Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum is a Pennsylvania-born actor that has stolen the hearts of fans around the world for decades. Famous for his magnetic charm and his unique stammer, he has worked in just about every form of show business. He has starred in blockbuster hit movies, voiced acted for video games, performed in a jazz band, and he currently hosts The World According To Jeff Goldblum on Disney+.
Truly a man of many talents, whether he is playing the sexy scientist or the endearing dad, Goldblum and some of his most popular roles have become household names. He has played many an iconic character throughout his long and successful career, but some of them are definitely more likable than others.
Dr. Wallace Fiennes (The Mountain)
Dr. Walter Fiennes (Jeff Goldblum) is loosely based off of the highly controversial life story of Walter Freeman, a neurologist who specialized in lobotomies in the 1950s and 1960s. Accompanied by his assistant and photographer, Andy (Tye Sheridan), Fiennes travels around to mental asylums "helping" the patients there.
A drunk who fills his own void with excessive alcohol and meaningless sexual encounters, though Goldblum's performance is stellar, the character himself is hardly likable.
Alistair Hennessey (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou)
Goldblum has teamed up with Wes Anderson in three films now, the first being the colorful and quirky sea adventure, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Goldblum stars as Zissou's (Bill Murray) ostentatious rival - in both his career as an explorer, and in his romantic entanglements.
Though the character is snobbish and overall ridiculous, his pretentious antics are fun to watch play out on screen, even if he's doing something terrible like yelling at poor Cody.
Michael (The Big Chill)
Lawrence Kasdan's 1983 dramedy The Big Chill brings a group of college friends together for the first time in years, to attend the funeral of their beloved friend, Alex (Kevin Costner).
A professional journalist, Michael (Goldblum) can be pushy and annoying, but he does mean well. Throughout the film, Michael is just looking for a place to fit in with his old friends through bad jokes and shameless flirtation. Often the odd one out in the once tight-knit group, it makes one wonder if maybe the person he was closest to back in college was Alex.
Zach Nichols (Law And Order: Criminal Intent)
Goldblum is most commonly found on the big screen in feature films from smash box office hits to arthouse independent films, but he has given primetime dramas a try. Detective Zach Nichols joined the NYPD Manhattan Major Case Squad in season 8 of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and remained for a total of 22 episodes.
Zach is a good-natured detective with a keen mind for analysis and deduction. Relying heavily on his skills of observation and his gut instincts, he often has correct arguments for how a crime took place before he has actual evidence.
Deputy Kovacs (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Goldblum's role is small, but easily a memorable piece of the Academy Award winning comedy turned murder mystery. Deputy Kovacs is both a lawyer, and the executor of an exceedingly rich Madame D's estate, and this makes him a target.
With his graying beard and perfectly groomed mustache, Deputy Kovacs is all business. He isn't interested in being bribed or threatened, but his sense of decorum is momentarily ruffled when one of Dmitri's (Adrien Brody) thugs nonchalantly tosses his cat out of the window.
Seth Brundle (The Fly)
David Cronenberg is known for film that embraces the grotesque, and The Fly does not disappoint. Seth Brundle is introduced as a shy, awkward, yet brilliant scientist who is determined to change the world with his next, big invention - teleportation.
It all goes terribly wrong when he tests it on himself at the same time as a fly buzzes into the chamber, turning him into a monstrous, fly-human hybrid. Though Seth is initially sweet, the mutation makes him angry and aggressive, leading to a tragic end for the once hopeful inventor.
Mac (Earth Girls Are Easy)
Earth Girls Are Easy was directed by Julien Temple in 1988, and wrapped science fiction, comedy, romance, and musicals all into one wildly, weird package.
Goldblum stars as a fuzzy, blue alien named Mac who gets a shave at a salon and somehow turns into the very attractive and adorable Jeff Goldblum. Not speaking more than a few words of English that include "hey" and "dude", he still manages to win the heart of the beautiful Valerie, played by his real life ex-wife, Geena Davis.
The Grandmaster (Thor: Ragnarok)
Sometimes likable does not always equal morally correct, and that is absolutely the case with The Grandmaster from Taika Waitit's MCU movie Thor: Ragnarok.
He may be the dictator of a brightly colored trash planet who melts people with his melt-stick and he forces alien beings to battle in gladiator rings for his own entertainment, but he's just plain hilarious while he does it. Extremely powerful, but with a flair for the ridiculous, it's hard not to enjoy every moment that Goldblum is on screen.
David Levinson (Independence Day)
What's not to love about David Levinson? He loves his dad, he once punched a future president, and he helps Will Smith save the world from aliens. The poster child for the "sexy nerd" trope, David is exactly the smart and lovable kind of guy that women want to take home to mom.
Goldblum starred as Levinson for the first time in 1996, and later reprised the role to take on aliens once again in Independence Day: Resurgence 20 years later in 2016.
Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park; Jurassic World)
A character so iconic that he has inspired countless memes, and a half-shirtless statue in the middle of London, Ian Malcolm taught a generation that "life finds a way"...and also that bad boy mathematicians are legitimate.
Everyone knows that Ian is an arrogant flirt, but honestly, that's part of what is so likable about him. Clad in leather and rocking a pair of sunglasses, the man is charismatic, intelligent, and despite his flaws and all the talk about Future Ex. Mrs. Malcolms, he's willing to risk his life for his friends when it counts. Fans can't wait to see what Ian Malcolm gets up to next in Jurassic World: Dominion.