Patricia Arquette’s best performances come in the form of movies, limited series, and TV series. Her awards shelf includes an Oscar-winning performance for her role in the 2015 coming ofage film Boyhood, and two Primetime Emmy wins and nominations for her work in TV series like The Act, Escape to Dannemora, and Medium. In The Act, alongside co-star Joey King, the pair of leading ladies both earned at least an Emmy nomination for their roles.

Arquette’s most recent role comes from the new AppleTV+ show Severance, which just finished its first season. The show, for which we predict Emmy nominations, was recently greenlit for a second season and features Arquette in a villain role. Here are Patricia Arquette’s seven best performances, ranked.

7 Lost Highway

In David Lynch's mystery-thriller Lost Highway, Arquette plays Renee Madison, the murdered wife of saxophone player Fred Madison, played by Bill Pullman. Mysterious videotapes have begun to surface of the couple while they were in their own home. As more of the tapes are dropped off, the couple's fights turn deadly. Fred is convicted of murder, but while on death row, he begins to hallucinate as a young mechanic leading a different life. Fred wakes up in his prison cell as Pete and is released, only to find out the worst is yet to come.

Lost Highway is a classic neo-noir that gained a cult following years after its release. The initial reaction to the film was positive, but it wasn't until later that viewers and critics alike began to praise the film. Film scholars have also pursued an interest in studying the classic film.

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6 Escape at Dannemora

Perhaps one of the most underrated limited series of all time, Escape at Dannemora showed a completely different side of Arquette. Her character, Tilly Mitchell, was almost hard to watch on screen as she is an intensely complex character. The premise of the show centers around Tilly and the love triangle between herself and two of the inmates. It's this love obsession that results in her helping two inmates escape.

Escape at Dannemora was based on a true story and is arguably one of Ben Stiller's best series to date. Stiller and his screenwriters had to take some liberties on the story as the prison did not release much of the actual escape to the public. Regardless, the series was nominated for 12 Primetime Emmys, including one for Arquette's performance.

5 Medium

Arguably one of Arquette's most notable, or at least longest-standing, performances was her role as Allison DuBois in Medium. The NBC hit TV series ran for seven seasons from 2005 to 2011 and is still being talked about a decade later. The premise of the show centered around suburban mom Allison, whose psychic powers helped her solve crimes.

Medium itself was loosely based on the real-life Allison DuBois who was a research medium. The show used her hardships to make a successful TV series. Throughout the series, Arquette, as Allison, had to manage the non-believers both in her professional and personal life. Arquette was nominated three times for a Primetime Emmy, winning one.

4 True Romance

The 1993 crime-drama True Romance, written by Quentin Tarantino, paints a young Arquette in a revolutionary role. Arquette plays Alabama Whitman, a call-girl who gets Clarence Worley, played by Christian Slater, mixed up in business with her pimp. She was hired to spend the night with him only to have fallen for him. The two get married, which ends with Clarence killing the pimp. In part two of the film, a mistaken suitcase mixes the newlyweds up with the mafia.

True Romance is one of Arquette's early films. She had been seen in roles since 1987, but 1993 was a pivotal year for the actress. Though the film did not win many awards, it did help bring the actress' talent to light and pave the way for later projects, including a jampacked rest of the 90s.

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3 Severance

Severance is one of AppleTV+'s newest sci-fi dramas. During its successful first season, Arquette plays a villain named Harmony Cobel. Her character is the cold-hearted boss who is secretly masquerading as Mark's next-door neighbor, Mrs. Selvig. Mark, played by Adam Scott, is a Lumon Industries employee who agreed to go undergo the severance program, where his work memories are permanently separated from his non-work memories. As the show goes on, it becomes clear to Mark that not all is as it seems with Lumon Industries.

Severance is expected to receive a few Primetime Emmy nominations, per Gold Derby, including one for Arquette. To portray Harmony, Arquette had to channel an unsympathetic personality of a seemingly stoic character. While the actress admitted this was hard to convey, fans of the show seem to have thought she did an Emmy-worthy job.

2 Boyhood

The 2015 film Boyhood is often regarded as one of the most moving films of its kind. Its plot is simple in that it follows a young boy named Mason from childhood to college. The film covers many rocky subjects throughout Mason's life. Viewers watch Mason grow up with divorced parents, learn how to deal with a bratty sister, and how find his own artistic voice. The touching film sheds light on these subjects as well as stepparents, school life, and love.

In the film, Arquette plays Mason's mother, Olivia, as she learns how to raise two children as a divorcee. The film received many accolades including an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Arquette, as well as five additional Oscar nominations including Best Motion Picture of the Year. Arquette also won a SAG Award, a BAFTA Film Award, and even a Golden Globe for her performance in the film.

1 The Act

In Hulu's 2019 limited series, The Act, we see a dramatized version of one of the most shocking stories of the last few years. The series follows the real story of De De Blanchard, played by Arquette, and her daughter Gypsy, played by Joey King. In 2015, Gypsy and her boyfriend enact revenge on Gypsy's mother after Gypsy realized her mother was intentionally keeping her sick and locked in the house. Her mother suffered from Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, a psychological disease where the caretaker of a child makes up fake symptoms or causes real ones that end up hurting the child.

In this limited series, both King and Arquette portrayed their real-life counterparts in a compelling yet creepy way. Arquette went on to win a Primetime Emmy for her role as De De, marking the show's only Emmy win, though King was also awarded a nomination.