Sandra Bullock’s five best films: before Ocean’s 8 hits cinemas, catch up on her best performances
Over the last two decades, America’s sweetheart has made her mark on Hollywood. Whether she is starring in a comedy or a drama, Bullock has a unique ability to lift a film to new heights. Here are her top flicks
She has been dubbed “America’s sweetheart”, was at one time Hollywood’s highest-paid actress, and won an Oscar and a Razzie in the same weekend, but Sandra Bullock’s rise to the top has been steady and near faultless.
Since landing the lead in an ill-fated TV spin-off of Working Girl, Bullock quickly transitioned to the big screen, and by the mid-’90s had established herself as a bankable leading lady, who paired numerous romantic comedies with more serious dramatic roles.
Bullock’s effortlessly charming screen presence and unassuming beauty are often juxtaposed by the characters she plays: driven, awkward career women who are mocked and ostracised by those around her. And even when the films themselves prove less than stellar, she is almost always the best thing on screen.
This week sees the 53-year-old actress assemble a team of formidable females for the heist comedy spin-off Ocean’s 8. But before you catch it at the cinema, look back at Bullock’s five best performances.
5. Speed (1994)
Bullock first came to mainstream attention as Annie, the unwitting passenger of a Los Angeles public bus, which she is forced to steer through city traffic at breakneck speed, after Dennis Hopper plants a bomb on it.
While Keanu Reeves gets to work diffusing the device, it is Sandy’s affable, cool-under-pressure character who keeps proceedings on an even keel. Stealing audience’s hearts as readily as her co-star’s, Bullock became Hollywood’s hottest new ticket overnight, leaving a decade of obscurity firmly in the rear-view mirror.
4. Miss Congeniality (2000)
