If you love character actors who quietly steal every scene, Jonny Lee Miller is probably already on your radar. He’s the guy who made Trainspotting’s slick, blonde “Sick Boy” weirdly lovable, turned a 1990s hacker thriller into a cult classic, and convinced a lot of skeptical Sherlock fans that a tattooed, recovering-addict Holmes set in New York could actually work. In other words: he’s the definition of “underrated but unforgettable.”
In this guide to Jonny Lee Miller rankings and opinions, we’ll walk through his most celebrated performances, how critics and fans place them, and where the debates get heated. Think of it as a mix between a film-nerd list, a fan forum, and a friendly argument in the comments section after you’ve finished bingeing Elementary.
Who Is Jonny Lee Miller, Anyway?
Jonny Lee Miller was born in 1972 in Kingston upon Thames, England, into a showbiz family. His grandfather was Bernard Lee, who played M in the classic James Bond films, which is a pretty solid origin story for an actor who specializes in intense, slightly damaged men with a hidden heart.
He started acting as a kid on British television and broke out internationally in the mid-1990s with back-to-back cult hits: Hackers (1995), where he played prodigy hacker Dade “Zero Cool” Murphy, and Trainspotting (1996), where he became forever associated with the swaggering, morally flexible Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson. From there, his resume filled up with indie dramas, thrillers, period pieces, and eventually a big American TV lead as Sherlock Holmes in CBS’s Elementary.
He’s not always the flashiest name on the poster, but if you check critic scores, audience ratings, and fan polls, you’ll notice a pattern: when Jonny Lee Miller is in something, the quality tends to climb.
Ranked: Jonny Lee Miller’s Best Performances
Ranking actors is part science (box office, critic scores) and part chaos (nostalgia, Tumblr gifs, that one line delivery that lives in your head rent-free). Below is a blended list based on critical reception, fan rankings, and cultural impact.
1. Sherlock Holmes in Elementary (2012–2019)
When a US network announced its own modern Sherlock Holmes just as the BBC’s Sherlock was peaking, the reaction was… not polite. But over seven seasons, Elementary quietly became a character-driven procedural with a fiercely loyal fan base, largely because of Miller’s performance.
His Sherlock is jittery, hyper-verbal, tattooed, and in recovery from addiction. He weaponizes wit as self-defense, but Miller lets you see the vulnerability behind every sarcastic jab. Critics praised him for “disappearing into the role” and for building a Holmes who feels like a real person, not just a bundle of quirks in a coat.
In most fan rankings, Elementary sits near the top of his work, and it’s easy to see why: episode after episode, Miller carries a huge amount of emotional and narrative weight without making it look like a one-man show. His chemistry with Lucy Liu’s Joan Watsonequal partner, not sidekickonly strengthens that ranking.
2. Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson in Trainspotting & T2 Trainspotting
Trainspotting is the movie that turned a generation of film students into Ewan McGregor fans, but Sick Boy is the character who slinks off with the best lines. Miller’s slick, bleached-blond con man is equal parts charming and poisonous: always ready with a joke, a scheme, or a betrayal.
Critics still point to his work in the original filmand its 2017 sequel, T2 Trainspottingas some of his most electric acting. There’s a lived-in quality to Sick Boy; he’s not just a side character, he’s the ghost of everything Renton might become. The sequel lets Miller play the weight of time and regret, and he rises to it with a performance that’s both funny and quietly brutal.
On ranking lists that focus on his film work, the Trainspotting duology almost always lands in the top three.
3. Dade “Zero Cool” Murphy in Hackers (1995)
Is Hackers realistic? Absolutely not. Is it iconic? Completely. As the lead of this neon-drenched cyber-thriller, Miller plays a teenage hacker whose legendary status online clashes with his attempt to stay out of trouble IRL.
This role is beloved partly because it’s an early time capsule of both his talent and 1990s internet fantasyrollerblades, floppy disks, and Angelina Jolie in latex included. Over time, Hackers has climbed the cult ladder, and Miller’s performance is a big reason: he somehow sells techno-babble, teen angst, and romance while wearing an aggressively patterned shirt.
If you scroll through fan opinion threads, you’ll find people who proudly rank Hackers as their number one Jonny Lee Miller project simply because it introduced them to him and to the wild idea that computers could be “cool.”
4. Graeme Obree in The Flying Scotsman (2006)
Here, Miller trades hackers and heroin chic for a real-life Scottish cyclist who battled mental illness and institutional resistance while breaking world records on a home-built bike. It’s a quieter film than his better-known projects, but critics consistently single out his work as Obree as one of his most emotionally committed performances.
He captures both the obsessive tinkerer and the fragile human being behind the headlines, turning what could have been a conventional sports biopic into something intimate and affecting. On critic-driven rankings, this one tends to jump surprisingly highproof that Jonny Lee Miller is more than just genre fare.
5. Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park (1999)
Yes, Jonny Lee Miller has a proper Jane Austen credit, and yes, he looks exactly like someone who’s spent a lot of time brooding in drawing rooms. In Mansfield Park, he plays Edmund Bertram, the responsible, morally upright cousin and eventual love interest of Fanny Price.
The film takes some liberties with Austen’s text, but Miller’s performance grounds it. He plays Edmund as basically decent but not infallible, and his slow realization of Fanny’s worth feels genuinely earned. This role often ranks lower in fan “favorites” lists simply because it’s less flashy, but among Austen devotees and period-piece fans, it’s quietly beloved.
6. Jordan Chase in Dexter (Season 5)
Jumping into a hit show midstream is hard enough; jumping in as the main villain is even trickier. In season 5 of Dexter, Miller plays Jordan Chase, a motivational speaker with a dark, predatory secret. It’s one of his creepiest roles, and he nails the unsettling charm that makes the character so dangerous.
Fans of the series often rank Jordan Chase among the more memorable antagonists, precisely because Miller doesn’t play him as a cartoon monster. Instead, he oozes charisma and faux positivity, making the moments when his mask slips all the more disturbing.
7. John Major in The Crown (Season 5)
In Netflix’s royal drama The Crown, Miller takes on former British Prime Minister John Major during a turbulent era for the royal family and the UK government. It’s a deceptively tricky role: he has to embody a very recognizable public figure while fitting into a series known for its meticulous performances.
His John Major is soft-spoken but firm, visibly carrying the weight of political responsibility. Critics praised his ability to humanize a politician who, in real life, is often remembered more for grey suits than grand gestures. In terms of rankings, this performance usually sits mid-list, but among political-drama fans, it’s a standout late-career turn.
8. Other Notable Roles Worth Mentioning
- Afterglow (1997) – An intimate drama that showed early on he could handle complex emotional material.
- Melinda and Melinda (2004) – A Woody Allen film where he plays a writer caught up in romantic complications.
- Byzantium (2012) – A stylish vampire film in which he brings a dark, haunted quality to the screen.
- Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023) – A later-career supporting turn in a war thriller that reminded audiences he still brings gravitas and intensity whenever he appears.
Individually, these roles might not occupy the number-one slot on most lists, but collectively they show the range that fuels so many positive Jonny Lee Miller opinions.
What Do Critics And Fans Actually Say?
Critics’ reviews and fan discussions line up on one key point: Jonny Lee Miller is consistently better than the material he’s given. When a project is already strong, he elevates it. When it’s shaky, he’s often the main reason people stick around.
On user-review platforms, fans praise his ability to bring nervous energy, sharp timing, and emotional depth to roles that could easily become clichésaddicts, hackers, geniuses, villains. People also mention how he uses physicality: the restless pacing of Sherlock, the cocky slouch of Sick Boy, the hollow-eyed focus of Graeme Obree, the calculated stillness of Jordan Chase.
In online debates comparing him to other Sherlock actors, the consensus isn’t that one is “better”; it’s that Miller’s version feels more grounded in reality. His Holmes is less myth and more mana gifted, damaged person actively working on his recovery, not just a quirky brain in a great coat. That angle has earned him a particular corner of the fandom that will go to war for Elementary whenever it’s dismissed as “the American one.”
Is Jonny Lee Miller Underrated?
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: extremely yes.
If you look at box-office charts and awards chatter, his name doesn’t pop up as often as some of his peers. He’s rarely front and center in big studio marketing campaigns, and he tends to choose projects that are more character-focused than blockbuster-driven. Yet when you scan filmographies, critic lists, and TV rankings, he’s everywhere, quietly doing excellent work.
Part of the “underrated” label comes from timing. His early hits landed in the 1990s indie wave, when ensembles ruled and whole casts became iconic together. Later, he anchored a network series at a time when prestige TV buzz leaned heavily toward cable and streaming. As a result, his performances are beloved within specific fan circles, even if casual viewers sometimes need a reminder of just how much he’s done.
In many rankings and opinion pieces, writers talk about Miller as an actor’s actor: someone who makes smart choices, disappears into roles, and seems far more interested in the work than in celebrity. That may not dominate tabloid headlines, but it does create a long, solid trail of performances worth revisiting.
How To Build Your Own Jonny Lee Miller Ranking
Part of the fun of “rankings and opinions” is that they’re never truly finished. If you want to create your own Jonny Lee Miller rankingand maybe start an argument in the group chathere’s a simple roadmap:
- Start with the essentials. Watch (or rewatch) Trainspotting, Hackers, and at least a season or two of Elementary. That gives you his cult movie, his cult TV role, and his career-defining detective.
- Add one drama and one villain. Try The Flying Scotsman or Afterglow for drama, then jump to his villain work in Dexter or his darker roles in thrillers.
- Include something unexpected. Pick a period piece like Mansfield Park or a newer title like The Crown or The Covenant to see how he handles very different genres.
- Decide your ranking criteria. Are you judging based on his performance alone? Overall quality of the project? Rewatch factor? Vibes? (Vibes are a valid metric.) Be honest about what matters to you.
- Publish your hot takes. Write your own list, share it online, and prepare for fellow fans to tell you you’re wrongand then admit you might have a point.
In the end, any list of Jonny Lee Miller’s best work says as much about the viewer as it does about him. Are you a hacker-movie nostalgist, a crime-procedural completist, a British period-drama loyalist, or a sucker for morally ambiguous villains? Whatever your answer, there’s probably a Miller performance sitting at the top of your personal chart.
Fan-Style Experiences With Jonny Lee Miller’s Work
To really appreciate why fans rank Jonny Lee Miller the way they do, it helps to think through the experience of actually watching his performances over time. Imagine starting with Hackers as a teenager or young adult: the movie is loud, colorful, and gloriously over-the-top, but the thing that sticks is this intense, quick-witted guy whose eyes always seem two steps ahead of the plot. For a lot of viewers, that’s the first moment they mentally file his name away as “someone to watch.”
Fast forward a few years. You catch Trainspotting on late-night TV or stream it because everyone insists it’s a classic. There he is againnow bleached blonde, chain-smoking, and delivering cutting one-liners as Sick Boy. The character is funny, cruel, and heartbreakingly human, sometimes all in the same scene. It’s the kind of performance where viewers often realize that this isn’t just a “cool 90s guy”; this is a serious actor who understands how to layer charm over emptiness.
Then comes the long-haul experience of Elementary. Binge-watching that show feels different from catching him in a single movie. Over multiple seasons, you watch his Sherlock relapse and recover, open up and shut down, form and test his bond with Joan Watson. Fans talk about noticing tiny details: the way he fiddles with objects when he’s thinking, the sudden stillness when he’s emotionally cornered, the raspy crack in his voice when Sherlock is trying not to fall apart. Those small choices are what turn casual viewers into dedicated defenders of “Jonny Lee Miller is my favorite Sherlock, actually.”
If you keep following his work, you get to experience the pleasure of spotting him in unexpected places. Maybe you recognize him mid-episode in Dexter and feel a tiny thrill when you realize he’s playing the season’s big bad. Maybe you’re halfway through an episode of The Crown before it hits you that the quietly serious John Major is also Sick Boy from Trainspotting. That’s part of the joy: Miller has enough range that you don’t always clock him right away, and when you do, it adds an extra layer of appreciation.
For many fans, ranking Jonny Lee Miller’s performances becomes a kind of personal timeline. The early movies might remind them of discovering edgy 90s cinema; Elementary might be tied to a period when they needed a comfort show that balanced mystery with emotional honesty. His work becomes associated with different stages of their own lives, which is why arguments over whether Hackers should outrank Trainspotting get surprisingly passionate.
There’s also the experience of rewatching his performances with fresh eyes. Returning to Trainspotting after seeing T2, for example, changes how many viewers interpret Sick Boy: what once looked like cocky invincibility now reads as self-protective bravado. Watching the early seasons of Elementary after finishing the series makes the character arc feel richer; you can see all the groundwork he was laying in the small, throwaway moments.
All of this helps explain why Jonny Lee Miller rankings and opinions are so variedand why they’re so much fun to discuss. People aren’t just evaluating performances in a vacuum; they’re responding to how those performances made them feel at specific points in their lives. That’s the real mark of a strong actor: not just that he’s technically good, but that his work becomes part of the emotional wallpaper of your own story.
If you haven’t done it yet, consider building your own mini marathon: Hackers, Trainspotting, a few key Elementary episodes, a dip into Dexter or The Crown, and something quieter like The Flying Scotsman. By the time you’re done, you’ll probably have your own fiercely held listand you might find yourself joining the chorus of fans asking why Jonny Lee Miller isn’t talked about a lot more than he is.
Conclusion: The Case For Ranking Jonny Lee Miller High
Jonny Lee Miller may not dominate awards shows or blockbuster headlines, but his filmography reads like a map of memorable characters: hackers, addicts, detectives, prime ministers, villains, and everyday people just trying to keep going. His range, consistency, and ability to find the human core in every role have earned him a devoted following and a strong presence in fan-made rankings and opinion pieces.
Whether your personal number one is Sick Boy, Zero Cool, Sherlock Holmes, or some deep-cut indie favorite, one thing is clear: once you start paying attention to Jonny Lee Miller, it’s hard to stop seeing just how much he brings to everything he touches. And that, more than any single ranking, is the strongest argument for calling him one of the most quietly impressive actors of his generation.