Greta Lee

In Past Lives (2023), Greta Lee lets Nora be pleased and irritated in the same shot, without making a display of either feeling. We were moved by how plainly both remain visible; Lee never makes Nora easier to like by smoothing away her discomfort. That is where we rate her most highly: given time to listen, and trusted not to explain everything she feels.

Her early screen work was largely in supporting comedy parts, often as the eccentric or the entitled woman. As Maxine in Russian Doll (2019–2022), she became more widely noticed for her comic timing. Stella Bak, the network executive in The Morning Show (2021–2025), gave her another substantial television role. Past Lives was her first major lead, with a performance in English and Korean. We could watch her for longer without needing her to become more demonstrative.

Celine Song's direction gives that restraint practical help. Shabier Kirchner holds a wide shot as the children take separate routes home, trusting a small action to carry the feeling. Grace Yun's book-filled flat makes the adults' proximity difficult to ignore, and Lee needs no large gesture to register discomfort. Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear's few notes of piano and guitar leave the actors space. There are limits to this patience: the run of video calls, cut by Keith Fraase, becomes repetitive enough that we begin waiting for the film to move on.

Joachim Rønning's TRON: Ares (2025) gives her less rewarding work as Eve Kim: reacting, explaining and running. She provides urgency where Jared Leto's Ares offers little, but we cannot recommend the film on her efforts alone. In Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite (2025), her analyst Ana Park gets more from a phone line than Noah Oppenheim's script has supplied. We recommend it, though the repeated structure wears down its tension. For the fullest use of her, start with Past Lives.