For many, Pierce Brosnan will always be James Bond. That’s what happens when you slip into the tux and order a vodka martini on screen — especially four times. It happened to Connery. It happened to Moore. It even happened to Lazenby, despite only one outing. You become Bond forever.

But there’s more to the man from Navan than shaken martinis and car chases. Far more. And with two wildly different new projects on the horizon — Four Letters of Love, a windswept romantic drama set in Ireland, and The Thursday Murder Club, a Netflix whodunit alongside Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley — it’s the perfect moment to reassess what Pierce Brosnan has really been doing with his career. Because while the world was busy pigeonholing him as 007, Brosnan was quietly building a catalogue of bold, sometimes bonkers, always stylish performances.

Here are 11 of his most memorable roles — not necessarily his “best films,” but the moments where Brosnan, with that effortless charm and glint of danger, showed he was always more than just Bond.

11. Mark Taffin in Taffin (1988)

Before Bond, before Hollywood, Brosnan returned to Ireland and went full Seagal-lite in this cult action oddity. He plays a brooding, philosophical enforcer who quotes poetry before delivering beatdowns. It’s ridiculous. It’s glorious. And thanks to a legendary line delivery (“Then maybe you shouldn’t be living here!”), Taffin lives forever in YouTube infamy. Not a good film — but an unforgettable one.

10. The First Irishman in The Long Good Friday (1980)

He doesn’t say a word. He doesn’t need to. In his film debut, Brosnan appears as a silent IRA hitman in the back of Bob Hoskins’s limo. A pistol. A stare. A smirk. Then credits. It’s one of the greatest final shots in gangster cinema — and a hell of a way to say hello to the big screen.

9. Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia! (2008)

No, he can’t sing. No, he can’t dance. But God help us, he sells it. Playing one of Sophie’s three possible dads opposite Meryl Streep and belting ABBA in a linen shirt shouldn’t work. Somehow, Brosnan makes it not only work — he makes it kind of lovely. His off-key version of “SOS” became the stuff of legend. An unexpected cult hero.

8. Stu Dunmeyer in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

The ultimate rom-com straight man. As Robin Williams’s competition for Sally Field’s heart, Brosnan plays it straight — charming, elegant, and completely unaware that his nemesis is a man in prosthetics disguised as a Scottish nanny. Brosnan’s brilliance here is restraint; he lets Williams go wild and never once tries to outshine him. That takes confidence — and class.

7. Arthur Stieglitz in Black Bag (2025)

In his most recent role, Brosnan plays an MI6 chief who seems to channel the icy hauteur of… King Charles? That’s the rumour. And it fits. With clipped delivery and regal posture, Brosnan is all controlled menace — a reminder of what Bond might’ve looked like had he aged into the boardroom instead of going out in a blaze of glory. Understated and unsettling.

6. Andy Osnard in The Tailor of Panama (2001)

Brosnan’s most subversive spy role. Playing a cynical, manipulative MI6 agent in John Boorman’s stylish John le Carré adaptation, he gleefully undermines his Bond persona — smirking through lies, manipulating friends, and causing chaos in Panama. It’s dark, funny, and knowingly anti-heroic. Brosnan saw the Bond myth and happily took a wrecking ball to it.

5. Prof. Donald Kessler in Mars Attacks! (1996)

How many Bond actors can say they’ve played a disembodied head floating in a Martian laboratory? Just the one. In Tim Burton’s anarchic alien invasion satire, Brosnan dons a lab coat and pipe to deliver pure B-movie scientist energy — before suffering one of the film’s more grotesque fates. A masterclass in deadpan absurdity.

4. Adam Lang in The Ghost (2010)

Is he or isn’t he… Tony Blair? That’s the question hovering over this chilly political thriller from Roman Polanski. Brosnan plays a former British PM with blood on his hands and secrets in his memoir. He’s slick, guarded, and possibly dangerous. It’s a performance that trades on his Bond charisma, then turns it on its head. Ice in the veins.

3. Julian Noble in The Matador (2005)

If Black Bag is what Bond might have become, Julian Noble is what happens when Bond falls apart. An alcoholic, burnt-out hitman spiralling toward oblivion, Brosnan throws vanity to the wind here. He’s vulgar. Unstable. At times pathetic. And in one unforgettable scene, he struts through a hotel lobby in nothing but a speedo and cowboy boots. The role earned him a Golden Globe nod and reminded Hollywood that he was still capable of real surprises.

2. James Bond in GoldenEye (1995)

We couldn’t leave it out. GoldenEye is Brosnan’s definitive 007 moment — stylish, sharp, and a perfect blend of Connery’s toughness with Moore’s wit. After a six-year Bond hiatus, Brosnan made the character relevant again for the ‘90s. Judi Dench’s M called him a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur,” but that was the point. Brosnan brought just enough self-awareness to make Bond feel fresh — and just enough cool to make him feel timeless.

1. Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

This is Brosnan in his element — sleek, mysterious, magnetic. In John McTiernan’s criminally underrated remake, he plays a billionaire art thief who falls for Rene Russo’s investigator. Their chemistry sizzles. The plotting sparkles. And Brosnan gives his most complete performance — a man who hides behind charm, seduction, and a killer wardrobe. Bond might have defined him, but Thomas Crown is where he perfected the act.

The Brosnan Legacy

Pierce Brosnan never fought the Bond image. He wore it well. But what’s impressive is how he used it — sometimes playing into it, sometimes twisting it, sometimes burning it to the ground. He could’ve coasted. He didn’t. And with this late-career resurgence — Irish romance one month, Netflix crime comedy the next — he’s still refusing to stay in one box.

Some actors age into icons. Brosnan just was one from the beginning.