Christine Baranski is a rare acting talent who can transcend any genre. She is one of the few actors who have been nominated for Comedy and Drama Emmys in the same year.
Baranski’s filmography is incredibly diverse, from Christmas classics to Oscar-winning films to pure popcorn musicals. However, Baranski’s best work has always been on television, a medium where she has been consistently working for almost 50 years. If you’re a fan of her in The Gilded Age, you’ll love Baranski in her underrated legal drama.
Whether she is a leading role or a supporting player, Baranski elevates every project she’s in. Here are Christine Baranski’s 8 best movies and TV shows.
8
Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2 (2025)
Victoria
Christine Baranski brings icy composure and sharp wit to the Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 cast as Victoria, a high-powered CEO who arrives at the remote wellness retreat to recalibrate after a personal and professional crisis. The show is Hulu’s answer to The White Lotus, an anthology about privileged strangers seeking transformation in an expensive, vaguely ominous setting.
Season 2 wasn’t considered as even as Nine Perfect Strangers season 1, but Baranski elevated the material. She plays Victoria as someone who initially treats the retreat like another corporate acquisition to control, but as the psychological games intensify and the group unravels, cracks begin to show beneath her perfectly tailored armor.
The show is a psychological wellness thriller with dark comedy mixed in, letting Baranski toggle between icy satire and genuine vulnerability in a way few actors can manage.
7
The Big Bang Theory (2009-2019)
Dr. Beverly Hofstader
Baranski recurs on The Big Bang Theory as Dr. Beverly Hofstader, Leonard’s mother and a renowned neuroscientist whose brilliance is matched only by her emotional detachment. She’s one of The Big Bang Theory‘s best side characters, and her presence has an outsized impact.
Beverly’s cold, clinical manner naturally clicks with Sheldon, who delights in her logic and total lack of sentiment, while it alienates Leonard. Leonard and Beverly finally mending their relationship was one of the most emotional moments in The Big Bang Theory.
Baranski is best known for serious dramas, so it’s a delight to see her show off her comedic chops. She delivers laugh after laugh through deadpan line execution, rigid posture, and immaculate timing, proving that comedy can be just as sharp as prestige drama.
6
Cruel Intentions (1999)
Bunny Caldwell
Cruel Intentions occupies a fascinating genre intersection. It’s raunchy and transgressive in a way teen movies usually aren’t, yet it’s based on an 18th-century French novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, one of literature’s great works of aristocratic cruelty. That contrast gives the film its strange electricity: prep school debauchery framed like a period melodrama, but with late-’90s pop culture swagger.
The young cast of Cruel Intentions, which includes Sarah Michelle Gellar, Selma Blair, and Reese Witherspoon, became immortalized for their dangerously charismatic performances, but the movie wouldn’t have landed without the older established actors grounding it. Christine Baranski’s role as Bunny Caldwell is crucial in that respect.
Baranski plays the icy, status-obsessed Manhattan matriarch with cutting precision, embodying the high-society hypocrisy that the story thrives on. Her presence adds weight, sophistication, and an adult menace that makes the teen scheming feel sharper, funnier, and more rooted in the novel’s class satire.
5
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Martha May Whovier
Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas became a rare instant classic, staying faithful to Dr. Seuss’s whimsical spirit while giving the story enough human dimension to play as a real holiday movie.
Jim Carrey’s commitment to the title role is unmatched. Carrey spent hours each day just to get the Grinch prosthetics on before filming, then delivered a performance that’s both elastic and oddly vulnerable.
But the supporting cast is what keeps the film from feeling like a one-man show. Jeffrey Tambor leans into the corrupt pomposity of Augustus MayWho, and Christine Baranski anchors The Grinch’s love triangle as Martha May Whovier.
The key to Baranski’s performance is that she plays it straight; there’s no winking at the camera, just earnest affection and glamour amid the absurdity. That seriousness, combined with the film’s emotional beats, helps the zany humor land and gives the story staying power.
4
Chicago (2002)
Mary Sunshine
Chicago was the last musical to win Best Picture, and that was over 20 years ago. The film preserves the stage show’s dark themes of corruption, celebrity culture, and moral rot, but adds a level of cinematic production value no theater can match.
The editing is razor sharp, the musical numbers are lavish, and the whole thing feels like a Jazz Age fever dream. Baranski appears as Mary Sunshine, the sensationalist and gullible reporter who helps turn murderers into media darlings.
It’s a reduced role from the stage version, but Baranski makes every moment count with her trademark precision. Without Chicago, it’s hard to imagine her being cast in Mamma Mia, which would be a genuine tragedy, and seeing her command period costuming here almost certainly helped her book The Gilded Age.
3
Mamma Mia! (2008)
Tanya Chesham-Leigh
Mamma Mia! is a joyful celebration that, like pointillist paintings, works best viewed from afar without a critical eye. The plot is nonsense, but it works if you’re just there to soak in the postcard-perfect Greek setting, ABBA’s undeniable hits, and the easy chemistry of the Mamma Mia! cast.
While romantic entanglements fuel the story, it’s Meryl Streep’s dynamic with old friends Tanya (Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters) that really sings. Older female friendships aren’t often celebrated on-screen, but their comforting Donna during “Chiquitita” is one of the most tender moments in the movie.
Baranski’s Tanya, a thrice-divorced hedonist, steals scenes with martini-dry delivery and unapologetic glamour. Her gender-bent “Does Your Mother Know?” is one of the most underrated musical numbers in Mamma Mia, a perfect encapsulation of the movie’s cheeky, carefree spirit.
2
The Gilded Age (2022-Present)
Agnes van Rhijn
The Gilded Age has been a quiet success for HBO, filling the prestige period drama slot with all the ornate production design and social maneuvering viewers crave. Set in 1880s New York during a time of explosive wealth and seismic class shifts, the series thrives on the tension between old money and new.
The show pairs ballroom splendor with sharp commentary about power, charity, and survival. Baranski plays Agnes van Rhijin, the imperious widow who represents the old guard, with cutting intelligence and bone-dry humor, with Agnes’ best quotes turning into either a dagger or a punchline (sometimes both).
She’s formidable, proud, and deeply resistant to change, yet never one-dimensional. Baranski shows the vulnerability and fear beneath the hauteur. It’s a role perfectly suited to her talents, earning her an Emmy nomination in 2024.
1
The Good Fight (2017-2022)
Diane Lockhart
The Good Fight is a spinoff and standalone sequel to The Good Wife, following Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) as she rebuilds her life and career after an enormous financial scam destroys both her savings and the reputation of her goddaughter, Maia (Rose Leslie). Forced to start over, Diane and Maia join a prestigious Chicago law firm.
There, they navigate high-stakes cases and office politics with intelligence, humor, and moral complexity. The show distinguishes itself by tackling contemporary social and political issues head-on, from the #MeToo movement to the rise of fake news, all while retaining sharp legal drama.
Baranski’s Diane is one of the best female lawyers on TV, the emotional and intellectual center of the show. She is a force of experience and pragmatism who still surprises with flashes of vulnerability and humor. Diane’s commanding presence elevates the ensemble and allows the series to explore weighty topics without losing energy or wit, making it Christine Baranski’s best role.
