10 Best Amanda Bynes Movies And TV Shows, Ranked

Hollywood has seen plenty of child stars come and go, their talents spent on any number of teen sitcoms and romantic comedies before life — and in many cases tragedy — pulled them in a different direction. But few if any were as remarkable in their genuine comedic talent as Amanda Bynes, the former Nickelodeon star who disappeared from Hollywood just as she was crossing into a career as a mainstream film actor.

Bynes cut her teeth as a stand-up comic at a very young age before joining the Nick family, frequently working with Dan Schneider, the infamous writer, creator, and mega-producer responsible for a massive portion of the network's success – he's also the subject of all of Nickelodeon's most harrowing allegations of misconduct and abuse. After working on several projects with Schneider, Bynes appeared in a few movies outside his direct sphere of influence before taking a step back from the entertainment industry. Though there's no sign as of writing of her returning to a career in acting anytime soon, her best films and television shows remain classic and nostalgic, each with their own unique and indelible impact on countless childhoods across the globe.

As Amanda Bynes was building her career in several popular teen romcoms, Hollywood was beginning to discover just how far recognizable intellectual property could carry a film — even a so-so one. For the romantic comedy genre, this often saw the re-imagining of classic works like "Romeo and Juliet" or "Cyrano de Bergerac" as hip coming-of-age stories set in modern times. Bynes herself played a sizable role in helping to popularize this trend, though the 2007 film "Sydney White" arguably represents a fatal low point in that process.

A 21-year-old Bynes stars as the titular character, a riff on the Grimm fairytale "Snow White" set in the volatile world of 2000s college Greek life. When Sydney heads off to college with the dream of joining her mother's sorority, she is targeted by a powerful upperclassman ("Aquamarine" star Sarah Paxton) who quickly becomes jealous of the attention she's receiving from the "Charming" frat-bro Tyler Prince (future "Manifest" actor Matt Long). Sydney is thus boxed out of participating in the sorority and forced to seek shelter within the school's least popular fraternity — which just so happens to house seven adoring young men who want to support her in her quest to take down the popular students.

Bynes obviously works as a "non-traditionally feminine" romcom hero, having played almost this exact role several times before being cast in "Sydney White." Even when it isn't the most inspiring work (and there's plenty about the film that's aged like a rotten poison apple), she plays the hits just well enough to make it worthwhile, especially when paired with a grossly underrated contemporary in Paxton. Dopey, not too sleepy, and decently charming, "Sydney White" is a fair piece of throwback entertainment that will bore you less than the needless 2025 Disney remake.

Long before she starred in "Sydney White," Nickelodeon had already turned Amanda Bynes into a powerhouse on the small screen. Her collaborations with producer Dan Schneider had resulted in major hits for the children's network, raising both of their profiles enough that competitors had begun to notice. This is all to say, it was somewhat shocking when Bynes' first and only marquee Nick show (which we'll discuss much further down this list) was abruptly ended despite solid ratings, only for Schneider and Bynes to immediately team up for a sitcom over at The WB in 2002.

For our younger fans, this channel was Warner Bros.' predecessor to The CW, and was the home of such teen classics as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Supernatural," the DC Comics Superman drama "Smallville," and, of course, "Dawson's Creek," a series which had ironically been parodied by Schneider and Bynes many times at this point. The WB's target demographic skewed older than Nickelodeon's — think 15-18 as opposed to 12-14 for Nick's teen comedies. This gave them the freedom to create a more age-appropriate show for Bynes that asserted herself as a serious young talent.

"What I Like About You" is like any New York lifestyle sitcom, its premise being that Bynes' Holly must turn herself into a sophisticated metropolitan young adult in order for her to live with her older sister (Jennie Garth of "Beverly Hills, 90210"). Unless you're a superfan of the actor, there probably isn't much you'll get out of watching it now, as it's a safe, middle-of-the-road echo of late-'90s programming that has little to offer beyond nostalgia. That said, in later seasons, Bynes does present herself as a credible, grounded sitcom star — an interesting mix of Jennifer Aniston's off-beat "Friends" confidence and the fearlessly humiliating physical comedy Julia Louis-Dreyfus would embrace on "Seinfeld."

As they were preparing to work together on "What I Like About You," Dan Schneider and Amanda Bynes were also working on the feature film "Big Fat Liar." Like many of the teen-targeted movies the actor starred in, it was a loose, modernized reimagining of a public domain story, in this case, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

The "wolf" of "Big Fat Liar" is Marty Wolf, a scheming and unscrupulous Hollywood executive played by Paul Giamatti, who steals the story for his next big hit by raiding the backpack of high school freshman Jason Shepard (fellow child star turned Hollywood vanishing act Frankie Muniz). Jason himself is a notorious liar and plagiarist at home and school, so when he learns that his one original work (a semi-autobiographical creative writing assignment called "Big Fat Liar") has been stolen, he can't get anyone to take him seriously. Rather than accept defeat, he enlists the help of his best friend Kaylee (Bynes) and travels with her to Hollywood to execute an all-out assault on Marty's personal and professional life.

"Big Fat Liar" is, on paper, hard to distinguish from Nickelodeon original movies like "Fun Size" or Ariana Grande's "Swindle," but Schneider (who wrote the film's screenplay) and director Shawn Levy stretch the premise enough to make it a real movie. Bynes gets plenty of room to shine in her feature film debut, paving the way for larger roles down the line.

For an actor with such a distinctive voice, Amanda Bynes didn't do much voice acting. The few times she did, including in the 2005 animated film "Robots," her work was top-tier.

A family comedy set in a world populated entirely by, well, robots, it follows a young bot (voiced by Ewan McGregor) who leaves his humble beginnings to live in the bustling metropolis of Robot City. He aspires to be an inventor whose ideas will better the lives of his family and community, but quickly finds that Robot City is dominated by a harsh corporation that wants to suppress new ideas to preserve their own profits. It's a strangely and eerily relevant movie, especially considering how the characters are motivated by a need for what is essentially the robot version of healthcare, and how their struggles come down to things like job instability and pay disparity.

Bynes plays Piper, a bot who lives in a crowded bohemian apartment in Robot City with other low-income bots. The ensemble of voice actors includes Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, and Robin Williams, and Bynes still has one of the memorable performances in the entire film.

If "Sydney White" is the valley of teen romcom adaptations, "She's the Man" is the peak. Released in 2006 (just as "What I Like About You" was coming to an end), this adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" was well-poised to help Amanda Bynes fully transition into a full-time film actor, back when the distinction between the two mediums meant more to Hollywood. Following the disastrous "Love Wrecked" release the year prior, however, "She's the Man" would need to be a definitive smash for the end of her sitcom days to be liberating rather than defeating, professionally speaking.

Like the classic play, "She's the Man" is a romantic comedy of mistaken-slash-hidden identities, love triangles, and blurred gender roles. Bynes stars as Viola, a high school soccer player who is asked by her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) to impersonate him at his own school so that he can pursue a music career in London. Though obviously reluctant at first, she joins the men's soccer team at Sebastian's school, as the women's team at her own school had been dissolved. Her focus is challenged when she begins to develop feelings for her roommate — star striker Duke Orsino, played by a young Channing Tatum.

As one might expect, 2006 had a somewhat limited capacity to address gender and sexuality within the context of a premise that's inherently more transgressive than what was normally permitted, especially in a teen comedy. The conflict between these transgressive ideas and the film's expectedly heteronormative perspective results in more than a few homophobic and transphobic jokes. Beyond that, however, Bynes and Tatum are so lovable in their roles they come incredibly close to making up entirely for the film's shortcomings. If you can sit back and appreciate their work, as well as the film's goofy, nostalgic early-2000s tone, it's an amusing romp in the same vein as "10 Things I Hate About You."

Amanda Bynes had been honing her comedic craft at an incredibly young age, performing stand-up at the historic Laugh Factory in Los Angeles at the age of 10 years old. It was there that she was discovered by Nickelodeon producers, who invited her to join the cast of the children's sketch comedy series "All That."

Created by Michael Tollin (a prolific executive producer behind such hits as "Arli$$," "Smallville," and "One Tree Hill") and future Paramount co-CEO Brian Robbins, it helped lay the groundwork for the next decade of Nickelodeon content. Nick Cannon, Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, and Jamie Lynn Spears were just some of the young actors featured who went on to become the network's foundation — though arguably the two biggest products of "All That" in terms of network impact were Bynes and writer, producer, and occasional guest-star Dan Schneider. Schneider would go on to create some of the most popular children's sitcoms of all time for Nickelodeon, including "Drake & Josh," "iCarly," and "Victorious," but began by frequently collaborating with Bynes, beginning with "All That."

Schneider's reputation and the disturbing allegations surrounding his subsequent rise to stardom aside, "All That" was an unquestionably important show in the world of children's television. Bynes specifically rose to the challenge of performing on television in a way few others in her position have, displaying a clearly superior level of talent that couldn't be ignored.

Though it's easy to assume that any actor who suddenly stops showing up in projects did so because of a fatal, final flop, that's far from the case with Amanda Bynes. "Easy A," her most recent acting role as of writing, came out all the way back in 2010 and is every bit as hilariously entertaining as it was 15 years ago. It also remains one of the most well-regarded projects Bynes has been a part of in any medium, and is arguably the best film on this list when not accounting for its showcasing of Bynes.

She takes a back seat here to star Emma Stone, who, similarly to Bynes, had already made her mark in teen romantic comedies — albeit more adult, irreverent ones (see "Superbad"). "Easy A" is no exception, with Stone playing a high school virgin who develops a reputation for helping guys with their reputations by letting them lie about having had sex with her. As precarious as this premise sounds, Stone, director Will Gluck, and writer Bert V. Royal take the topic seriously (and, when appropriate, unseriously) enough to explore maturity and sex and gender politics in a way that's both funny and insightful.

Bynes plays a staunchly religious student who serves as the film's main villain. It's a not-unheard-of but certainly less familiar role for her, given that she normally plays quirky heroines rather than prickly upholders of the status quo. Yet in a supporting ensemble that also includes the likes of Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, and future "You" star Penn Badgley (incidentally a former guest-star on "What I Like About You"), Bynes is the clear comedic stand-out, playing a perfectly uncomfortable counterweight to Stone's breezily relatable champion of sex positivity. "Easy A" still gets top marks from us and from its many fans, and talks of a sequel had been floating around as recently as 2021.

Following the success of "All That," Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider put together a spin-off-slash-spiritual successor sketch comedy program meant to be a star vehicle for Amanda Bynes. Appropriately titled "The Amanda Show," it had a similar format to "All That" and featured some of the same cast members. Drake Bell and Josh Peck — soon to be the headliners of their own runaway Dan Schneider hit "Drake and Josh" — were both regulars on the series, as were their future TV mom Nancy Sullivan, "Tales from the Crypt" star John Kassir, and Raquel Lee. Among the rotating ensemble of supporting cast members were Steven Anthony Lawrence from "Even Stevens," Marcia Brady actor Maureen McCormick, and future "Saturday Night Live" cast member Taran Killam.

The biggest change from "All That" was, of course, that each sketch featured Bynes front and center. She played a wide range of characters over the show's three-season run, including the host of the game show "Who Wants to Win Five Dollars?," the gruffly unreasonable Judge Judy pastiche Judge Trudy, melodramatic teen drama hero Moody Fallon (the lead of the fictional TV show "Moody's Point"), "Amanda Show" superfan Penelope Taynt, and a fictionalized version of herself. Though the jokes are clearly written for young children, there's still something so impressive about how well put together "The Amanda Show" is. From production to performance, it's an unexpectedly watchable children's show that, while crass, broad, and immature, meets its audience in a way that isn't pandering or lazy. Bynes' work is particularly strong, and it's not surprising that this show essentially shot her into the stratosphere overnight.

The epitome of heartwarmingly nostalgic early-2000s teen rom com schlock, "What a Girl Wants" sees a 17-year-old Amanda Bynes carrying a feature film for the first time on her own. She absolutely crushes it, asserting herself as the de facto face of this specific kind of movie while leaving an indelible mark on the romantic comedy genre at large that has yet to fade away.

She stars in the 2003 film as Daphne Reynolds, an American teenager living an average, lower-middle-class life with her mother (Kelly Preston), with whom she works weddings to pay rent in their small New York apartment. What Daphne truly wants deep down is a relationship with her father, whom she does not know due to her mother fleeing the relationship after discovering she had become pregnant. When Daphne discovers that her dad (Colin Firth) is actually a British lord on the fast track to becoming the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, she flies to London in the hopes of connecting with him for the first time. The movie gets plenty of mileage out of Bynes' usual comedic tool set, as her awkward sense of humor marries perfectly with what ultimately becomes a fish-out-of-water story about an American teenager trying to fit in among the ruling class of London.

But underneath the broad comedy in this premise, Bynes and Firth imbue the father-daughter relationship with such depth, warmth, and truth that it succeeds as the story's necessary north star. They give audiences something emotionally tangible to cling to and thus elevate "What a Girl Wants" above the usual teen romantic comedies of this time.

No film or TV show uses the full range of Amanda Bynes' talent better than the 2007 musical adaptation of "Hairspray." The film is based on both John Waters' original 1988 film and the subsequent stage musical adaptation, adding even more energy, style, and heart to a story that was already full of it. And though Bynes isn't necessarily the lead here, her standout role in this ridiculously stacked ensemble proves how well she's able to shine even when surrounded by stars.

For the uninitiated, "Hairspray" is a period romantic musical comedy set in 1960s Baltimore, where racial segregation is particularly pronounced due to the diversity of the local population. The story primarily follows Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a white high school student who is socially ostracized because of her weight. When her favorite television show — a musical variety program (hosted by the undeniably smooth Corny Collins, played by an equally undeniable James Marsden) where kids her age dance and sing live on-air — holds auditions for new cast members, she breaks social conventions by winning a spot in their elite ensemble. 

As Tracy struggles to fit into the new environment while staying true to herself and her values, her best friend Penny Lou Pingleton (Bynes) falls in love with Black dancer Seaweed J. Stubbs (Elijah Kelley), who is segregated from the rest of the dancers on the show. The three of them, alongside Tracy's mother Edna (John Travolta), her love interest Link (Zac Efron), and Baltimore's Black community, protest racial discrimination on the show and in the streets.

We loved "Hairspray" back in 2007, and (to paraphrase Christopher Walken's character) it remains timeless to us. Bynes is especially powerful in this role, given space not only to play against type but to do so in a script that demands comedic and dramatic chops as well as musical talent. She had always been a uniquely versatile performer, but "Hairspray" showcases just how much of a singular talent she is.