10 Best Hailee Steinfeld Movies, Ranked

With her next big movie, Sinners, coming out soon, Hailee Steinfeld is once again at the forefront of Hollywood—as she has been many times in the past. Being directed by the one and only Ryan Coogler, people are super-excited to see Steinfeld in her next outing as Mary in the anticipated 2025 flick.

Steinfeld has had quite an incredible career over the years as she’s leaped across multiple genres and role types. This has showcased time and again that she is a very diverse actress and proven that she can be hired for almost any role. Looking back on her past roles only gives more and more hope that she’ll continue to get leading roles in future movies. Steinfeld knows how to bring a character to life and always does so with grace, making her films better than they could have been before.

Sinners

Release Date

April 18, 2025

Runtime

138 Minutes

10

‘The Keeping Room’ (2015)

Directed by Daniel Barber

The Keeping Room isn’t Hailee Steinfeld’s most popular or important movie, but it was a big part of a major transitional period in her life and career. After breaking out as an actress in her career-defining role as a protagonist in True Grit, it was a huge time for her to prove herself as an actress, which put her in a lot of different roles post-True Grit.

Taking place in the Civil War era, Steinfeld plays a young woman who has to defend herself against Union Army soldiers with her sister and a slave. It’s not a perfect movie, by any means, but it’s a big part of her career. It helped Steinfeld build a lot of variety in the roles she was showing she could play.

9

‘Pitch Perfect 2’ (2015)

Directed by Elizabeth Banks

After the mass success of the first Pitch Perfect movie and the announcement of a sequel, many wondered how the second film was going to set itself apart from an already great first project. While it didn’t end up being as good as Pitch Perfect (which was always going to be hard to do), Pitch Perfect 2 is a lot of fun and Hailee Steinfeld is a huge part of how it made itself different from movie one.

Steinfeld joins the cast as a younger, aspiring singer named Emily and this sets her apart from the rest of the cast. She is vital to the film’s heart and if there’s anything people liked about Pitch Perfect 2, it was her inclusion. Despite being the “young one” of the cast, she stood alongside them like it was nothing.

Pitch Perfect 2

Release Date

May 15, 2015

Runtime

115minutes

Writers

Kay Cannon

8

‘Bumblebee’ (2018)

Directed by Travis Knight

After a troublesome five-movie run, it was clear that the Transformers franchise needed to either reboot or take a huge shift in direction. The studio decided to go back in time to “soft reboot” the series with a solo film for one of the funniest Transformers in Bumblebee. Long before he met up with Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), Bumblebee (Dylan O’Brien) had another human companion in Charlie (Steinfeld).

To this very day, Bumblebee continues to be the best Transformers movie in the series. A central part of that is the relationship between Charlie and Bumblebee and how well it was executed—which could not have been done without Steinfeld’s performance in the movie. She perfectly plays a teenager down on her luck (as seen in a previous film) and brings so much heart and soul to the project.

Bumblebee

Release Date

December 15, 2018

Runtime

114 Minutes

Writers

Christina Hodson

7

‘Ender’s Game’ (2013)

Directed by Gavin Hood

Based on the hit young adult novel, Ender’s Game hit screens in 2013 to success. Yes, it suffers from the typical book-to-movie transitional issues, but as a movie, it did exactly what it needed to. Alongside the beloved Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld steps into the boots of Petra Arkanian.

This was one of her first major blockbuster projects after True Grit. This showed people she could stand on the big screen alongside the likes of industry titans like Harrison Ford and own the screen. The kind of talent it takes to act with Harrison Ford and not look terrible is huge for a young actor of any kind.

Ender’s Game

Release Date

November 1, 2013

Runtime

114minutes

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6

‘Begin Again’ (2014)

Directed by John Carney

Begin Again stars Mark Ruffalo as a struggling record label executive who discovers a songwriter, Greta (Keira Knightley). Together, they work together to record an album together all across New York City. While she was more of a supporting character in Begin Again, playing Ruffalo’s daughter, Violet, the movie was great. While it didn’t launch her into more stardom or was career-defining, it kept her momentum as an actress as she continued to move forward as a creative.

Not to mention, the movie is very musically focused and serves as a fun bit of real-life foreshadowing of Steinfeld’s eventual music career—a huge part of her creativity. Much like how Ender’s Game allowed her to act with Harrison Ford, Begin Again gave her the chance to work with more industry hitters like Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, and Adam Levine.

Begin Again

Release Date

September 7, 2013

Runtime

104 minutes

Director

John Carney

Writers

John Carney

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5

‘True Grit’ (2010)

Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

There is absolutely zero question in anyone’s minds that True Grit was and continues to be the most crucial moment in her career. Almost overnight, she went from being the average 14-year-old girl to a major Oscar-nominated and Critics Choice Award-winning actress. Without this movie, there’s no doubt that she would not be as big of an actress as she is today.

True Grit was phenomenally received by both critics and audiences. It put her on the Hollywood stage unlike any other project in her career. It also continues to be one of the best performances she’s ever given. At such a young age, a performance and film like this is something an actor could only dream of experiencing.

True Grit

Release Date

December 22, 2010

Runtime

110 minutes

Director

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Writers

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

4

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ (2023)

Directed by Kemp Powers, Joaquim Dos Santos, and Justin K. Thompson

One of the most successful films of the 2020s comes in the form of a sequel to one of the greatest animated movies of all time. When Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hit screens in 2023, it had the entire world in an absolute chokehold. While she was a main protagonist in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy takes center stage, even more so in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The focus on Gwen in the sequel is actually a big part of why it’s so good. It parallels Miles Morales’ (Shameik Moore) arc very well and brings in a wonderful emotional conflict. The extra screen time also gave Steinfeld a chance to deliver an even better vocal performance than the already great one from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

3

‘When Marnie Was There’ (2014)

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Everyone always adores a good Studio Ghibli movie. They consistently deliver some of the greatest anime movies ever made. That quality continues to live within the likes of When Marnie Was There, in which she voices Anna in the English dub. This was the first major time that she got to deliver a big vocal performance, which would be essential for her involvement in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse four years later.

It’s more than just an honor to be included in a Studio Ghibli movie. It’s a major moment in any actor’s career. Steinfeld showed people that she can do so much more than live-action work and anyone who knows anything about acting knows that voice acting and physical acting are vastly different beasts.

When Marnie Was There

Release Date

July 19, 2014

Runtime

103 Minutes

Director

Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Writers

Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Joan G. Robinson, Keiko Niwa, Masashi Andō

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2

‘The Edge of Seventeen’ (2016)

Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig

Despite being one of her most underappreciated movies, Hailee Steinfeld’s performance as Nadine in The Edge of Seventeen is easily her most lovable. She’s able to play a down-on-her-luck teenager going through the ever-rough struggle of growing up. Her performance is honest, genuine, and real in every way, which makes her character very relatable.

Director Kelly Fremon Craig gives Steinfeld space to deliver this performance perfectly. Just like her acting in it, the movie is just as raw, true, and real. It’s a borderline perfect coming-of-age movie that has audiences laughing, smiling, crying—feeling the best rollercoaster of emotions.

The Edge of Seventeen

Release Date

November 18, 2016

Runtime

104 minutes

Director

Kelly Fremon Craig

Writers

Kelly Fremon Craig

1

‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (2018)

Directed by Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman

What can be said about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that hasn’t been said a million times over already? Not only did it immediately become one of the greatest superhero and animated movies of all time, but it also helped completely redefine the animation medium for film. It opened the door for more expressive art styles in animated movies and changed everything.

Steinfeld’s time as Spider-Gwen in the film was one of the best additions the directors made. She flawlessly captures a genuine performance that is also paired with a punk teen vibe that sums up Gwen in this movie down to every minute essential. It’s hard not to love Spider-Gwen with Steinfeld stepping into the role and giving it her all.

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