Actor and comedian Jason Sudeikis recently bagged a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Ted Lasso, in the Apple TV+ sports comedy of the same name. While Sudeikis won over new fans with his performance, he has been a mainstay in several comedy shows and movies starting with a stint as a writer/actor for Saturday Night Live.
Sudeikis has played several characters at SNL but was most notable for playing Mitt Romney. Following his time with SNL, he went on to appear in several mainstream comedy films like We're The Millers, Horrible Bosses, and The Angry Birds Movie - and these are his best so far.
Oscar (Colossal)- 6.2
Led by a terrific performance by Anne Hathaway, Colossal serves as one of the more thoughtful sci-fi ventures in recent years. Hathaway plays a writer who, while struggling with her own issues, finds out that she shares a connection with a distant creature in Seoul.
Jason Sudeikis plays Oscar, a bartender and the heroine's best friend who also eventually becomes a part of the larger conspiracy that's unearthed. Directed by Nacho Vigalondo (of Timecrimes fame), the film is truly an underrated genre-bending work.
Red (The Angry Birds Movie)- 6.3
Even though the film didn't fare well with all, The Angry Birds Movie is easily one of the better video game-to-film adaptations. Sudeikis stars as one of the titular birds, Red, a short-tempered introverted bird who becomes the unlikely hero of his island when he and his misfit friends stand against the evil green pigs.
Angry Birds makes for good mindless fun as it incorporates most of the over-the-top gameplay from its source material. As for the acting ensemble, many other SNL alumni appear including the likes of Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, and Bill Hader.
Matt Ryder (Kodachrome)- 6.8
Kodachrome is a heartwarming Netflix drama-comedy that covers familiar ground but is engaging enough for a watch, thanks to the performances of its three leads. Jason Sudeikis and Ed Harris star as a father-son duo with a strained relationship, while Elizabeth Olsen plays an assistant to the latter.
Harris steals the show, playing a carefree, self-centered photographer who's nearing his end and wishes to go to the last store that sells the archaic Kodachrome film rolls. What follows is a formulaic road trip in the course of which old wounds are reopened and new bonds are created.
Kurt Buckman (Horrible Bosses)- 6.9
While the sequel to Horrible Bosses seemed to have missed the mark, the first film is a popular comedy that utilizes situational humor in the backdrop of a workspace comedy. The premise is fairly simple. Three friends (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis) are driven to the brink of frustration by their 'horrible bosses' and so they devise a plan to assassinate them all.
As the conspiracy goes awry, chaos ensues. Apart from its three leads, the film's standout act is by Jamie Foxx who plays a hired hitman.
David Clark (We're The Millers)- 7
One of Sudeikis' most popular comedies, We're The Millers reunites Jason Sudeikis with his Horrible Bosses co-star Jennifer Anniston while also featuring Emma Roberts and Will Poulter. The premise involves a drug dealer who forms a fake family as a front for a smuggling operation.
Even though the crime-comedy didn't fare well with critics, the audience reaction was much more positive
Larry Snyder (Race)- 7.1
Before If Beale Street Could Talk, and Homecoming, Stephan James shot to fame playing Olympic athlete Jesse Owens in Race. The sports biopic traces his early career, overcoming racism at home and abroad, and his successful winning streak in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
For a change, Sudeikis strayed away from his comfort zone of comedy and plays a serious role. His character Larry Snyder was a military veteran and track and field athlete who later coached Owens.
Principal Jordan Brown (Booksmart)- 7.2
The A24 comedy Booksmart marked Olivia Wilde's directorial debut while also ushering in a new age of fresher coming-of-age comedies. The film stars Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as two studio teenagers who plan to have a wild night out for a change. As they let themselves loose, they go through some brand new experiences. The film was universally praised by critics and audiences alike.
Sudeikis has a short role as Jordan Brown, a school principal by day and a Lyft driver by night.
Various (Saturday Night Live)- 8.1
Jason Sudeikis started his tenure at Saturday Night Live as a sketch writer from 2003 onwards. Over two years later, he started playing several characters on a recurring basis. Apart from his popular turn as Mitt Romney, he has also played Joe Biden, George W Bush, and a slew of fictional characters.
He left the show in 2013 marking Season 38 as his last. However, he has made occasional appearances as a guest star in the years that followed.
Ted Lasso (Ted Lasso) - 8.7
After small roles in several series like 30 Rock and The Last Man On Earth, Sudeikis's breakout TV role was a character whom he had jokingly played for sports commercials. Ted Lasso, the optimistic American football coach who is tasked with coaching an association football team in England, was actually a character created by Sudeikis for promos of NBC's coverage of the English Premier League.
With the show Ted Lasso, Sudeikis has reinvented his career winning more acclaim than his usual filmography. He also serves as an executive producer and writer on the comedy series.
Bike Scout Trooper #1 (The Mandalorian)- 8.8
Over the course of two seasons, The Mandalorian has featured some memorable cameos like that of Werner Herzog and Taika Waititi, but some of them are more subtle in nature. In the Season 1 episode titled Chapter 8: Redemption, he plays a Bike Scout Trooper.
His is a hilarious cameo alongside Bike Scout Trooper #2 (played by Adam Pally) as they capture The Child and engage in some self-aware humor on the Stormtroopers' bad aim. The latter also ends up punching The Child. Later the droid IG-11 comes to the rescue and brutally attacks the two.