Our Favorite Gemma Chan Movies And TV Shows, Ranked

Gemma Chan has been appearing in movies and TV shows since 2006. During this time, the star has amassed quite an impressive number of well-known roles on both the big and small screens. From one-off scene-stealers like her 2010 turn as pottery expert Soo Lin Yao on BBC’s “Sherlock” to her voice acting roles in films like Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and The Heron” and Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon,” Chan has established herself as a reliable and versatile actor who can shine in just about any project.

The fact that Chan’s acting output is so consistently good may actually become a problem for fans who want to check out her finest work without sitting through her entire back catalog. To help you pick the best of the best from her sizeable résumé, here’s a list of our favorite Gemma Chan movies and TV shows.

Chloe Zhao’s ambitious “Eternals” is one of the worst Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, but as a Gemma Chan showpiece, it works very well. Chan plays the film’s central character, Sersi. Together with her human boyfriend Dane Whitman (Kit Harington), she acts as the audience’s window to the lives of Eternals and their stealthy coexistence with humanity. In more ways than one, Sersi is the most important of all Eternals, but is nevertheless a far friendlier and more compassionate figure than your average superhero — especially compared to some of the most aloof members of her kin.

The role asks a lot from its actor. Sersi is not only a very nuanced character by MCU standards, but Chan is also tasked with effectively leading an ensemble cast that includes heavy-hitters like Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Barry Keoghan, and Brian Tyree Henry. Regardless of the viewer’s opinions of the movie itself, it’s hard to deny that Chan clears the bar with flying colors.

If you’re looking for an early Gemma Chan role in a quality film, seek no further than 2010’s “Submarine.” Richard Ayoade’s well-regarded coming-of-age movie plays with familiar themes of teenage love with a distinctly low-key and wry British approach. “Submarine” combines comedy and drama as it depicts the budding teen romance between Oliver (Craig Roberts) and Jordana (Yasmin Paige) while stirring the pot with other memorable characters such as Paddy Considine’s dubious guru figure Graham.

Chan plays Kim-Lin, an acquaintance of Graham, in a relatively small but noticeable role. Her appearance in this emotional roller coaster of a movie might not be destined to rank among her most memorable performances in the long run, but for now, it provides a fun peek at her early years — and shows that Chan was quite good at choosing her projects even before she fully broke through.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” director Gareth Edwards’ 2023 sci-fi epic “The Creator” bombed at the box office, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. While somewhat divisive, the film got its share of positive attention from fans and critics, and it’s very much worth watching as long as you keep in mind that the vibe it’s going for is neither “Star Wars” nor “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

It’s almost impossible to describe Gemma Chan’s full role in “The Creator” without spoiling the movie thoroughly, so let’s just say that she definitely makes her presence known as main character Joshua’s (John David Washington) wife, Maya Fey. The pair receives ample backup from the likes of Ken Watanabe, Ralph Ineson, and young newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles, which gives “The Creator” the powerful combination of an excellent cast, an alluring premise, and dazzling visuals.

As ardent fans may have noticed, Gemma Chan is one of the few actors who have played more than one role in the MCU. While her more prominent Marvel role is “Eternals” protagonist Sersi, her turn as blue-skinned Kree Starforce member Minn-Erva in 2019’s “Captain Marvel” came first.

Minn-Erva starts out as one of Carol Danvers’ (Brie Larson) teammates while the amnesic future Captain Marvel works under Yon-Rogg’s (Jude Law) command. However, once Carol regains her memories and starts opposing the Kree, Minn-Erva becomes a major antagonist. An expert pilot and a ruthless soldier, Minn-Erva is a formidable foe who also happens to be the only “Captain Marvel” villain who personally dislikes Carol. Granted, it’s not what you’d call a deep role — but as a character, Minn-Erva is basically the opposite of Sersi, and it’s certainly fun to see Chan play such different people within the same universe.

What’s better than a juicy comedy-drama with an all-star ensemble cast? As Steven Soderbergh’s 2020 Max film “Let Them All Talk” shows, not a lot. “Let Them All Talk” is a curious movie that collects a group of talented actors — Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest, Gemma Chan, and Lucas Hedges — under Soderbergh’s wing. They all climbed aboard the iconic ocean liner Queen Mary II, and Soderbergh allowed them to improvise much of their dialogue while steering the process and making sure the end result followed the script outline.

The movie’s story follows famous author Alice (Streep), whose literary agent Karen (Chan) sends her on a cruise that she also secretly boards to spy on Alice’s work. Alice’s nephew (Hedges) and two old friends (Bergen and Wiest) complete the core group of characters, which goes on to interact and clash in a number of amazing and heartbreaking ways. The film’s unique combination of low-budget production and unparalleled talent immediately made it a critical darling, and watching Chan hold her own with a group of improvising veterans shows how talented she really is. This is especially impressive since the very first scene she filmed was with Streep, a three-time Oscar winner and a bona fide acting legend.

“You can’t not be a bit intimidated and a bit over-awed when it’s Meryl Streep, and you improvise opposite Meryl Streep the first scene in the film. It was really nerve-racking and you could’ve heard a pin drop in the restaurant,” Chan described the experience to The Hollywood Reporter. “We did the first take and we just jumped in. There was a little bit of a stop-start thing that was slightly awkward, and she just reached over, squeezed my hand, looked me in the eye and said, ‘We can do this.’ She was so gracious. And I’m sure that Steven, in his way, engineered that to be our first scene together. My character is meant to be on the back foot a bit.”

Gemma Chan is known for mixing her more traditional roles with a healthy amount of genre work — or simply combining both. Despite her extensive work in big-budget sci-fi and superhero movies, the gold standard of her sci-fi projects is still AMC’s acclaimed series  “Humans.”

“Humans” takes place in a world that’s similar to ours, but many people use realistic human-like synth robots as servants. However, things aren’t quite what they seem. The show soon starts exploring the synths’ hidden purposes, as well as the extent of their consciousness … and, more than anything, the way the introduction of human-like machines affects humanity itself. It’s a show full of big questions, and Chan’s charming and polite synth servant Anita is one of the greatest mysteries it has to offer.

Unlike the more prominent android show “Westworld,” “Humans” largely eschews grand, futuristic set pieces. Instead, it focuses on the sheer emotional and cultural impact the introduction of realistic, but ever-so-slightly off human-like robots would cause — and what said robots might think of us in return. Full of tension, ideas, and big narrative swings, “Humans” is an extremely compelling sci-fi drama — and it doesn’t hurt that it features stars like Chan, William Hurt, and Will Tudor at the top of their game.

2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians” was a true rarity: a romantic comedy-drama that became a huge smash hit, bringing in over $239 million at the global box office against a $30 million budget. What’s more, it’s a genuinely good film that critics and audiences appreciated.

“Crazy Rich Asians” is a story about Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an academic who finds out to her extreme culture shock that her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) is a scion of an incredibly rich Singapore family. In a movie full of juicy roles, Chan has one of the coolest as Nick’s ultra-famous socialite cousin Astrid Leong-Teo. Despite her extreme wealth and status, she’s one of the most sensible characters in the movie, and her arc gets quite a bit of attention.

The ensemble cast of “Crazy Rich Asians” raked in awards and nominations, and the movie helped a lot of its stars along their Hollywood path — for instance, veteran star Michelle Yeoh and comparative newcomer Awkwafina have been in constant demand since the movie came out. Chan already had several major movie and TV show appearances on her résumé, but judging by her many extremely high-profile roles after “Crazy Rich Asians” premiered, it’s easy to see that the same effect also applies to her. Knowing this and considering the fact that the movie really is pretty good, it’s easy to choose this as the best Gemma Chan film out there.