meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) after losing his car, the gun-toting Twinkie detective agrees to take Columbus with him. But after stopping off at a grocery store they are conned out of their vehicle and weapons by two sisters – Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Finding another vehicle loaded with enough ammunition to bring down a small city, Columbus and Tallahassee drive on only to encounter the sisters once again. Suggesting a truce, the four apocalypse survivors head to Los Angeles in the hope it is the only zombie-free place left.

8. Easy A

Dir. Gluck (2010)

Easy A sees Emma Stone in her first starring role. Here she plays Olive Penderghast, a 17-year-old high schooler who cunningly manipulates word-of-mouth to advance her social standing. There’s an irresistible charm to Stone’s sassy performance as she brings a smart wit to proceedings. It’s the film that made the actress a star.

7. Crazy, Stupid, Love

Dir. Ficarra / Requa (2011)

This bittersweet comedy is elevated by Ryan Gosling’s effortless charm and the sparkling sexual chemistry he finds with co-star Emma Stone. Crazy, Stupid, Love is directed by Bad Santa writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa from a screenplay by Tangled scribe Dan Fogelman, and follows the story of a recently separated middle-aged man (Steve Carell) who seeks to rediscover his manhood and is taught how to pick up women at bars by newfound friend Jacob (Gosling).

6. Battle Of The Sexes

Dir. Faris / Dayton (2017)

Inspired by the sporting rivalry between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs which would lead to their infamous 1973 match, Battle of the Sexes sees Emma Stone step into King’s tennis shoes for this biographical dramedy that transcends its period setting. Indeed, it boasts present day appeal in terms of sexism, toxic masculinity and gender equality.

5. The Help

Dir. Taylor (2011)

Based on Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling novel set in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi, The Help recounts the trials and tribulations of African-American maids in a tight-knit community, including Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer). Initially reluctant, they eventually agree to recount their experiences to aspiring writer Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) for her book on the lives of these women. She hopes to expose the racism they face working for white families where they are casually pigeonholed as “The Help”, hence the film’s title.

4. Cruella

Dir. Gillespie (2021)

Inspired by Dodie Smith’s villain in the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Cruella acts as an origins story for the titular character who rises up the ranks of the fashion industry during the punk rock movement of 1970s London.

The sight of Stone’s irrepressible Cruella de Vil locking horns with the iron-clad upper lip of the brilliant Emma Thompson is a sheer delight. It’s all packaged in a visual feast that’s both refreshing and wonderfully Dickensian all at the same time.

3. The Favourite

Dir. Lanthimos (2018)

Earning an incredible 10 Academy Award nominations and a slew of other awards and nominations from film festivals around the world, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ period black comedy sees Emma Stone play Abigail Masham, one of three cousins in 18th century Britain vying to be favourite of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman).

As well as Rachel Weisz, Stone and Colman were widely applauded for their performances, each finding an unhinged and uninhibited bawdy wit to bring out the delights of Lanthimos’ offbeat sense of humour and stage for an aristocratic pillow fight.

2. Birdman

Dir. Iñárritu (2014)

Shot as if in one continuous uncut sequence, Alejandro Iñárritu’s Birdman follows Michael Keaton’s aging former film star, who was best known for playing a superhero called “Birdman”, struggling to adapt a Raymond Carver short story for the Broadway stage.

Technically stunning (thanks to Emmanuel Lubezki’s Oscar-winning cinematography) and supported by a strong ensemble cast (including Zach Galifianakis, Andrea Riseborough, Edward Norton and Naomi Watts), the film is a brilliant distillation of acting and actors as themes of identity and transformation. A fascination with superheroes showcase key facets of this particular form of artistic expression.

Birdman sees Emma Stone play Sam Thomson, the daughter of Keaton’s struggling stage performer, who is recovering from drug addiction. She’s been hired by her father to work as his assistant in the hopes he can reconnect with her.

1. La La Land

Dir. Chazelle (2016)

The film which reveals Emma Stone’s enviable singing and dancing ability, this Oscar winner is the perfect showcase for her all-round talents. La La Land follows aspiring LA actress Mia (Emma Stone) who meets frustrated Jazz pianist Seb (Ryan Gosling). Their chance encounter leads to some musical flirtations and a blossoming relationship that is tested as they also seek to achieve their individual dreams.

The real charm and spark comes from the lead couple who will deserve every award coming their way. The chemistry is undeniable and sparks literally fly off the screen in their third pairing after Crazy Stupid Love and Gangster Squad.

Gosling’s character Seb controls the film’s soul with his initial dour approach matched to Stone’s abundant heart. Mia is charm personified with her previously hidden layers emotionally exposed in her music, especially the touching “The Fools Who Dream”.