John Travolta’s 10 Best Roles, Ranked

John Travolta has had his fair share of highs and lows over the last five decades in Hollywood. After toiling away in television for a few years in the early 70s, Travolta finally landed a breakout movie role in Brian De Palma’s horror classic, Carrie in 1976. In the meantime, he became a household name for his role as Vinny Barbarino in the classic TV show Welcome Back, Kotter.

Travolta became a massive star in the 70s, only to see his wattage fade as the 80s approached. With a career on the fritz, he was revived by Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in the mid-90s. More highs and lows would ensue over the next 25 years. All told, here are John Travolta’s 10 best roles, ranked!

10 Edna Turnblad – Hairspray (2007)

After decades away from the genre, Travolta returned to the world of musicals with quite a bang in the 2007 adaptation of John Waters’ Hairspray!

As Edna Turnblad, Travolta got to play a woman for the first time in his illustrious career. Quite the challenge! The plot revolves around Edna’s daughter, Tracy (Nikki Blonsky), a portly young lady who changes the hearts and minds of the public’s perception of beauty after scoring a spot on a local TV dance program. Travolta earned a Golden Globe nod for his performance.

9 Jack Stanton – Primary Colors (1998)

In giving his best Bill Clinton southern drawl, Travolta played a position of power with a humorous tone in Primary Colors, Mike Nichols’ fictional take on the 90s Whitewater scandal.

Travolta plays southern Governor Jack Stanton in the film, a presidential hopeful in the upcoming election. However, when Stanton is caught in the middle of a sex scandal, he must navigate the pitfalls and pratfalls of political gamesmanship. Travolta earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the film.

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8 Sean Archer – Face/Off (1997)

In John Woo’s big-budget, high-concept action film for the ages, Travolta faces off with Nicolas Cage in the most literal fashion you can imagine.

Indeed, when FBI agent Sean Archer (Travolta) learns terrorist Castor Troy (Cage) has planted a bomb in L.A., the only person who can defuse the bomb is Castor’s brother, Pollux (Alessandro Nivola). Archer surgically swaps faces with Troy in order to convince Pollux to deactivate the bomb. A crazy concept mastered by Travolta’s extremely difficult task of acting like Nicolas Cage. Which, we know, is absolutely bonkers!

7 Vinnie Barbarino – Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-79)

Since this role literally led to every other part of Travolta’s career henceforth, there’s no way one can omit or downplay the importance of Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back, Kotter.

Travolta appeared in 82-episodes over four years the show ran on TV. The show centers on a lovable innercity teacher who returns to teach scores of mischievous adolescents. Travolta soars as the dimwitted, wise-cracking Vinnie, who lives to give Kotter a hard time.

6 Tony Shapiro – American Crime Story (2016)

After a decade sans a nomination, Travolta earned his most recent Golden Globe nod for his towering and transformative turn as defense attorney Tony Shapiro in the superb American Crime Story – The People v. O.J. Simpson.

The series recounts with great accuracy the O.J. crime saga, in which he was eventually acquitted for a double murder accusation following the brutal murders of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her lover, Ron Goldman. Travolta is totally immersed and unrecognizable as himself in the portrayal of Shapiro.

5 Jack Terry – Blow Out (1981)

Travolta’s best-yet-most-underrated role is almost certainly that of Jack Terry in Brian De Palma’s equally unheralded 1981 thriller Blow Out. See this movie if you haven’t already!

Jack Terry is a soundman for low-budget horror films. While out recording nighttime sounds, he accidentally records a car crashing off of a bridge into a lake. The car belongs to a powerful politician who dies in the wreckage. What seems like an accident is discovered by Jack to be an assassination conspiracy after he carefully studies his recording. The final line Travolta gives is truly chilling!

4 Chili Palmer – Get Shorty (1995)

Speaking of being Chili, Travolta has rarely been cooler, calmer, and more in control than as Chili Palmer in the top-tier crime flick Get Shorty.

Adapted by Barry Sonenfeld from the Elmore Leonard novel, the complex plot revolves around Chili, a Miami mobster looking to break into the Hollywood film biz. Shocked to learn the industry is just as corrupt, violent, and dangerous as the mafia life, a whirlwind of defection. backstabbing, doublecrossing ensues. Travolta won a Golden Globe for his superb performance!

3 Danny Zuko – Grease (1978)

In one of the biggest hit-musicals of all time, Travolta takes center stage as Danny Zuko, the ever-cool lead Greaser willing to undergo a massive makeover to win back his summer fling, Sandy Olsen (Olivia Newton-John).

After a summer in which they fall in love with at the beach, Sandy tells Danny she must return to her native Australia. But when a change of plans leads to Sandy enrolling in Rydell High, Danny changes tunes and acts like a dismissive jerk. Through a series of song and dance numbers, Danny literally races to get his high-school sweetheart back.

2 Tony Manero – Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Believe it or not, as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever, Travolta earned his first Academy Award nomination in just the second feature film of his career. He’d have to wait another 17 years for his second such honor.

Travolta embodies Tony Manero with unwavering authenticity. The foppish 19-year-old disco dancer with perfect hair and skin-tight bellbottoms rises a local star in his Italian-American Brooklyn neighborhood. He’s funny, sexy, and insecure, yet supremely confident on the dancefloor.

1 Vincent Vega – Pulp Fiction (1994)

John Travolta’s woozy, bleary-eyed turn as heroin-addicted hitman Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is the definitive role of his career. It not only features the finest acting he’s ever done, but it came at a time when his career was all but in the toilet. Of course, in Pulp Fiction, Vincent dies on a toilet. Oh, the irony!

Thanks to Quentin Tarantino and his penchant for reviving the careers of fading actors, Travolta rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the Hollywood doldrums. Vincent Vega is cool, sexy, funny, dangerous, and wildly unpredictable!

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