Actress Megan Fox has been in the acting world for almost 20 years. From Jennifer’s Body to Transformers, here are her best performances.
Model and actress Megan Fox has been in the movie industry since 2001, when she was a young woman trying to make her big dreams come true. She first appeared in a feature within Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen alongside teen idol Lindsay Lohan for Walt Disney Productions. Two years later, her first consistent role came with being cast in season 2 of ABC’s Hope & Faith, which was canceled after the third season. However, her big break came with 2007’s Transformers, as she played one of the lead roles: Mikaela Barnes.
Update September 21, 2023: In honor of the release of Megan Fox’s latest film, The Expendables 4, this list has been updated with even more great performances from the actress.
Fox’s performance in Transformers launched her career to all-new levels, although it came with consequences. Speaking with Jimmy Kimmel, Fox has commented on her history of being 𝑠e𝑥ualized, one rooted back to her beginning days in Hollywood and the consistent kind of roles she was initially offered. This has been deeply woven into the narrative of Fox’s career as she has been dubbed one of her generation’s 𝑠e𝑥 symbols. But, first and foremost, she has done quite a bit of work as an actress, showing that she is capable. She is currently one of the major stars in The Expedanbles 4. From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to New Girl, her career has spanned two decades. Here are Megan Fox’s ten best performances so far.
10Passion Play
Passion Play is a fantasy film about a woman with wings (Megan Fox) who is married to a ruthless gangster and feels entrapped in the marriage. When she encounters Nate, a Jazz musician who takes an interest in her, she begins to wonder if he could be the ticket to her freedom. However, as they try to escape from her violent husband, they keep meeting hurdles. Can they both make it out alive? The film is dream-like, with an interesting premise regarding redemption. Fox gives a touching and delicate performance here.
9Think Like a Dog
Think Like a Dog is a family sci-fi movie where 12-year-old Oliver (Gabriel Bateman) forges telepathic communication with his dog after a science experiment. Now that they can read each other’s minds, they comedically help each other navigate family life and school problems. With people finding out about his experiment and his parents thinking of splitting up, can he and his adorable dog fight the inevitable? The relationship between Oliver and his dog is heartwarming.
Here, Megan Fox stars as Oliver’s mother, opposite Josh Duhamel as the father, where she gives a wholesome performance. The film was released on VOD in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and was a bright spot in a year where many movies were either delayed or some that did get released were disappointments.
8How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is based on Toby Young’s memoir, where he discusses his 5-year social struggles to fit in the United States after accepting a position at Sharp magazine. The film highlights the awkward office dynamics he was facing and offers a satire on the celebrity world. Megan Fox plays one of the rising celebrities in the film, one which Sidney Young, the main protagonist, is trying to get closer to in order to work his way up in the magazine.
7Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Disney’s 2004 teen comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen may have been Fox’s feature film debut, but it featured an all-star cast. Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, Allison Pill, and Adam Garcia all were in the main roles. A 15-year-old from New York City (Lohan) is desperate to become a well-known actress, leading to strained relationships and the classic mean popular girl antagonizing her (Fox). The movie was adapted from a young adult novel, explaining some of its tropes and superficiality, and it was a moderate success for a brief time.
6Friends with Kids
The romantic comedy Friends with Kids is a tale about mid-30s friends who, after having kids with their spouses, are now suffering from issues with their marriages. Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt star as these two friends, and they live in the same apartment complex, ensuring that all the fun and misery is within proximity. Fox plays the role of Mary Jane, a woman involved in a relationship with Adam Scott’s character, and it was a great break for the actress to show what she was capable of beyond the Transformers films. The movie was written, produced, and directed by Westfeldt as well. Although the story can be considered flat at times, the performances by the cast provide redemption to smooth out the plot.
5Transformers
Michael Bay’s Transformers movies launched Megan Fox’s career, catapulting her into an all-new level of fame. Granted, there were some issues among the star and director team, which may have spurred her eventual absences from the series, but her role as Mikaela Barnes was iconic. She is the love interest of Shia LaBeouf’s Sam, who is the franchise’s protagonist, but she holds her weight as well instead of just existing as a pretty female face on the screen.
The best use of the character was in the first film, as Mikaela Barnes has a great character arc and arguably is a better-defined character than Sam. She gives her character a real presence that, sadly, many overlooked at the time.
4Till Death
Released in 2021, S.K. Dale’s Till Death offers one of Megan Fox’s best performances. She portrays Emma, a woman with an unhappy marriage to a criminal attorney who engages in an affair with one of his coworkers. One night, after seemingly making amends with each other, she wakes up to discover herself handcuffed to her dead husband. As chaos unfolds, it is up to her to survive everything and everyone that comes after her, even if it means using force.
3Rogue
Fox takes on the leading role in Rogue, which was directed by M.J. Bassett. Fox is Sam O’Hara, a mercenary leading an operation in East Africa. Their mission is to retrieve the kidnapped daughter of a governor; the girl was kidnapped and ransomed with her friends by a terrorist organization. This job will not be easy, especially as O’Hara feels compassion for the girls and is willing to go against her initial objectives. At the same time, a combination of the wild and other rogue individuals proves to be great threats to their safety.
2New Girl
Megan Fox stepped into the role of Reagan for a small arc on New Girl while star Zooey Deschanel took a leave due to her pregnancy. Reagan was the opposite of Deschanel’s Jess character and made for the new straight man into the loft full of massive personalities. Fox makes for a great comedic actress, playing deadpan so well but also being able to play the heightened comedic world of New Girl. The series is a great reminder that she should play more comedies because she is really funny.
1Jennifer’s Body
Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried starred in the 2009 comedic horror Jennifer’s Body. Anita (Seyfried) is the best friend of popular cheerleader Jennifer (Fox), even though the two seem to be unlikely friends regarding interests and personality. One day, Jennifer starts acting differently and begins a murder spree against male classmates. Anita, who seems partially in love with her best friend, decides it is up to her to figure out what is wrong and fix everything.
Fox’s role is a pivotal one, flipping the narrative of women being victims in horror movies. While Jennifer’s Body was a box office flop at the time, it has since gone on to become a cult classic and is one of the most underrated horror films of the 2000s. It is also Fox’s best performance to date.