The best Chloë Grace Moretz movies and TV shows highlight a career that’s gone from strength to strength with no loss of momentum despite the young age at which the actor made her first appearance. Born in Atlanta in 1997, Chloë Grace Moretz has been a presence on screens since she was barely 9 years old. On the small screen, she appeared in episodes of TV shows like The Guardian, though it was 2005’s The Amityville Horror for which she first became noticed (and received a nomination for a Young Artist Award).
Since making her debut, there hasn’t been a year that Chloë Grace Moretz hasn’t appeared in a movie or TV show. As well as a recurring role in Desperate Housewives, Moretz’s notable early career appearances include 2008’s Bolt. However, it was Matthew Vaughn’s dark superhero comedy Kick-Ass in 2020 that truly put her on the map – and the best Chloë Grace Moretz movies and TV shows reveal that she’s since more than surpassed her hilarious performance as Hit-Girl.
10 Carrie (2013)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Carrie White
Chloë Grace Moretz has appeared in several horror movies throughout her career, from 2005’s The Amityville Horror as a child actor through to 2018’s Suspiria. She is incredibly adept in the genre, and the majority of her roles in scary films could be argued to count among her best movies. However, due to her taking the central role and the quality of the story (which is adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name), it’s 2013’s Carrie that truly stands out as the most memorable.
The supernatural horror from director Kimberly Peirce stars Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie White, a young and shy high school student who’s the subject of relentless bullying at school, and an overbearing religious mother at home. However, Carrie is able to turn the tables on her tormentors when she discovers her latent psychic abilities. While 2013’s Carrie wasn’t as highly regarded by critics as the 1976 adaptation of King’s novel, Chloe Grace Moretz’s performance remains one of the strongest of her career so far.
9 Shadow In The Cloud (2020)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Maude Garrett
Shadow in the Cloud is a 2020 action-horror from director Roseanne Liang, and one of the more recent Chloë Grace Moretz movies that features the actor in a central role. Set in the Second World War, Shadow in the Clouds stars Moretz in the lad as RAF Pilot Officer Maude Garrett. While on a mission in a Boeing B-17 bomber, Moretz and her crew discover that their flight has been targeted by an evil creature described as a gremlin.
While the strange premise seems incredibly similar to The Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”, Shadow in the Cloud is very much its own entity. It’s a solid blend of action and horror which proves that Chloë Grace Moretz hasn’t lost any of the skills as an adult actor that defined the earlier years of her career. What’s more, her character of Maude Garrett is used as a platform to explore several social issues such as the women who served in WWII being overlooked by history.
8 The Equalizer (2014)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Alina/Teri
2014’s The Equalizer, from director Antoine Fuqua, is widely regarded as one of the best action-thrillers of the 2010s. With a solid cast led by Denzel Washington and co-starring David Harbour, Bill Pullman, and Melissa Leo, Chloë Grace Moretz had a solid early-career performance in The Equalizer as Teri (real name Alina). As with many of her roles in the best Chloë Grace Moretz movies, the actor’s character is a complex and emotionally nuanced one.
As Washington’s The Equalizer character Robert McCall soon learns, Alina is a victim of sex trafficking by the Russian mafia. This doesn’t sit well with Robert, and after his attempts to buy Alina’s freedom are rebuffed, he goes on a rampage to secure a safe future for her by force. Chloë Grace Moretz had incredible chemistry with Denzel Washington, and without her it’s hard to imagine that Robert McCall’s character would have become the dangerous-yet-humanized presence that made The Equalizer and its sequels such a success.
7 Kick-Ass (2010)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Hit-Girl
For many viewers, 2010’s superhero satire-comedy Kick-Ass was their introduction to Chloë Grace Moretz. Starring alongside Nicolas Cage, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Mark Strong, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kick-Ass was director Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of the Mark Millar graphic novel of the same name. Chloë Grace Moretz plays Hit-Girl, AKA Mindy Macready, a young girl trained to be a deadly superhero by her father, the Batman-parody Big Daddy (Cage).
Chloë Grace Moretz returned to reprise her role of Hit-Girl in 2013’s Kick-Ass 2, which focused more on her character than it did Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s titular hero. However, it’s the original that’s widely regarded as the better movie (though both are certainly worth watching for fans of Moretz). Moretz was absolutely hilarious in the role as the foul-mouthed Hit-Girl, and Kick-Ass remains one of the best movies of her career.
6 Let Me In (2010)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Abby
Let Me In is the 2010 remake of the groundbreaking 2008 Swedish romantic horror movie Let the Right One In. From director Matt Reeves, Let Me In tells the same story (based on the 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist), but relocates the characters and events to Los Alamos in New Mexico. The story focuses on Owen (Kodi-Smit McPhee), a 12-year-old boy who finds an emotional escape from the struggles caused by school bullies and parental neglect through his friendship with Abby (Moretz), the young girl who moves in next door.
However, unbeknownst to Owen, Abby is a centuries-old vampire. Learning her secret doesn’t dissuade Owen from their friendship, however, and their bond soon becomes dangerous for his tormentors. Critics welcomed the remake of the already highly celebrated Let The Right One In with open arms, and an exceptional amount of praise was given to the young Chloë Grace Moretz for her performance as Abby – highlighting her ability to play complex, nuanced characters at an incredibly early stage in her career.
5 Hugo (2011)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Isabelle
Chloë Grace Moretz found fame at a young age, and many of her best movies feature her performing while still in her teens. 2011’s Hugo is the strongest of these appearances, and the then-13-year-old Moretz delivered a spellbinding performance as Isabelle in the adventure drama from renowned director Martin Scorsese. Based on the 2007 novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Receiving 11 Academy Award nominations, 3 Golden Globes, and eight BAFTAs, Hugo is the most critically acclaimed film that Moretz has appeared in so far.
The story of Hugo takes place in Paris in the early 20th century and focuses on Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), the young son of a clockmaker. Hugo is attempting to fix a mysterious robot he finds in a museum, and soon enlists the help of Isabelle (Moretz), the daughter of a toymaker. Moretz’s performance as Isabelle is just as charming and quaint as the film itself, and she has an especially strong chemistry with co-star Asa Butterfield.
4 Greta (2019)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Frances McCullen
2019’s Greta comes from director Neil Jordan, also known for the likes of 1994’s Interview with the Vampire and the 2011–2023 series The Borgias. Like all of Jordan’s projects, Greta is a complex tale with many thematic layers. This allowed Chloë Grace Moretz to deliver a performance that secured Greta as one of her best movies, as her character, Frances McCullen, was far from straightforward.
Greta focuses on the relationship between Frances, a young waitress, and Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert), a piano teacher who develops an unhealthy obsession with Moretz’s character. The chemistry between Chloë Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert is astounding, with the pair playing perfectly off of one another as Frances learns that her new ‘friend’ is actually anything but. It’s one of several psychological thriller and horror movies that Moretz has appeared in throughout her career, and thanks to the strength of her performance, is inarguably the best.
3 Nimona (2023)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Nimona
Chloë Grace Moretz is no stranger to animated movies, and many of her most celebrated films and TV shows see her utilizing her skills as a voice actor. However, while roles like Wednesday Addams in 2019’s The Addams Family and English language anime dubs like 2014’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya are certainly noteworthy, it’s the lead role in 2023’s Nimona that stands as the best animated Chloë Grace Moretz movie.
Created for Netflix and based on the graphic novel of the same name by ND Stevenson, Nimona is set in a steampunk fantasy land not too dissimilar from the city of Piltover in Arcane. Moretz’s titular character, Nimona, is a teenage outcast and shapeshifter who finds herself hunted by Royal forces due to her friendship with the fugitive former knight Ballister (Riz Ahmed). Nimona was released to widespread critical acclaim due to its animation, its strong LGBTQ+ themes and, of course, Chloe Grace Moretz’s performance as the lovable lead character.
2 Clouds Of Sils Maria (2014)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Jo-Ann Ellis
Clouds of Sils Maria is a 2014 psychological thriller from director Olivier Assayas and sees Chloë Grace Moretz starring alongside Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. Set in the Swiss Alps, The Clouds of Sils Maria is a tale of a group of actors who find their professional and personal struggles are much more difficult to separate than they ever could have conceived. Thematically echoing 2010’s Black Swan in many ways, Clouds of Sils Maria is, at its core, a story that deals with the psychological toll the life of a performer can take.
In Clouds of Sils Maria, Chloë Grace Moretz plays Jo-Ann Ellis, a young actress who finds herself cast in a play alongside Maria (Juliette Binoche), a world-famous star who’s struggling with many insecurities – which she then projects onto Jo-Ann. However, Jo-Ann also has many dubious moments in her past, and Chloë Grace Moretz does an exceptional job at portraying a character who at first is portrayed as a sympathetic figure but later turns out to be much more than they seem.
1 The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (2018)
Chloë Grace Moretz Plays Cameron Post
The Miseducation of Cameron Post stands as the best Chloë Grace Moretz movie so far, and features the star in the central role as the titular Cameron Post. The 2018 coming-of-age drama comes from director Desiree Akhavan, with the screenplay (which adapts the 2012 novel of the same name by Emily M. Danforth) co-written by the filmmaker alongside Cecelia Frugiuele.
It’s an incredibly grounded and, in many ways, tragic story, as The Miseducation of Cameron Post explores gay conversion therapy centers in the early 1990s. Chloë Grace Moretz’s Cameron is an LGBTQ+ teen who finds herself at one such facility and becomes psychologically tormented by the indoctrination that forces her to hate who she is. Moretz’s performance was praised by critics, with many noting the depth and authenticity she brought to her portrayal of Cameron. The Miseducation of Cameron Post should be considered essential viewing for Chloë Grace Moretz fans, as no other film is such a clear display of the level of her abilities as a performer.
