The bestChristian Slatermovies and TV shows feature several early cult classics and some great TV shows in recent years that have given the actor’s career a second breath of life. Slater started acting as a child, with his first role coming when he was eight on soap operas likeOne Life to LiveandRyan’s Hope. He then moved on to stage shows and worked on Broadway as a teen before making his movie debut in 1985 when he was 16. When he was 18, he enjoyed his breakout role in the dark comedyHeathers.
This led to Slater picking up lots of roles where he played antiheroes and troubled youths,often compared to a young Jack Nicholson. Throughout his career, Slaer has worked in major blockbusters and had leading roles in smaller movies, all while developing his unique persona before he finally drifted to television work. Heworked onThe West WingandAliasbefore getting major roles in TV shows likeMr. RobotandDr. Death, with his most recent major role coming on the prequel seriesDexter: Original Sin.
10Young Guns II (1990)
“Arkansas” Dave Rudabaugh
Young Gunsfeatured several of the era’s popular young stars, both those from the Brat Pack and those who were connected to them as friends. However, while Christian Slater was not part of the original cast, he did join the franchise with its sequel in 1990.Slater played “Arkansas” Dave Rudabaugh, a racist, reckless outlawwho joined the Regulators and caused almost more problems than he helped them with. He appeared alongside the returning cast members, including Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, and Lou Diamond Phillips.
While not as fondly remembered as the first movie,Young Guns IIwas still a minor box office success and was popular on home video upon its release. While critics were unimpressed, with a 31% rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score was more favorable at 66%. It also earned Jon Bon Jovi an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, while 14-year-old Balthazar Getty was nominated for a Young Artist Award. As for Slater, he proved versatile in his follow-up to his breakout inHeathers.
Christian Slater took on the role of Harry Morgan in the Showtime prequel seriesDexter: Original Sin.Harry is Dexter Morgan’s adoptive father and was played in the original series in flashbacks by James Remar.In the original series, it was shown that Harry taught Dexter how to hide his “Dark Passenger” and only kill people who deserved death, and this series showed how that training went as Dexter gets his first job in the Miami PD while his dad was also a highly respected detective.
Dexter: Original Sin Cast & Returning Character Guide
Dexter: Original Sin features a slate of new actors playing familiar characters from the original Dexter series and the return of Michael C. Hall.
Slater brings a different feel to the role of Harry Morgan. While the original series’s flashbacks show Harry as a calm and nuanced character, Slater’s version sees Harry as a little more aggressive and hot-headed at times. However, since the original version was all in Dexter’s head and from his memories, that allowedDexter: Original Sinto repaint what Harry was really like, and offered Slater a chance to reinvent the character for the new storylines.
In 2021, Christian Slater joined the Peacock miniseriesDr. Death, a true crime anthology series based on the podcast of the same name. This true story from the first season of the podcast was about Christopher Duntsch, a Texas neurosurgeon who was convicted of gross malpractice after 31 different patients were left seriously injured after he operated on them, with two of them dying. The Peacock miniseries' first season is about this story, with Joshua Jackson starring as Duntsch.
Christian Slater starred in the miniseries as Randall Kirby, one of the two medical colleagues (along with Alec Baldwin’s Robert Henderson), who were shocked by the brutality of his surgeries and worked together to help strip him of his medical license. This was an important role, as Kirby and Henderson were instrumental in ensuring that Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison for his terrible crimes. Critics praised the series, awarding it a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
One of Christian Slater’s biggest early-career movies was the blockbuster,Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In this film, Kevin Costner plays Robin of Locksley, who returns to his home in Englan, only to find his father dead and the evil Sheriff of Nottingham now ruling the land. He ends up teaming with a Moor he saved (Morgan Freeman) and a loyal outlaw named Little John (Nick Brinble). However,one of John’s associates, the young Will Scarlett (Slater), refuses to trust Robin.
Will Scarlett was a supporting character inRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves, but he was also extremely important to the story. Will betrays Robin at one point, but later, when he begins to see the truth, he is the one person who lets Robin know that the people need to trust him and believe in him, and Slater’s performance is spot-on in this role. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, and while the Razzies nominated Costner and Slater,Robin Hood: Prince of Theiveswas a monster success, making $390.5 million at the box office.
Christian Slater joined the true crime anthology seriesDirty Johnin 2019. Based on the podcast of the same name, this Bravo series lasted for two seasons and told two different stories from the podcast series. Slater was part of the second season, playing Dan Broderick, while Amanda Peet starred as his wife, Betty Broderick. This was based on the true story of Betty murdering Dan in an act of revenge after he left and divorced her. The series shows Dan gaslighting Betty and eventually sees her snap and commit the murders.
Dirty John: What Happened To The Real Betty Broderick
Dirty John season 2, The Betty Broderick Story, is based on a true story. What happened to the real-life Betty Broderick after the events of the show?
The second season aired on the USA Network, which gave it more of a reach than the first season on Bravo (about John Meehan).Dirty Johnseason 2 received better reviews than the first, with a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score compared to the first season’s 71%. While most of the praise went to Amanda Peet, she had a great partner in Christian Slater to play off of. The second season received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Long Form - Original.
Christian Slater proved with the adult animated seriesArcherthat he had no problem making fun of himself. The actor appeared in 13 episodes of the critically acclaimed cartoon as a character named Slater.He plays a mostly fictionalized version of his own persona, but here he is an arms dealer who turns out to be an undercover CIA agent who works as a contact with Malory Archer in Season 6. This storyline also included Gary Cole as Hawley, a CIA agent who uses Slater as his go-between.
Archer’s Ending & Slater’s Fate Reflected On By Christian Slater
EXCLUSIVE: Christian Slater opens up about his character’s fate at the end of Archer and shares his thoughts on how the series finale unfolded.
Every Slater appearance was a highlight, as Sterling Archer idolized the man, and he was a very violent and volatile ally, up until his final appearance in season 13 when he tried to help take down Fabian Kingsworth. He appeared the most in season 6, and it is assumed he died in the series finale when he fell to his death in battle with Archer. With the character even looking like the real Christian Slater, this was one of the most meta roles of the actor’s career.
After his breakout role inHeathers, Christian Slater slid into the role of the disenfranchised youth, and that played out perfectly in his 1990 dramaPump Up the Volume.Slater played Mark Hunter, a high school student who started his own FM private ration stationfrom his parent’s basement. He was someone who didn’t know his place in the world but did know that it was time to stand up against authority figures who believed kids should grow up to be carbon copies of their parents.
For kids of a certain age, this was a call-to-arms movie, and Slater was perfect as the radio host who convinced other teens to rebel and stand up for themselves. However, this was also a tragedy, as some of the kids ended up hurting themselves, and Mark was the person who the authority figures wanted to take down to blame for the problems they created. Critics praised the film, although it was not a box office success. It went on to earn four nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Christian Slater took on one of his biggest roles in the Tony Scott movieTrue Romance, which was based on a script by Quentin Tarantino.Slater stars as Clarence Worley, a movie lover and Elvis fan, who meets and falls in love with a sex worker named Alabama Whitman(Patricia Arquette). The two want to run off together, so Clarence goes to her pimp (Gary Oldman) to demand her things and her freedom but accidentally leaves with a suitcase full of drugs. This leads them on the run, with assassins gunning for them.
The movie was a box office failure, but it ended up being a huge hit when it was released on home video. Critics loved the film, awarding it a 93% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, and it has since become a massive cult favorite and one of the best films of the 1990s. The cast was incredible, with Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Michael Rappaport, and more, delivering the great Tarantino dialogue with Tony Scott’s amazing direction. This is easily one of the best movie roles of Slater’s career.
In 2015, Sam Esmail created the groundbreaking TV seriesMr. Robot. The series stars Rami Malek as Elliot, a computer hacker with undiagnosed social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and dissociative identity disorder. That last disorder is what leads the plot, as he often drifts into and out of the persona of Mr. Robot, which he sees as a separate person that he answers to, but is actually him doing some very bad things (similar to the plot ofFight Club).Christian Slater plays Mr. Robot when Elliot is talking to him.
Slater won a Golden Globe for his performance in 2016.
The show lasted for four seasons and had Eliot/Mr. Robot planning to destroy debt records and bring the world into an anarchy that could free people from the chains that major corporations shackled them with. The series was highly acclaimed as a smart drama thriller with surprising twists and turns. It received two Golden Glove Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Peabody Award, along with numerous other nominations. Slater won a Golden Globe for his performance in 2016.
Christian Slater had his breakout performance in the 1989 dark comedy-dramaHeathers. In this film, Winona Ryder stars as Veronica Sawyer, a teenager who becomes part of a clique run by three wealthy, attractive girls, all named Heather (Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, and Kim Walker). Things change when a bad boy named J.D. Dean (Slater) comes to town and catches Veronica’s eye. While she at first seems attracted to his wild side, when he starts to kill people, she realizes she has to find a way out of this relationship.
The film was a box office failure, but it was a movie that ended up becoming a massive cult classic as soon as it hit home video, and people began to realize what they missed. Initial reviews were mixed, with critics praising its nastiness and cynical nature, but retrospective reviews have proven that it is a beloved ’80s classic, with a 95% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score. It went on to spawn a musical and a TV adaptation, and the original movie featuresChristian Slater’s greatest acting performance.
