Daniel Day-Lewis Retiring From Acting: A Look at His 7 Greatest Performances

Daniel Day-Lewis has been in only 11 films since his masterful lead performance in Jim Sheridan’s 1989 My Left Foot brought him his first Academy Award as Best Actor. Clearly, ever since first breaking out in 1985’s My Beautiful Laundrette, his career has emphasized quality over quantity. He would take home two more Best Actor Oscars, for 2007’s There Will Be Blood and 2012’s Lincoln.

Thus, it came as a shock yesterday when his publicist announced that, following his upcoming second collaboration with director Paul Thomas Anderson (this winter’s fashion industry drama Phantom Thread), the 60-year-old actor will be retiring from the profession.

While cinema will be losing one of its all-time greats, Day-Lewis’s body of work overflows with titanic turns, and will stand the test of time. In tribute to the reclusive star, who always cared far more about his art than about the media circus that so often surrounds it, watch Yahoo Movies’ countdown of his seven greatest big-screen performances above.

Watch a Supercut of Every Best Actor Oscar Winner Prior to Casey Affleck’s Victory Earlier This Year:

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