Purple Hearts and the 8 best Nicholas Galitzine movies and shows, ranked

In the past few years, Nicholas Galitzine has risen to fame as one of the most talented and sought after actors in Hollywood. He has shared the screen with legends like Julianne Moore and Anne Hathaway, starred in an insanely popular queer page-to-screen adaptation, co-headlined one of Netflix's most popular movies, and played a lot of princes.

Since getting his start as an actor in 2014, Galitzine hit the ground running with each new project being more well-received than the last. In 2023 alone, he starred in the two fan-favorite movies Red, White & Royal Blue and Bottoms after enjoying a breakout moment in Purple Hearts. As a victory lap, he followed those up with roles opposite the aforementioned Moore and Hathaway.

To be a little biased, who's doing it like Nicholas Galitzine? Personally, he has become my favorite actor. The way he's able to shapeshift so seamlessly from a troubled conservative marine to a repressed gay prince to a dimwitted jock to a hyper-sexualized duke to an international pop star shows his versatility and range. It's the nature of the job, and he does it so well.

But which of his movies and shows are the best of the best? So far, he's accumulated 17 professional acting credits in film and television, and I've taken it upon myself to rank eight of his best onscreen performances. Let's get this started below with his two Netflix titles and work our way to the holy trinity of Nicholas Galitzine performances... so far!

8. Chambers

• Release Year: 2019
• Created By: Leah Rachel
• Cast: Sivan Alyra Rose, Marcus LaVoi, Nicholas Galitzine, Kyanna Simone Simpson, Griffin Powell-Arcand, Lilli Kay, Sarah Mezzanotte, Tony Goldwyn, Uma Thurman
• Where to watch: Netflix

Before making waves in Purple Hearts, Galitzine made his Netflix debut in the streamer's unfortunately short-lived original supernatural horror series Chambers. He played Elliot Lefevre, who was struggling with drug addiction. Elliot was the twin brother of Becky, the girl whose heart was given to Sasha Yazzie. Sasha's spirit haunts Becky as she experiences strange visions that lead to the unraveling of a conspiracy surrounding Sasha's death.

Chambers was released in April 2019 and, while the series had names like Uma Thurman and Tony Goldwyn attached in the main cast, it struggled to connect with a wider audience. It's a shame it wasn't released one year later, when it could have had the potential to become a runaway hit. However, the series earned middling reception and a cancellation on a cliffhanger. Of course, Galitzine was great in his role as Elliot, though the supporting role was just a taste of what he could do.

7. Purple Hearts

• Release Year: 2022
• Directed By: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
• Cast: Sofia Carson, Nicholas Galitzine, Chosen Jacobs, John Harlan Kim, Kat Cunning, Linden Ashby
• Where to watch: Netflix

First and foremost, I know there will be a lot of Purple Hearts fans furious over the Netflix romantic drama film's low placement. But our guy just has too many great performances that it needed to place somewhere, you know? In the movie, which is based on the book of the same name by Tess Wakefield, Galitzine plays an injured marine who marries his political opposite on the basis of cashing in on military benefits in order to pay off some debts. Cassie (Sofia Carson) also gets a kick back on the benefits.

When Purple Hearts premiered in 2022, the movie received a lot of criticism from viewers and critics alike who felt the political (or potentially apolitical?) messaging was muddled by the romance. A lot of the hateful comments from Galitzine's character Luke weren't necessarily addressed as much as they were forgiven by Cassie when they fall in love. Regardless of the polarizing themes, Galitzine knocks the role out of the park. It's a complete 180 from who he is as a person and he turns Luke into someone who isn't completely hateable. That hinges on his own likability.

6. Cinderella

• Release Year: 2021
• Directed By: Kay Cannon
• Cast: Camila Cabello, Nicholas Galitzine, Idina Menzel, Minnie Driver, Billy Porter, Pierce Brosnan
• Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

The first time Nicholas Galitzine played a prince was in the 2021 musical adaptation of Cinderella opposite singer Camila Cabello. A singer himself, Galitzine also got to show off his vocals in the role of Prince Robert, singing covers of songs by Queen, The White Stripes, and Ed Sheeran. Although the movie tells the classic tale of Cinderella, as a juxebox musical, the film used modern songs to incorporate into the various musical numbers.

Even though Cinderella was met with mostly negative reviews from critics, holding a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's a thoroughly entertaining reimagining of a story we have seen onscreen so many times. It's fun and colorful and engaging in all aspects, including the performances of its cast. Galitzine more than proved his charisma and range in this role, taking on musical numbers and subtle comedy along with being an ever dashing Prince Charming.

5. Handsome Devil

• Release Year: 2016
• Directed By: John Butler
• Cast: Finn O'Shea, Nicholas Galitzine, Andrew Scott
• Where to watch: Peacock

Perhaps his true breakthrough performance that took his career to the next level, Galitzine starred in the Irish comedy-drama film Handsome Devil in 2016. He played Conor Masters, a gay rugby player at an elite boys boarding school who experiences homophobic bullying. Between Conor's friendship with Ned and the themes explored in the movie, it's one of Galitzine's strongest and most inspiring performances to date. If you haven't watched Handsome Devil yet, I highly recommend giving it a watch while it's available to stream on Peacock.

4. The Beat Beneath My Feet

• Release Year: 2014
• Directed By: John Williams
• Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Luke Perry, Lisa Dillon
• Where to watch: Peacock

It's pretty rare that your first movie role ever is a leading role, and it's even more rare that it's opposite someone like Luke Perry. In 2014, Galitzine landed his first acting role in the comedy-drama film The Beat Beneath My Feet as teenager Tom Heath, who just wants to learn how to play the guitar. He secretly learns to play from his neighbor, a former rock star played by Luke Perry. Again, it's another inspiring and effecting title in Galitzine's filmography, but it's truly heightened by his endearing performance as the sweet and lovable Tom. I mean, look at little Nick in his glasses! You just want to protect him at all cost from his bullies at school.

3. Bottoms

• Release Year: 2023
• Directed By: Emma Seligman
• Cast: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Ruby Cruz, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Miles Fowler, Dagmara Domińczyk, Marshawn Lynch
• Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Just a couple weeks after audiences watched him play a posh (spare) heir to the British throne in Red, White & Royal Blue, Galitzine showed a completely different side of his acting chops in the teen comedy Bottoms. In the hilarious new-classic coming-of-age movie, he plays the all-American himbo jock Jeff. He's a self-centered, overly emotional, two-timing caricature of the usual star athlete we've seen in '90s teen movies, but Galitzine again finds a way to still somehow make Jeff oddly likable. The scene where Josie drives into Jeff will have you laugh-crying, and it's all because Galitzine is so game to be pitch perfectly over-the-top in his comedic performance.

2. Red, White & Royal Blue

• Release Year: 2023
• Directed By: Matthew López
• Cast: Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine, Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Stepher Fry, Uma Thurman
• Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

It's so hard not to rank Red, White & Royal Blue in the top spot because it's quickly become one of my all-time favorite movies. If you love the book by Casey McQuiston, then the movie adaptation holds an incredibly special place in your heart because writer-director Matthew López took such care with bringing the story to life, and Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine are the ultimate Alex and Henry. Like, López shook the book and Zakhar Perez and Galitzine tumbled right out.

Red, White & Royal Blue has such a specific tone as a romantic comedy, balancing its fast-paced quippy dialogue with honest moments that grapple with the queer experience. While it might be on a much larger scale since it's dealing with the president's son and a prince, the core values of queer joy, queer love, and queer identity are universal. As Prince Henry, Galitzine sinks into the character's tangible anxieties with a nuanced subtly that's simply a pleasure to watch. And rewatch. And rewatch again. Seriously, where's the sequel?!

1. Mary & George

• Release Year: 2024
• Created By: D. C. Moore
• Cast: Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine, Tony Curran, Laurie Davidson, Trine Dyrholm, Nicola Walker
• Where to watch: Starz

And that brings us to Galitzine's most recent project Mary & George, the period drama limited series also starring Academy Award winner Julianne Moore. The seven-episode series premiered in the UK in March 2024 ahead of its stateside release in April and earned immediate praise from Galitzine's fans online. He plays the titular George Villiers, who's tasked by his mother Mary (Moore) to use his sexuality to seduce the king and increase their social power.

Before the series even premiered, I had admittedly been starting Galitzine's Emmy campaign, and now that's it's premiered, the campaign is in full force. He's the best he's ever been in this role, which somehow expertly mixes together pieces of many of his past roles to create a version of this character that's dynamic. And to act opposite an Oscar winner and hold his own makes this one a real career-defining must-watch. Mary & George ensures we'll be seeing much, much more of him in high-profile roles to come, and I can't wait to see what he does next.

(Don't worry, I didn't forget about The Idea of You. The upcoming movie will be added to this ranking after its release on Amazon Prime Video on May 2.)

More Nicholas Galitzine movies:

• High Strung (2016)
• The Watcher in the Woods (2017)
• The Changeover (2017)
• Share (2019)
• The Craft: Legacy (2020)