Since breaking out in Lars Von Trier’s provocative magnum opus, Nymphomaniac, in 2013, the British actor Mia Goth has quickly become synonymous with some of the darkest, most macabre and eccentric corners of cinema. With the odd exception, her incredible streak of playing horror queens has remained largely unbroken and, in that short period of time, she’s honed her craft in the genre and become something of a horror icon.
From those 12 years in the business, the aptly named Goth has already worked with some of the finest art house horror directors while still finding time for the occasional role outside the genre. The following list, which I’ve arranged in ascending order, naturally leans on the former—not that any of her devoted fans will mind one jot. Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find where to stream them on services like AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
A Cure for Wellness (2017)
In the years after her breakout, Goth tried her hand with a number of different filmmakers. She played the daughter of Josh Brolin’s mountain climber in Baltasar Kormákur’s Everest and went on to take her first lead role in Stephen Fingleton The Survivalist, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, in 2015.
Her best performance from those years, however, was probably in Gore Verbinski’s overlong but gripping psychological thriller A Cure for Wellness—a film in the lineage of Soderbergh’s Unsane and Scorsese’s Shutter Island, but also a role that allowed the actress to do what she does best.
Emma (2020
In 2020, Mia Goth proved she wasn’t just a horror actress when she starred opposite Anya Taylor-Joy in a faithful yet unmistakably modernist adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma—think the same sort of energy as Clueless (which was also adapted from the book) except, like the excellent Love & Friendship, actually set in the appropriate period.
For the film, Goth convincingly portrayed Harriet Smith, Emma’s innocent and insecure best friend whose life becomes the target of her meddling.
Infinity Pool (2023)
It’s hard to know what made more of a stir in 2023, Brandon Cronenberg’s sicko horror film Infinity Pool or the pictures that came out of Goth with co-star Alexander Skarsgard on a leash from the film’s premier. Either way, there’s no doubt which one did more to enhance the actor’s burgeoning reputation as someone not to be messed with, on screen or off.
Whatever the case, this is still a film I would wholeheartedly recommend to any horror fans out there—especially if you liked the young Cronenberg’s previous work, Possessor, or another incredible recent horror film from Canada: Pascal Plante’s Red Rooms.
Frankenstein (2025)
This year, with Frankenstein, Goth managed to add two horror icons to her oeuvre in one foul swoop—Mary Shelley and Guillermo del Toro. Thanks to Netflix, the Mexican director was finally able to make the film he’d dreamed of making basically since seeing the 1931 original when he was 7-years-old.
To be fair, the resulting, Jacob Elordi-starring film—like so many passion projects—is not the director’s finest work, but if you’re a fan of what del Toro achieved with Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley, you’ll probably want to check it out.
Suspiria (2018)
In 2018, Goth starred alongside Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton in Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of the classic horror film Suspiria. This is a movie that reimagine’s Dario Argento’s Giallo classic to cold war era West Berlin—so if you like the idea of seeing that witchy world transposed to the German capitol during such a turbulent time (Possession is probably a better comp than the original), you’ll really like it.
The film also boasts Guadagnino’s typically incredible production design: stunning costumes, incredible sets, bone crunching sound, and a wonderful score from Thom Yorke.
MaXXXine (2024)
Of all her incredible roles to date, Mia Goth is perhaps best known for playing the lead roles in director Ti West’s unique slasher trilogy, X. In the third and final instalment (more on the other two in a minute), MaXXXine, Goth plays an adult film actress trying to break through into the Hollywood mainstream in the 1980s while being stalked by a killer.
Each of the three movies in West’s franchise adhere to a distinct cinematic style; and for MaXXXine, the director drew from some of the most provocative auteurs of that time, like Brian De Palma (think Body Double, Blow Out) and Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Hardcore).
High Life (2018)
On the red carpet for MaXXXine, few were surprised to hear Goth list filmmakers like Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodovar and Alejandro González Iñárritu in her Letterboxd top four. The actor is a renowned cinephile, and that’s a fact that’s been evident in plenty of the projects she’s chosen. Perhaps none more obviously than Clair Denis’s High Life, a sci-fi adventure that plays like a kind of sexy, doomcore cover of films like Interstellar and Ad Astra.
The film, which also stars Robert Pattinson and Denis regular Juliette Binoche, takes place on a ship full of death row criminals who, in return for relative amnesty, have agreed to join a scientific mission to a black hole.
Nymphomaniac (2013)
It’s rare that an actor’s first role sets the tone for their career, but Goth’s scenes with Stacy Martin in Lars von Trier’s 2013 film Nymphomaniac laid down a very clear marker for the kind of provocative choices the actor would later make. The film is not for everyone, needless to say, but it’s a remarkably daring piece of work—and if you liked LVT’s Melancholia or Antichrist, you might want to give it a shot.
Von Trier’s two-part opus follows a sex addict from the age of 15 (played by Stacy Martin) to 50 (Charlotte Gainsborough). Goth appears in the second part, playing a kind of protege to the protagonist, and, though only 18 at the time of the shoot, goes admirably toe-to-toe with both Gainsborough and Willem Defoe.
X (2022)
Despite being on the scene for a while, Mia Goth got her real breakthrough role in Ti West’s X—a film series that would solidify her reputation as one of the biggest horror stars of the decade, if not the 21st Century so far.
The first film, which revolves around the production of a low budget porno in a remote farmhouse in Texas, draws from a rich lineage of 1970s exploitation films—imagine The Texas Chain Saw Massacre but with Goth and Jenna Ortega in starring roles and you’ll know what kind of film to expect.
Pearl (2022)
X might have laid the groundwork, but West’s dazzling followup, the prequel film Pearl, reached whole new levels of cinematic inventiveness. This is a wildly entertaining and meme-able modern horror that takes its aesthetic cues not from Wes Craven or John Carpenter but early technicolor, like Meet Me in St. Louis and The Wizard of Oz.
Goth not only played the lead of Maxine in X but also the elderly farm owner, a role she reprises in Pearl with a red farm dress, a blue bow, plaited hair and a trusty axe. It’s no surprise that the costume became an instant Halloween classic.
