David Dastmalchian's star power continues to rise with each role he plays, including his appearance in some of the best superhero movies in recent memory. He has also lent his versatile talents to a few popular TV shows, in main or notable recurring roles, and we have compiled our choices for his greatest hits below. The following are some of the best David Dastmalchian movies and TV shows, including a tip on how you can watch them.
Late Night With The Devil (2024)
Director: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes
Starring: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon
What it's about: Hoping to boost his ratings, a late night TV host invites a young woman who has supposedly been possessed by a demon as a guest on his talk show's Halloween special.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Framed as a lost, infamous 1977 TV broadcast, the creepy, inventive Late Night with the Devil — also available with a Shudder subscription — solidifies Dastmalchian as a modern horror movie icon with his thoroughly compelling performance as Night Owls host Jack Delroy.
How to watch Late Night with the Devil
- Stream Late Night with the Devil on AMC+
- Stream Late Night with the Devil on Hulu
- Rent or buy Late Night with Devil on Amazon
- Buy Late Night with Devil on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Dark Knight (2008)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger
What it's about: Bruce Wayne struggles to protect Gotham City from a dangerously unpredictable and insane master criminal known as The Joker.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: The moment that introduced the world to David Dastmalchian was when Christopher Nolan changed his life by casting him in The Dark Knight — one of the most beloved live-action Batman movies — as former Arkham patient, Thomas Schiff.
- Stream The Dark Knight on Max
- Rent or buy The Dark Knight on Amazon
- Buy The Dark Knight on Blu-ray on Amazon
Prisoners (2013)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal
What it's about: A family man goes to desperate lengths to find his missing daughter as a local detective struggles with the case.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Dastmalchian received much acclaim for his small, but pivotal role as a child murder suspect in the mesmerizing, harrowing mystery drama, Prisoners, which has a gripping ending.
The Ant-Man Movies (2015-2023)
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily
What they are about: Reformed burglar Scott Lang uses a special suit that alters his size and strength to fight crime.
Why they are some of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Dastmalchian joined the club of actors who have played multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe characters with his dual roles in the Ant-Man movies — Kurt Goreshter from Ant-Man and 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp and a strange creature named Veb from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
How to watch the Ant-Man movies
- Stream the Ant-Man Movies on Disney+
- Rent or buy Ant-Man on Amazon
- Buy Ant-Man on Blu-ray on Amazon
- Rent or buy Ant-Man and the Wasp on Amazon
- Buy Ant-Man and the Wasp on Blu-ray on Amazon
- Rent or buy Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Amazon
- Buy Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Blu-ray on Amazon
MacGyver (2016-2021)
Starring: Lucas Till
What it's about: A government agent uses his unique problem-solving skills to help get out of sticky situations on missions.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian TV shows: Dastmalchian appeared in 11 episodes of CBS’ modern reimagining of the hit action/adventure series, MacGyver, in the recurring role of Mac's nemesis, a fearsome assassin named Murdoc.
The Belko Experiment (2017)
Director: Greg McLean
Starring: John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona
What it's about: A large group of office employees locked inside their corporate building is forced into a deadly social experiment that requires them to turn on one another and become the sole survivor.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: One of Dastmalchian’s first major horror movies and his first collaboration with writer James Gunn is the highly intense The Belko Experiment, in which he plays an office maintenance worker named Lonny.
How to watch The Belko Experiment
- Stream The Belko Experiment on Tubi
- Stream The Belko Experiment on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy The Belko Experiment on Amazon
- Buy The Belko Experiment on Blu-ray on Amazon
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford
What it's about: In a futuristic Los Angeles, a cop who specializes in hunting artificially created humans is assigned to an astonishing case that leads him to enlist the help of a long-missing veteran.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Dastmalchian had a small role in Blade Runner 2049 — the stunning sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi movie classic — as an LAPD lab technician named Coco.
How to watch Blade Runner 2049
Reprisal (2019)
Starring: Abigail Spencer, David Dastmalchian
What it's about: After her own brother leaves her for dead, a woman infiltrates his criminal gang to bring it down from the inside.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian TV shows: Dastmalchian’s talents for playing quiet, stoic characters perfectly suits his role as Johnson in Reprisal — a noir-inspired miniseries from creator Josh Corbin.
Batman: The Long Halloween (2021)
Director: Chris Palmer
Starring: Jensen Ackles
What it's about: Over the course of a year, Bruce Wayne investigates a series of murders that each take place on a different holiday.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Years after The Dark Knight, David Dastmalchian would lend his voice to another Arkham inmate — in this case Calendar Man — in the animated two-part adaptation of Jeph Loeb’s brilliant, tragic graphic novel, Batman: The Long Halloween.
How to watch Batman: The Long Halloween
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Harley Quinn, Idris Elba, John Cena, Viola Davis
What it's about: A mostly new crew of criminals — save Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, for one — are recruited by Amanda Waller to carry out a dangerous mission.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Dastmalchian’s second collaboration with James Gunn was the filmmaker’s own Task Force X-led story, The Suicide Squad, which saw him take on the role of eccentric DC villain, Polka-Dot Man.
How to watch The Suicide Squad
- Stream The Suicide Squad on Max
- Rent or buy The Suicide Squad on Amazon
- Buy The Suicide Squad on Blu-ray on Amazon
Dune (2021)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson
What it's about: A war over the most valuable resource in the galaxy leads to tragic circumstances for a royal family after moving to a desert planet.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Dastmalchian was bummed to miss out on appearing in Dune: Part Two after appearing in the first half of Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of author Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel as Baron Harkonnen’s devious servant, Piter de Vries.
Boston Strangler (2023)
Director: Matt Ruskin
Starring: Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, David Dastmalchian
What it's about: Reporters Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole struggle with misogynist adversity while investigating a series of brutal murders in 1960s Massachusetts.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Dastmalchian gives one of the most chilling performances in Hulu’s Boston Strangler cast as Albert DeSalvo, who was one of the prime individuals suspected of being the notorious serial killer.
The Boogeyman (2023)
Director: Matt Ruskin
Starring: Chris Messina, Sophie Thatcher, Vivien Lyra Blair
What it's about: A teenage girl and her younger sister suspect that a sinister, otherworldly presence is haunting their home.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: In director Rob Savage’s adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, The Boogeyman, Dastmalchian has a brief, but pivotal role of a man who had his own tragic experience with the titular creature before it starts coming for our protagonists.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr.
What it's about: Renowned physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is asked by the United States government to help end World War II by leading the development of the atomic bomb.
Why it is one of the best David Dastmalchian movies: Years after The Dark Knight, Dastmalchian would reunite with Christopher Nolan by appearing in the Oppenheimer cast as executive director of the United States Congress Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, William L. Borden.
There are more David Dastmalchian movies and TV shows where these came from. Keep an eye out for more of his upcoming horror movies, such as Mike Flanagan’s latest Stephen King adaptation, The Life of Chuck.
