Summary
- Kiernan Shipka’s filmography showcases her versatility, as she has taken on a variety of roles in movies and television shows.
- Shipka has proven herself to be a talented actress, from small roles at the beginning of her career to leading characters in recent years.
- Her portrayal of Sabrina in “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” has made her synonymous with the character, as she brings a perfect blend of kindness, darkness, and style to the role.
Kiernan Shipka‘s movie and television roles provide scares, laughs, and emotional moments. The newest Halloween movie release Totally Killer sees Shipka showcasing her spooky credentials after her big break as the titular teenage witch in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Totally Killer opened to fairly good reviews, and despite some misses, such as the panned The Silence and uneven Flowers in the Attic, Shipka is continuing to build a solid career. Likely best known as Sabrina herself in the enjoyably edgier reboot of the 1990s favorite, Shipka has helmed movies as well as potentially going under the radar as side characters and animated characters.
In the movie business since early childhood, Shipka already has a varied filmography. As well as indie movies and prestige TV, including her breakout role in all the Mad Men seasons, her resume also includes some lesser-known releases that might be worth checking out. Here are Kiernan Shipka’s 10 best screen offerings, ranked.
10 Carriers
Admittedly wobbly in a lot of ways, Carriers was nevertheless ahead of the trend in terms of pandemics; the virus thriller, starring a pre-Star Trek Chris Pine, was filmed in 2006, though it didn’t debut until 2009. Shipka plays the infected daughter of Frank, played by Christopher Meloni. With its slower, moodier look at plagues than most other zombie-adjacent films and road-trip plotline, it was in some ways a serious version of Zombieland. Unfortunately failed to deliver as a vehicle for Shipka as Zombieland had done for Jesse Eisenberg.
9 Feud
Fresh from American Horror Story‘s success, Ryan Murphy made the cutting TV show Feud about the notorious bad blood between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Again, Shipka played the child of a main character, Bette’s real-life daughter B.D. Hyman. While she had a small recurring role, the show itself achieved critical acclaim and was nominated for a slew of Golden Globes, successfully scooping a couple of Primetime Emmys. Shipka held her own in a series featuring formidable lead actors Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon as the Hollywood Golden Age stars: no easy task.
8 Let It Snow
Let It Snow lets Shipka take a bigger role as a core part of an ensemble cast. The festive teen rom-com has been described as an even more Christmassy version of Love Actually ― a delightfully cozy concept if nothing particularly original. In one of the subplots Women Together by Let It Snow, Shipka sparkles as Angie, a “self-assured” girl whose best friend is in love with her.
7 Wildflower
Wildflower let Shipka get out her lead actress credentials to helm an indie coming-of-age movie. Formulaic but endearing and thoughtful, the flick follows Shipka as Bea, a girl who takes care of her parents who have learning disabilities. Shipka delivers a complex performance, embodying both fierce independence and deep concern for the family. However, Wildflower was criticized for its portrayal of disability.
6 Swimming With Sharks
Often cast as basically wholly good characters, Shipka taps back into Sally Draper to play someone less likable and thus more interesting again. She’s the ruthlessly ambitious Hollywood assistant Lou, working for Diane Kruger’s Joyce, in the gender-swapped TV remake of Swimming With Sharks, a 1994 movie. Like Feud, the series sets up a story of cut-throat rivalries and mysteries in a toxic version of Tinseltown. Shipka gives her role intrigue and a chilling edge, as it slowly becomes clear that there is more going on with Lou than Joyce knew.
5 The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Indie horror The Blackcoat’s Daughter, which debuted at 2015’s Toronto Film Festival, proves Shipka already had spooky cred before Sabrina and Totally Killer came her way. She is well-cast as Kat, one of the three main characters. The student is left with just one other pupil at their eerie boarding school in the dead of winter, where spine-chilling mysterious forces start to pose a threat. The Blackcoat’s Daughter is a dread-filled, queasy, slow burn of a horror ― full of lingering shots of darkness and cold ― that rewards on a second watch.
4 The Legend Of Korra
Shipka tried her hand at voice acting to play Jinora. Tenzin’s daughter, who is one of the few Airbenders left in the world, embarks on her spiritual journey ― communing with spirits, helping Korra, and finally becoming a master and having her head tattooed. The Avatar spin-off develops the world further and introduces new and interesting characters by setting the series after Aang’s death. Shipka’s voice acting makes Jinora a compelling character, giving her emotional depth and a sense of adventure and justice. It’s great to see Jinora become a more important character and prove herself as the series progresses.
3 Mad Men
Mad Men, starring Jon Hamm as instant TV icon Don Draper, has a reputation as one of the best modern TV shows. Shipka plays a part in the Mad Men cast ― yet again holding her own as a teen actress whose career seemed promising from the start. Shipka portrays Sally Draper, Don and Betty’s long-suffering daughter who is struggling to cope with their divorce and her grandfather’s death. Later, troubled by the chaotic lifestyles she sees around her, Sally ends up making trouble in boarding school. Shipka deftly portrays Sally Draper’s emotional turmoil and her long character arc, appearing in the show from episode 1.
2 Totally Killer
As its title implies, Totally Killer is a refreshingly tongue-in-cheek slasher that revels in having fun, riffs on 1980s B-movies, and knows exactly what it is. In a twist to the slasher genre, Totally Killer is a time travel movie, with Shipka’s protagonist Jamie going back to the 1980s to team up with her mother ― Marty McFly style ― and stop a series of murders. In the wry and original horror comedy, Shipka is excellent as a snappy and adventurous fish-out-of-water facing culture shock and ridiculous hair in her parents’ era, before setting up Totally Killer’s twisty ending.
1 Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina
To take a character as well-established as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and make her your own is no easy task, but Shipka is now synonymous with the role. She plays Sabrina as kind, occasionally selfish, and with fantastic darkness; Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina season 4 isn’t afraid to show its heroine conducting Satanic rituals, for example. Shipka’s Sabrina is also a style icon, succeeding on her seeming one-woman mission to make turtlenecks and A-line plaid skirts cool forever. Kiernan Shipka is perfect as the protagonist, and central to the show’s wit, warmth, and subversive flavor ― making it her best and most iconic role.
