Austin Abrams has spent more than a decade building one of the most interesting profiles in his generation of young actors. He got his start playing awkward teenagers and background troublemakers, then slowly worked his way into leading man territory without ever losing the offbeat energy that made him stand out in the first place. Along the way, he built a body of work that mixes horror, comedy, and coming-of-age drama in a way few actors his age can match.
This range is on full display as he heads into his biggest role yet, leading Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil reboot. Directors continue trusting him with increasingly challenging material because of his natural screen presence and emotional range. Even when surrounded by established stars, he often finds a way to stand out. His body of work is filled with performances that deserve another look. Here’s a ranking of Austin Abrams’ ten best movie and TV roles.
10. Ben Starling in Paper Towns (2015)
Adapted from John Green‘s bestselling novel, Paper Towns gave Austin Abrams a key supporting role as Ben Starling, one of the protagonist’s closest friends on a cross-country road trip. The film leaned on its young cast to carry both the comedic and emotional beats of the story, and Abrams brought a scrappy, quotable energy that made him one of the more memorable parts of the ensemble. It remains one of the better-known titles on his early resume.
9. Kid in Wolfs (2024)
Sharing the screen with George Clooney and Brad Pitt is no easy task, but Austin Abrams more than holds his own in Wolfs. Cast as the mysterious Kid, he becomes the catalyst for much of the film’s chaos. His nervous energy, quick wit, and emotional vulnerability provide the perfect contrast to the effortless confidence of the movie’s veteran stars.
8. Gettys O’Brien in The Line (2023)
In this fraternity drama, Austin Abrams plays Gettys O’Brien, a role that earned him the Rising Star Award at the Sarasota Film Festival. The part let him dig into darker, more morally complicated territory than much of his earlier work, exploring the toxic loyalty and hazing culture within a college fraternity. It’s one of his more acclaimed dramatic performances and a sign of the heavier material he’d go on to take.
7. Troy Sloan in Brad’s Status (2017)
Starring opposite Ben Stiller in Mike White‘s comedy-drama Brad’s Status, Austin Abrams played Troy Sloan, a college-bound teenager whose father quietly unravels with envy over his own unmet ambitions throughout the film. The role gave Abrams a chance to work in a more restrained, adult-driven story. His grounded performance as the emotional anchor of the father-son relationship helped the film premiere to strong reviews out of the Toronto International Film Festival.
6. Dash in Dash & Lily (2020)
Austin Abrams took the lead in this Netflix holiday romance series, Dash & Lily, playing a bookish teenager who strikes up a long-distance connection through a shared notebook left in a bookstore. Carrying a series as its central romantic lead was new territory for him at the time, and he handled it with a quiet charm that helped the show find a genuine following. It remains one of his most purely likable performances. Sadly, despite having a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, the show was cancelled after the first season.
5. Henry Page in Chemical Hearts (2020)
This coming-of-age drama, based on the novel Our Chemical Hearts, gave Abrams his first true leading film role. Starring opposite Lili Reinhart, he played a high schooler navigating first love and grief with a level of vulnerability that felt more grounded than most teen romance leads. The performance marked a turning point in his career, proving he could anchor a film’s emotional core rather than simply support someone else’s story.
4. Ethan Daley in Euphoria (2019–2022)
Austin Abrams’ recurring role in Euphoria gave him one of the most talked-about performances of his career. Playing a classmate entangled in the show’s central friend group, he brought an unpredictable, sometimes unsettling energy to a series already known for pushing boundaries. A handful of his scenes became instantly memorable moments in the show’s cultural conversation, and the part introduced him to a massive new audience that carried over into his later film work.
3. Jay Gardiner in Whalefall (2026)
In this survival thriller from director Brian Duffield, Austin Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, a young diver searching off the California coast for his late father’s (Josh Brolin) remains when he is swallowed whole by a massive sperm whale. With only an hour of oxygen and no training to fall back on, Jay has to work through both a physical fight for survival and unresolved grief over his father. It’s an almost entirely solo, physically demanding performance, and Abrams delivers remarkably.
2. James in Weapons
Austin Abrams’ first collaboration with director Zach Cregger produced one of the most acclaimed horror films of recent years. In turn, it became one of the best performances of his career so far. Playing James within Cregger’s meticulously constructed mystery, Abrams delivered a performance that critics and audiences alike praised for its unpredictability. Undoubtedly, his performance, albeit in a supporting role, reportedly helped convince Cregger to cast him as the lead in Resident Evil.
1. Bryan in Resident Evil (2026)
Austin Abrams steps into his biggest leading role yet in Zach Cregger’s reimagining of the iconic video game franchise. He plays Bryan, a medical courier with no combat experience who gets pulled into a nightmarish outbreak while making a delivery to a hospital in Raccoon City. Set alongside the events of the classic Resident Evil 2 game, the film gave him a chance to lead a major studio horror release for the first time, and it could end up being the role that redefines his career.
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