The 10 Best Sherlock Holmes Actors, Ranked

Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin in 1841's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is the first fictional detective to appear in literature, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is hands down the most well-known detective in all of pop culture. 

Identifying himself as a "consulting" detective, Sherlock Holmes is intelligent beyond all reason, analytical to a fault, and emotionally distant due to his obsessions with logic. But when he's hot on the case in an investigation, his flair for the dramatics kicks in and he lives to show off his findings. Not because he wants to be the center of attention, but because he must let everyone know just how brilliant he is for cracking the case. He's also a morally questionable individual, who has no problems lying to law enforcement or committing petty crimes of his own if it means getting one step closer to solving the mystery. 

There have been a truly insane number of Sherlock adaptations made over the last 100+ years, with /Film even ranking 70 different adaptations (Part One | Part Two). But what about the best actors to have played the character? Nearly 350 actors have taken on the role of the great detective dating back to the days of silent film, but we've narrowed that list down to 10 of the very best across film and television history.

"Enola Holmes" may be the titular role in this Netflix series of films, but Henry Cavill brought something unique to the character's impressive big brother. Sherlock Holmes, by and large, is typically portrayed as a bit of a self-centered prick. Cavill's turn, however, is far more empathetic and downright sweet. Eldest brother Mycroft (Sam Claflin) becomes the legal guardian of Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) after their mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) mysteriously disappears, and is a conservative jagoff who wants Enola to obey orders and be a nice, Victorian lady. To counter, Sherlock is willing to stand up to Mycroft in defense of Enola. It's a completely new take on the famous curmudgeon, and the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle hated it so much that they filed a lawsuit over it. Considering the film is told through the lens of Enola Holmes, we're seeing Sherlock through her eyes instead of his own, which may explain the sympathetic light. Regardless, Cavill made the character his own and the Netflix films are better for it.

In 2015, Sir Ian McKellen starred in Bill Condon and Jeffrey Hatcher's "Mr. Holmes," based on the book "A Slight Trick of the Mind" by Mitch Cullin. The film is set primarily during Sherlock Holmes' retirement, with the 93-year-old detective's mind slowly deteriorating. He's trying to recall the details of old cases but struggling to do so, and the film examines what happens when a person renowned for their intelligence can no longer rely on their own mind. Instead of telling a thrilling mystery story, "Mr. Holmes" is a moving drama that allows McKellen to really flex his acting muscles. It's a peek inside the personal life of one of literature's most famous characters, and McKellen demystifies him in a beautiful manner that reminds viewers that even legendary men are still mortal.

Sometimes you just wanna watch a really cool guy punch a bunch of people in extreme slow motion. Sherlock Holmes adaptations love to point out how smart he was, but Guy Ritchie took the character and said, "Yeah, but what if he was also ripped as hell and had a mean right hook?" Robert Downey Jr. finds a balance between his Tony Stark snark and the physicality of old-school pugilists and turns the titular "Sherlock Holmes" into a clever action antihero. The pairing of RDJ and Jude Law as John Watson makes this an unconventional take on the character, but a hell of a fun one. So much so that Ritchie made a second film, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," and has fans still begging for the completion of the trilogy. It's been 13 years since their last adventure, but I bet he can still wreck a jaw like the best of them.

If you haven't listened to the "Moriarty" podcast/audio drama from Audible, you're missing out. We've talked at /Film before about how much we adore Phil LaMarr, but few probably know that he's also played the most famous detective in history, which also makes him one of the very few Black men to play Sherlock Holmes. Before film and television were a thing, Sherlock Holmes stories were frequently adapted into radio plays. Hell, even Orson Welles has lent his voice to the character, but "Moriarty" completely subverts the world by painting the famed Professor Moriarty as an innocent man and Holmes as a bit of a villain. It's a must-listen for any fans of this world and a great way to pay homage to how many people first discovered the character in the early 20th century.

For seven seasons and a whopping 154 episodes, Jonny Lee Miller starred as Sherlock Holmes in the contemporary era on "Elementary." Given the timing of the CBS series' announcement, many fans felt this was nothing more than an Americanized remake of the popular BBC series "Sherlock" (more on that in a bit). But "Elementary" instead followed the format of a standard crime procedural, allowing the series to stand on its own and avoid further comparison. Miller's Sherlock is a brilliant, chaotic mess trying his best to solve crimes and keep his own life together. Presented as a recovering drug addict, he lives with his sober companion Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu). His performance is a bit more in line with the Robert Downey Jr. interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, but considering he was given seven seasons to explore the depths of the character, Miller is easily one of the very best.

Sure, it's probably a little unfair to pair up Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in one ranking but hear me out. Cushing and Lee are two of the greatest British actors of their era and often played opposite one another. Cushing famously played Van Helsing and Baron Victor Frankenstein, while Lee became one of the definitive Count Draculas — but they also appeared together in "The Hound of the Baskervilles," with Cushing as Sherlock Holmes and Lee playing Sir Henry Baskerville. It's a shock that Hammer didn't turn this winning combination into a bona fide film franchise, but it turned out for the best. In the years that followed, both men would appear in various Holmes adaptations, and their performances always feel like they're in conversation with one another like two sides of the same brilliant coin.

Benedict Cumberbatch is an international sensation and one of the most highly sought-after actors working today, and we have his performance as the titular "Sherlock" (and his legions of fans on Tumblr) to thank. Another modern interpretation of the character, the always-too-logical Sherlock Holmes now has the gift of technology to help him with his investigations, which could be argued further encourages his traditional behaviors. Balanced out perfectly by Martin Freeman's John Watson, Cumberbatch's take on Sherlock feels wholly unique to everything that came before, and would set the standard for anything that came after. But Cumberbatch's performance shines because he wasn't afraid to let Holmes be who he truly was in the books ... kind of a sociopath? He's a brilliant weirdo, but one that never falls into being wholly unlikable. The chemistry between the two leads is, in this writer's opinion, the best showcase of the Holmes/Watson relationship, and the key to why the show ran for over six years.

Apologies to all of the humans on this list who spent their lives studying their craft and becoming world-class actors, but you'll never be able to compete with a dog as adorable as the titular star of "Wishbone." The PBS children's adventure series would take everyday events and relate them to classic literature, and two Sherlock Holmes stories were given the treatment. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "A Scandal in Bohemia" were adapted into "The Slobbery Hound" and "A Dogged Exposé." In both adaptations, Holmes is portrayed by the adorable dog named Soccer and voiced by Larry Brantley. There's something so hilariously camp about watching human actors play it deadly straight with a dog in a Sherlock Holmes costume, but "Wishbone" is doing a fantastic service by existing. Children's educational entertainment doesn't get enough credit for serving as a gateway to the classics, but "Wishbone" undoubtedly was the introduction to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work for a generation. That is just as important as doing a good interpretation of a character we've been exploring for over a century.

As the most prolific Sherlock Holmes on this list, Basil Rathbone set the gold standard of playing the character. Anyone doing a Sherlock Holmes take is either doing their best Rathbone impression or subverting something to distance themselves from his portrayal. With 14 films to his name and plenty of other appearances as the character, Rathbone feels like the definitive Sherlock for many people, the same way plenty of Bond fans view Roger Moore as the James Bond. He was by no means the first Sherlock Holmes, but he was certainly the first to massively permeate cultural consciousness. His voice, his posture, and even his fashion all became intrinsic to how the character was portrayed moving forward. (He's a lot like Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula in that regard.) Rathbone delivers the perfect blend of arrogant intellectualism and eccentric coldness, a delicate dance to pull off to make Sherlock work.

Basil Rathbone may have set the standard, but Jeremy Brett perfected it. From 1984 to 1994, Brett starred as Sherlock Holmes in a series of episodes and television movies produced by Granada Television. Coincidentally, before taking on the role of the detective, he had starred opposite Charlton Heston in "The Crucifer of Blood" as Dr. Watson, which means he's also one of the few people to play both Watson and Holmes. Brett became the definitive portrayal of Sherlock for the generation that followed Rathbone, but I'd argue that he's still the definitive portrayal even today. In preparation for the role, Brett became somewhat of a scholar of Arthur Conan Doyle's works, and would often correct the scripts to ensure all of the stories told were as accurate as possible to what Conan Doyle had established in literature. Later in life, Brett was transparent about his struggles with substance abuse and manic depression, which only made his performances look even stronger. To see the depth and vibrancy of his Holmes knowing how much he was personally struggling is an act of brilliance.