Born into one of the most storied acting dynasties in American theatrical history, Drew Barrymore has spent virtually her entire life in front of the camera.
Yet Barrymore’s enduring status as a beloved Hollywood icon isn’t merely a product of heritage. It is the result of extraordinary emotional transparency, comic fearlessness, and pioneering creative agency. Beyond her unforgettable screen performances, Barrymore founded Flower Films in 1995, transforming herself into one of the most successful female producers in studio history and shepherding massive blockbuster franchises alongside daring indie classics.
Whether screaming through a generation-defining horror prologue, reinventing the romantic comedy opposite Adam Sandler, navigating raw dramedies like Riding in Cars with Boys alongside Steve Zahn, or chewing through suburban gore with cheerful suburban optimism, Barrymore brings an infectious, luminous humanity to every role.
Here are the 10 best Drew Barrymore movies and TV shows, ranked by cultural resonance and artistic brilliance.
10. Donnie Darko (2001)
The Role: An idealistic, open-minded high school English literature teacher who refuses to conform to conservative school board censorship.
Barrymore’s involvement in Richard Kelly’s mind-bending psychological masterpiece extended far beyond her charming, empathetic performance as Karen Pomeroy. When the indie production was struggling to secure financing, Barrymore’s Flower Films stepped in with a \$4.5 million investment and theatrical backing. Her role grounded the high school surrealism in authentic teenage empathy.
9. Never Been Kissed (1999)
The Role: A nerdy 25-year-old copy editor who goes undercover at a local high school to report on modern youth culture, reliving her teenage traumas.
Marking the official feature debut of Flower Films, Never Been Kissed proved that Barrymore could carry a multi-million-dollar studio comedy on pure earnestness. Embracing feathered hair, white metallic prom dresses, and agonizing social awkwardness, Barrymore turned Josie Geller’s quest for adolescent self-worth into a heartfelt 90s staple.
8. Grey Gardens (2009)
The Role: The eccentric Hamptons socialite and cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis living in decaying aristocratic isolation with her mother.
In a radical departure from her sunny comedic persona, Barrymore completely transformed into Edith Bouvier Beale for this HBO masterpiece. Acting opposite Jessica Lange, Barrymore captured Little Edie’s theatrical eccentricities, fractured hopes, and devastating vulnerability. The tour de force performance swept award season, earning Barrymore both the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.
7. Charlie’s Angels (2000)
The Role: A rebellious, martial-arts-proficient investigator leading an elite trio of female private detectives.
When Barrymore acquired the screen rights to the 1970s television series, industry skeptics doubted a female-led action comedy could dominate the global box office. Barrymore proved them spectacularly wrong.
Alongside Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu, she created an exuberant, pop-colored, Wire-fu action extravaganza that grossed over \$264 million worldwide and fundamentally reshaped female ensemble action cinema for the new millennium.
6. Santa Clarita Diet (2017–2019)
The Role: A cheerful suburban real estate agent who mysteriously dies, returns as an undead flesh-eater, and discovers a newfound zest for life.
Victor Fresco’s brilliant suburban satire provided Barrymore with her finest modern television vehicle. Pairing her radiant, can-do positivity with grotesque, blood-soaked slapstick, Barrymore played Sheila not as a brainless zombie, but as an empowered suburban mom living her best life on a human flesh diet. Her frantic comedic chemistry with Timothy Olyphant remains one of the supreme highlights of modern streaming comedy.
5. Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
The Role: A fiercely intelligent French servant armed with the philosophies of Thomas More who rescues herself rather than waiting for a prince.
Ever After boldly stripped the fairy tale of pumpkin carriages and talking mice, recasting the story as historical Renaissance drama. Armed with intellectual wit, physical courage, and a copy of Utopia, Barrymore’s Danielle de Barbarac rescued Prince Henry as often as he courted her. Acting opposite Anjelica Huston’s chilling stepmother, Barrymore delivered the definitive cinematic Cinderella for a modern generation.
4. Scream (1996)
The Role: A high school student making popcorn on a quiet Friday night who answers a fateful telephone call from Ghostface.
Barrymore was originally offered the lead role of Sidney Prescott. Instead, recognizing the shock value of dispatching the movie’s biggest star in the opening twelve minutes, she personally insisted on playing Casey Becker.
Director Wes Craven orchestrated a claustrophobic, telephone-driven nightmare that revitalized the entire horror genre. Barrymore’s terrified screams—fluctuating from playful movie trivia flirting to pure, bone-chilling maternal horror—remain the greatest cold open in horror cinema history.
3. 50 First Dates (2004)
The Role: A warmhearted Hawaiian art teacher suffering from Goldfield Syndrome, waking up every single morning with no memory of the day before.
What could have been a cheap comedic gimmick was transformed by Barrymore into an emotionally resonant, deeply moving romance. Reunited with Adam Sandler and Happy Madison collaborators—whose classic slapstick lineage we tracked across our guide to where the cast of The Benchwarmers is today—Barrymore grounded the absurdity in raw tenderness.
Her performance ensures that every single morning Lucy discovers her condition feels devastating, making Henry’s daily dedication to winning her heart one of the sweetest cinematic love stories ever told.
2. The Wedding Singer (1998)
The Role: A sweet, earnest banquet waitress engaged to a shallow yuppie who finds true love with a broken-hearted wedding singer.
The Wedding Singer was the magical genesis of the Barrymore-Sandler partnership. Barrymore’s natural warmth brought out a gentle, romantic vulnerability in Sandler that critics had never seen before.
Her mirror scene—practicing her married name “Julia Guglia” with a quiet grimace of existential dread—captures Barrymore’s supreme comedic delicacy. When Sandler sings “Grow Old with You” on the airplane, Barrymore’s tear-filled reaction shot is pure movie romance perfection.
1. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
The Role: The pigtail-wearing, geranium-bearing seven-year-old sister who teaches an alien how to speak English.
At just six years old, Drew Barrymore walked onto Steven Spielberg’s set and delivered one of the most natural, iconic child performances in the history of motion pictures.
As Gertie, Barrymore was completely unfiltered: screaming in unfeigned terror in the closet, dressing E.T. up in wigs and hats, and patiently teaching him to say “Beee goooood.” Spielberg famously shot the film in chronological order to capture real emotional responses from the children, and Barrymore’s heartbreaking goodbye to E.T. at the spacecraft remains an eternal cinematic touchstone.
It launched a career that has illuminated Hollywood for over forty years—and remains the undisputed crown jewel of Drew Barrymore’s extraordinary filmography.