Ah Sandy B, is there a more likable actress who is still going today? Sandra Bullock is an actress who can do it all: she can be the cute one, the badass one, the dramatic one, and she can even keep a bus going at 50mph under extreme stress! Today we are looking at the 10 best Sandra Bullock roles of all time!
Please keep in mind that with a resume as epic as Sandra Bullock, some great roles had to be cut! This is a very personal kind of thing so be sure to come up with your own list of what you feel are the most iconic Sandra Bullock roles of all time.
Number 10 – Sally Owens, Practical Magic, 1998
How can you not love Sally Owens? Practical Magic is an underrated movie that both warms and breaks your heart. Sandra Bullock stars opposite Nicole Kidman and they play sisters who are from a long line of witches.
Nicole Kidman’s Gillian shows up after some trouble with her abusive boyfriend and the sisters end up having to fight off his spirit… all the while trying to find love and acceptance! This is the kind of movie that is great if you are looking for something to hit you right in the feelings. Give this one a shot if you want some classic, 90s-style rom-com Sandra Bullock!
Number 9 – Dr. Ryan Stone, Gravity, 2013
Gravity is one of those movies that has a really high chance of being on most top 10 Sandra Bullock roles lists. Here she plays the role of an astronaut who ends up being stranded in space with George Clooney after their space station is destroyed!
It’s the kind of thing that on paper sounds kind of cheesy and silly. However, the performances of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney absolutely suck you in and make you fear for their lives as they try to come up with a plan that will see them survive this seemingly impossible situation. This is the kind of movie that has you on the edge of your seat unsure if they will make it or not.
Number 8 – Special Agent Sarah Ashburn, The Heat, 2013
It is kind of cool that The Heat came out the same year as Gravity, as it shows just how much range Sandra Bullock is working with. The Heat is a super fun buddy cop movie that puts Sandra Bullock as an elite FBI agent hot on the heels of a big-time criminal in Boston. However, when there, she is teamed up with Melissa McCarthy’s local Boston cop and these two could not be any more different.
One is super professional and the other, well the other is Melissa McCarthy! This in many ways is a very typical Melissa McCarthy kind of movie, but Sandra Bullock plays the straight man (well straight lady) against her zany antics very well and it makes for a super entertaining time.
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Number 7 – Lucy Eleanor Moderatz, While You Were Sleeping, 1995
The 90s was a time when most of us (especially those of us who were teenagers) fell in love with Sandra Bullock, and one of the most iconic roles of her rise to stardom was While You Were Sleeping.
This is a fun rom-com where America’s Sweetheart manages to end up in a complicated love life situation where people think she’s with this guy who is in a coma, only for her to fall for his brother all the while trying to keep up this charade. Yes the movie is ridiculous, but aren’t all the best romantic comedies? The charm that Sandra Bullock has in this role, along with her chemistry with Bill Pullman, make it one of the most charming romantic comedies of the 90s.
Number 6 – Lenina Huxley, Demolition Man, 1993
Some may raise their eyebrows about Demolition Man from 1993 being so high on this top 10 Sandra Bullock roles list, but this is a real personal favorite. Demolition Man was one of the last action movies that felt like it could have come out in the 80s!
1990s cop John Spartan, played by Sly Stallone, is on the hunt for psychotic criminal Simon Phoenix, played by Wesley Snipes. Well, this doesn’t go too well and both are cryogenically frozen. When they wake up in the future of 2032, John Spartan teams up with Sandra Bullock’s Lenina Huxley as he tries to come to terms with how different the future is, as he also tries to take down Phoenix once and for all. This is a great supporting role for Sandra Bullock and another one of her early 90s roles that led to her becoming the Hollywood A-lister she would become.
Number 5 – Ellen Roark, A Time To Kill, 1996
Much like in Demolition Man, Sandra Bullock provides a supporting role in 1996’s A Time To Kill, but she is a very important part of this movie. This is a brutal and hard-hitting movie that has an epic cast featuring Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Donald and Keifer Sutherland, and more.
It is a story about a man who kills the two men who raped his daughter, and Sandy B plays the role of a law student who is helping Matthew McConaughey’s Jake Brigance represent the man. To say that this movie is hard to sit through is an understatement, but this John Grisham story is one that well and truly sticks with you long after the credits have rolled. Sandra Bullock delivers a fantastic performance. The fact that she made the movie’s poster shows that by the time this came out in 1996, she was really starting to become a huge star.
Number 4 – Malorie Hayes, Bird Box, 2018
Bird Box was a huge hit for Netflix when it dropped. Based on a popular book, this movie delivers a fantastic performance by Sandra Bullock. Here she plays a mother called Malorie to two children, but there are these creatures that compel individuals to attack others and commit suicide! Mankind is on the brink and Malorie is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her kids safe, even if that means dragging them across the country to a supposed safe zone.
What makes this such a great performance is that Malorie is one tough and loving mother. The way she is so hard, sometimes even brutal, with her kids can be hard to watch, but despite her tone and the words she says, you know that they are coming from a place of love! You really get to see the intensity that Sandra Bullock can have in this role and it makes for one heck of a tense and exciting thriller.
Number 3 – Gracie Hart, Miss Congeniality, 2000
Miss Congeniality is one of those movies that is just an absolute barrel of fun to watch. Yes, the idea that a terrorist is going to bomb the Miss USA Pageant is ridiculous, as is the FBI sending in Sandra Bullock undercover as a contestant to try and stop it, but it works and works so well. You can tell that Sandra Bullock had an absolute blast playing the role of Gracie Hart.
She is an FBI agent who is a real tomboy, so the fact that she is the one picked to become a pageant contestant is hilarious, as are her less-than-lady-like mannerisms and the way she has to learn to become a beauty queen so she can fit in. This is a super fun time and a movie that has to be on any top 10 Sandra Bullock roles list. Also, the sequel, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous is not as good, but nowhere near as bad a trainwreck (like the one at the end of Speed) as many people make out.
Number 2 – Leigh Anne Tuohy, The Blind Side, 2009
Yikes, The Blind Side is a kind of hard movie to talk about. Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy ,so you have to say that this has to make any list of the best Sandra Bullock movies. However, so much has come out about the nature of this “true story” that it may make it a hard watch for people these days.
Still, there is no denying that her performance here as a woman who becomes the guardian for Michael Oher the eventual football superstar is wonderful. The performance of the whole cast does a wonderful job of getting you to buy into this story and feel every emotion.
Number 1 – Annie Porter, Speed, 1994
Ok, so the number one pick on this top ten Sandra Bullock roles list is 100 percent a personal one, but this is the movie that made me fall in love with Sandra Bullock. To start with, Speed is such a fun and exciting movie, you know the gist of it! A bus has been high jacked and only Keanu Reeves can save the day…. But that is not actually true!
It’s Annie Porter, played by Sandra Bullock, who really saves the day as it is her driving that keeps the bus going while Keanu Reeves can do his action star heroics. She is cute, she is funny, she is tough, and she is likable. It would be hard to argue that it was Speed in 1994 that really strapped a rocket to her back. Although the less said about Speed 2 the better, thank goodness that did not “derail” (get it, Speed ends on a train) her great career!