10 Best Val Kilmer Roles

Summary

• Val Kilmer's performance in Top Gun: Maverick shows he can still deliver emotional scenes that fans love.
• Kilmer's portrayal of Moses in Prince of Egypt showcases his ability to bring depth to animated characters through voice acting.
• The iconic role of Doc Holliday in Tombstone solidified Kilmer as one of the best actors in western movies.

Every actor has roles that they are known for, and will be known for long after the end of their careers. Heavy-hitters in Hollywood become household names, not only in the U.S. but across the globe and anywhere, TVs and movies wind up on screens in the home and in theaters.

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One actor who has become known around the world is Val Kilmer. Whether it's for his classic roles or his more modern ones, fans everywhere have fallen in love with his acting prowess. Unfortunately, his passing on April 1, 2025 caught many by surprise. With such an acting powerhouse, it only seems fair to look back at some of his best roles in his career.

10 Top Gun: Maverick

Don't Think, Just Do

A direct sequel to the original Top Gun of the '90s, Top Gun: Maverick brings back many of what fans loved about the action-packed and high-octane flight scenes.

It's got a few new cast members as the movie seeks to pass the torch to younger actors and a younger audience, but Cruise and Kilmer reprise their roles in a surprisingly emotional series of scenes that you just can't get anywhere else. Whether you thought it lived up to the original or not, you have to admit there is something about getting the band back together.

9 Prince Of Egypt

Let My People Go

Animated movies don't always have to hire voice actors for their roles; they often look to accomplished actors from live-action roles who can give the character depth through the training they've had on screen. Much like most of the cast of Prince of Egypt.

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A re-telling of the biblical story of Moses, it has an absolutely amazing cast to back up the idea by DreamWorks. With Val Kilmer as Moses himself, the story is full of powerful moments with some great animation and acting to rival any of Kilmer's other roles, and that's just with his voice.

8 The Doors

I Am The Lizard King

Movies about musicians don't come along too often, just like those hit musicians themselves. But, every so often, such a movie graces the silver screen and people really fall in love with it. The Doors with Val Kilmer is one such movie.

In this part musical performance, part biopic, Val Kilmer takes on the role of Jim Morrison, with relative ease it seems. At times, it's rather uncanny how well he slips into Morrison's persona, both in his actions and even just his voice. Whether you were a fan of the artist, Kilmer, or neither, this movie brought fans of all types together for a couple of hours.

7 Real Genius

Something Strange Happened To Me This Morning

One of Kilmer's earliest major roles, and also one of his best. Real Genius is one of Kilmer's lead roles in a comedy, but one of the few times that he starred in a movie that also touches on the science-fiction side of things.

This is one movie that showed Kilmer's range in roles, even at a young age. Roped into an after-school physics class, Chris Knight soon finds out that Professor Hathaway isn't exactly what he seems. It's a pretty funny ride where now you can see how Kilmer's acting skills grew over time as well.

6 Top Secret

East Germany, Land Of Fruit And Grape

Every actor has to start somewhere. While some start in movies that don't make much, and some don't even see the light of day, Val Kilmer's first movie role actually did pretty well. Plus, his first role was the protagonist of the film, which should speak to his acting chops as well.

His first movie, being Top Secret, is about a American rock musician sent over to East Germany during the height of the Cold War on a cultural mission from the U.S.. What is slowly revealed is that he is just a distraction for an American military operation. Hilarity ensues, surprisingly, and sees young Kilmer in a series of great and memorable moments.

5 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Uh, I'm Retired

While Kilmer often starred in action movies, he didn't object to being in more humorous pieces as well. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang marks the best of both of those worlds, where he worked alongside Robert Downey Jr.

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The duo played the classic case of mistaken identity, causing Jr.'s character to be taken as an actor and sent to work under Kilmer's private eye character for a new role. What follows is abject chaos, with plenty of action, humor, and the meeting of the minds of two great actors.

4 Batman Forever

Who's Afraid Of The Big Black Bat?

Many directors and actors have taken on the Batman universe, each with their own style and twists. While everyone has their favorites, and it's something that starts plenty of arguments, year after year, Val Kilmer's own Batman movie has a place in the heart of millions.

Faces like Tommy Lee Jones and even Jim Carrey also grace the screen in this movie with their takes on some classic Batman villains, but Val Kilmer's own Batman led to some of the more modern gruff -talking and grim version of the bat, with a sprinkle of humor in there for good mix as well.

3 Heat

I Take Scores

Bank robberies are a great go-to plot for movies, especially in the 90s. Whether they came before or after, no one has done heist movies like Heat has.

Action-packed, loud, and filled with tension, this is easily one of Kilmer's best roles as robber Chris. Mix in Pacino and De Niro and you have a cast fit for the best kind of action. From shootouts in the street against the LAPD, all the way to the robberies themselves, few movies hold up like heat has over the years, or Kilmer's acting for that matter.

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2 Top Gun

Talk To Me Goose

A classic bit of americana, Top Gun graced the silver screen in 1986 with quite a cast. Since then, Tom Cruise, Michael Ironside, and even Val Kilmer went on to have even more stellar roles in movies, but for many this was and still is a big feather in their caps.

Fighter pilots trained to be fast and deadly. It's one of the more peculiar movies tonally, but it definitely has plenty of action to keep people interested. Val Kilmer as Ice really helped round out the crew, and solidified him as a great actor early in his career, and as one that went above and beyond in his roles in action movies.

1 Tombstone

I'll Be Your Huckleberry

When people talk about western movies, it's only a short matter of time before Tombstone gets brought up. It's an epic tale of brothers who have to take up the law in the face of a group of deadly desperados.

In the film, Kilmer plays Doc Holliday, a gambler, gunslinger, and all around trouble. While he aligns himself with the lawbringers of the movie, he has his own sense of moral justice he follows. There've been plenty of stories about Doc Holliday, but no one has given him the depth that Kilmer has. The drawl, the pale skin and feverish eyes, and the quick hand are just a few things that make Kilmer's role stand out. To the point where you'll be quoting him long after the movie is over.

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