We deep down into the actress’s career and compile the Best Mila Kunis Film and TV roles of All Time.
Mila Kunis has had a sparkling career in Hollywood for the past two decades. A staple in sitcoms, blockbuster comedies, and a couple of well-received dramatic turns, there is hardly a role this versatile talent cannot knock out of the park. And with her film Luckiest Girl Alive streaming on Netflix, this may be her best role to date. In honor of that achievement, let’s look back at some of the absolute best roles of her career.
And no, we did not include the roles as two different characters in Baywatch, her brief turn in the Tony Danza sitcom Hudson Street, the firecracker Pepper in Walker, Texas Ranger, or the jaded girl in the Aerosmith music video, Jaded. We apologize. There is no accounting for taste.
Best Mila Kunis Film and TV Roles of All Time
Amy Mitchell in Bad Moms (2016)
A breakout ensemble comedy, Kunis proved her bankability as the lead in one of 2016’s biggest hits. She plays Amy in Bad Moms, a mother with a sparkling record as a parent. Even though she has a high-priced job, she still manages to do all the child-rearing and be part of the PTA. That’s until Amy catches her lazy and entitled husband cheating on her. Also starring Kristen Bell and a hilarious Kathryn Hahn, Bad Moms proved Kunis can lead a comedy with more gusto than most of her male counterparts.
Ani/TifAni in Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)
Visceral while also empowering, Luckiest Girl Alive holds the viewer’s attention with an absorbing mystery and moments of sobering reality. As much as we see Kunis’s character as a tragic story, her behaviors are becoming self-destructive in her life. Ani’s perfected persona (tough, cool, and cynical) is her cover and shield for her past trauma. Her constant thoughts, feelings, and wants are cloaked by it. Kunis’s slow descent from numbing pain to acutely unguarded self-awareness is subtle but transfixing.
Cindy Slade in Extract (2009)
An underrated and unseen gem from Mike Judge, Kunis plays Cindy Slade in Extract. A free spirit has caught the eye of Jason Bateman as he mistakes the con artist’s manipulation of his as a genuine attraction. This was a different role for Kunis in a film that never goes how you think it will.
Jackie Burkhart in That ’70s Show (1998 to 2006)
The role that made Mila Kunis a television star is Jacki Burkhart in That ’70s Show. A spoiled, naive, sometimes bratty teenager. At first, Kunis plays Jackie in a way that is a cliche of many characters we have seen before. However, as the series progresses, her character becomes three-dimensional. This is credited to the young actress who began to show her true range and untapped potential.
Lori Collins in Ted (2012)
Mila Kunis’s comedy streak continues with Ted, and her professional relationship with Seth McFarlane continues to reap the rewards. She plays Lori Collins in a role where she questions her relationship with her boyfriend, John (Mark Wahlberg), because of his relationship with his childhood teddy bear. No, this isn’t a Prince Andrew biopic; it’s a hilarious, raunchy, gut-busting comedy that satires that classic genre known as “Stories about Man-Babies”. I just wish Kunis would have reprised her role in the sequel, a film I think was even stronger than the first.
Lily/Black Swan/Odile in Black Swan (2010)
Perhaps Mila Kunis’s finest performance. Black Swan didn’t make her a household name. That was Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Darren Aronofsky’s unnerving, visceral, and weirdly addictive psychological ride is a showcase for Portman, but Kunis’s criminally underrated turn rivals and sparks Portman’s performance to new heights.
Meg Griffin in Family Guy (2001 to present)
Described by the star as the “scapegoat” of the family, you can’t include any list of Mila Kunis’s greatest roles without the most beloved, insecure, sensitive, and whiney teenagers in television history. Kunis began voicing Megan Harvey Oswald Griffin or “Meg” in Season 2 of Family Guy, bumping Lacey Chabert out in the process. Creator Seth McFarlane noted he cast Kunis because “She had a very natural quality to Meg that made what we did with that character kind of really work.” Her voice works earned her an Annie Award 2007 nomination for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production.
Molly in Four Good Days (2020)
A film hardly seen and tossed aside during theatres just opening back up during the pandemic. Four Good Days deserves to be streamed. Rodrigo García and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eli Saslow’s script intelligently treats addiction. Even if the ending pulls the ripcord on a more daring finish, the film has two strong performances, including Kunis. Outside of Black Swan, she has never been better.
Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2009)
In the film that made Mila Kunis a household name in comedy films, she plays Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a woman working the front desk of a ritzy Hawaiian hotel who runs into a man obsessed with vampire puppets. His name is Peter Bretter (played by Jason Segel), and television star Sarah Marshall has just dumped the tall, goofy, and unathletic composer. How else do you get over someone like that? By romancing the sexy, bright, and fiercely independent Rachel, whose vivacious free spirit is impossible to ignore. You simply cannot get enough of Kunis in this role.
Theodora in Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
This L. Frank Baum-inspired outing has its supporters (primarily because Sam Rami directed this film), and this turn by Kunis is significant to her career. She plays Theodora in Oz the Great and Powerful before she turns into the Wicked Witch of the West. This is a surprisingly meaty role, as Kunis’s character initially is the one with commonsense and a heart of gold before she turns into a villain and descends into madness.
And there we have it – the Best Mila Kunis Film and TV Roles of All Time! Do you have other recommendations for Mila Kunis? Comment below!
