Aaron Moten's 10 Best Movies And TV Shows

The best Aaron Moten movies and TV shows reveal an actor on the cusp of career success, with his starring role in Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout a big break earned after minor appearances in a multitude of complex dramas. Born in Austin, Texas, in 1989, Aaron Moten began his life as a professional actor following his 2011 graduation from the prestigious Julliard School in 2011. His earliest roles were on stage, notably in the 2012 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

It was in 2014 that Aaron Moten first began appearing on screens, appearing in an episode of NCIS and in Chris Rock’s comedy-drama Top Five. From there he continued to land several relatively minor roles, though there were also some leading parts too, such as in 2016’s The Transfiguration and the 2017-2018 Netflix series Disjointed. It was in 2024 that the actor got his big break thanks to landing the part of Maximus in Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout, and the best Aaron Moten movies and TV shows reveal his incredible journey getting there.

10 Native Son (2019)

Aaron Moten Plays Tony

During the earlier years of his career so far, many Aaron Moten roles in both movies and TV shows were incredibly minor parts, with many featuring the future Fallout star as a named extra. This was the case with 2019’s Native Son, the Rashid Johnson-directed drama with an ensemble cast that also includes Ashton Sanders, The Substance star Margaret Qualley, and Nick Robinson, among others.

Given how minor his appearance was in Native Son, it’s difficult to assess the quality of his performance (and, as Moten’s career continues, it’s all but guaranteed to be replaced when considering his best movies and TV shows). However, as a movie in its own right, Native Son was received relatively well by critics, and highlights Moten’s attraction to complex roles and projects, since it’s one of several nuanced dramas that he’s been attached to throughout his career.

9 Ricki And The Flash (2015)

Aaron Moten Plays Troy

The musical dramedy Ricki and the Flash marks Aaron Moten’s second movie appearance, and, like Native Son, features the future Fallout star as a named extra rather than in a central role. Directed by Academy Award winner Jonathan Demme (the filmmaker behind Silence of the Lambs) from a script penned by Diablo Cody (who also holds an Academy Award thanks to Juno), Ricki and the Flash focuses on a middle-aged woman who drops everything to pursue her dream of becoming a rockstar.

The cast of Rick and the Flash is led by Meryl Streep as Linda Brummel. Much like Native Son, it stands out among the best Aaron Moten movies and TV shows due to the quality of the movie itself, rather than his performance as Troy (who is, essentially, a background character). However, also like Native Son, it also highlights Moten’s early career drive to seek out more nuanced and emotionally-complex projects.

8 Mozart In The Jungle (2014-2016)

Aaron Moten Plays Erik Winkelstrauss

One of Aaron Moten’s earlier TV show appearances was as Erik Winkelstrauss in the Amazon Prime Video original comedy-drama Mozart in the Jungle. Developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, and Paul Weitz, Mozart in the Jungle is based on the memoir of a New York oboist. The original book, Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music by Blair Tindall, exposed the surprisingly scandalous lives of many high-end musicians in organizations like the New York Philharmonic orchestra, and the show is just as hilarious as the source material.

Aaron Moten appeared in 6 episodes of Mozart In The Jungle as Erik Winkelstrauss, a board member who finds himself increasingly torn between the responsibilities of his role and his sympathy for the musicians. While not the most prominent character, it was among the earliest roles that allowed Aaron Moten to showcase his talents and remains highly recommended viewing for fans seeking more of his work following discovering him in shows like Fallout.

7 Father Stu (2022)

Aaron Moten Plays Ham

Father Stu was written and directed by Rosalind Ross, and stars Mark Wahlberg in the leading role. The biographical drama focuses on real-life figure Stuart Long, an amateur boxer with progressive muscle disorder who, following a series of career setbacks and a near-fatal car accident, finds a new calling as a Catholic Priest.

Aaron Moten co-stars in the 2022 movie as Ham, who becomes a friend of Long when both are studying at the seminary to become priests. Like many movies Aaron Moten has been cast in, the critical response to Father Stu was mixed to say the least. However, he has solid chemistry with Mark Wahlberg, and his performance as Ham still ranks as one of the best of his career so far. What’s more, audiences disagreed with critics when it came to Father Stu, as evidenced by its 95% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes(compared to a 43% critical rating).

6 Emancipation (2022)

Aaron Moten Plays Knowls

2022’s Emancipation is the most recent movie appearance from Aaron Moten, and sees him appear in an ensemble cast that also includes the likes of Will Smith and Ben Foster. The historical action thriller comes from director Antoine Fuqua, and focuses on the struggles of slaves struggling to escape the Confederate states during the civil war following Abraham Lincoln's issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In Emancipation, Aaron Moten has a minor but incredibly memorable role as Knowls. An antagonist, Knowls is a former slave who works with Ben Foster’s slave hunter Fassel to capture and return escapees like Will Smith’s Peter. It’s a complex role, and one that Aaron Moten excelled in, capturing the nuance and conflicted interests of Knowls and the historical figures he’s based on incredibly well. Emancipation may have received a mixed response from critics, but his performance cements it as one of the best Aaron Moten movies.

5 The Night Of (2016)

Aaron Moten Plays Petey

The HBO miniseries The Night Of ran on the network in 2016, and was based on the 2008 British series Criminal Justice. It was highly critically acclaimed, landing 14 Emmy nominations (of which it won five - most notably an award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Riz Ahmed). Aaron Moten appeared in four episodes of The Night Of as Petey, and the part is arguably the most tragic played by the Fallout star so far.

Petey is among several inmates Riz Ahmed’s character, Naz, meets in prison. While the two never strike up an intimate friendship they move in the same circles, and Naz is distraught when he discovers that Petey took his own life after being sexually assaulted. It’s an incredibly dark role among the best Aaron Moten movies and TV shows, and demonstrates a side of his range that his more prominent appearances in series like Fallout don’t.

4 Next (2020)

Aaron Moten Plays Ben

The 2020 sci-fi crime drama Next may have been canceled after a single season, but this doesn’t stop it from being among the best Aaron Moten TV shows so far. Created by Manny Coto for the Fox network, Next starred Jon Slattery as Paul LeBlanc, a tech genius and former CEO with a degenerative brain disease and one of the few people who understand the threat presented to humanity by a rogue AI.

Aaron Moten plays Ben in Next, one of several investigators on the team put together by LeBlanc and FBI agent Shea Salazar (Fernanda Andrade). Unfortunately, due to the fact that Next was canceled after only 10 episodes, Moten didn’t have much opportunity to distinguish himself among the ensemble cast. This likely wouldn’t have been the case had the show gone on longer, however, and his performance in Next hinted at many of the performance skills Moten would later go on to rely on in the likes of Fallout.

3 Disjointed (2017-2018)

Aaron Moten Plays Travis

The 2017-2019 Netflix sitcom was created by genre veteran Chuck Lorre (known for the likes of The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men). The show starred Kathy Bates as Ruth Whitefeather Feldman, a long-time advocate for legalized cannabis who finds herself running her own dispensary in Los Angeles. Disjointed marks one of Aaron Motens most prominent roles to date, as he co-starred as Travis, Ruth’s son.

A recent graduate, Travis returns back home in Disjointed and quickly finds himself roped into helping his mom with her dispensary. While the show received mixed reviews from critics, audiences fell in love with Ruth, Travis, and the rest of the Disjointed characters. Disjointed currently sits with an 87% Popcornmeter rating (audience score) on Rotten Tomatoes, and remains one of the best Aaron Moten TV shows.

2 The Transfiguration (2016)

Aaron Moten Plays Lewis

When it comes to his feature-film appearances, the 2016 horror drama Transfiguration stands out as the best Aaron Moten movie so far. Directed by Michael O’Shea, Transfiguration focuses on Milo (Eric Ruffin), a troubled teenager who believes he’s a vampire and is caught drinking blood from corpses on several occasions. He strikes up a friendship with Sophie (Chloe Levine), a girl with many troubles of her own.

In The Transfiguration, Aaron Moten plays Lewis, the older brother of Milo and one of the first to discover his vampiric delusions - specifically, when Lewis walked in on Milo drinking from the sliced wrists of their mother, who had taken her own life. The under-the-radar drama features Moten in an incredibly nuanced and complex role, and to this day remains one of the strongest performances in his filmography.

1 Fallout (2024-Present)

Aaron Moten Plays Maximus

Many viewers were first introduced to Aaron Moten thanks to his role as the Brotherhood of Steel Squire, Maximus, in Amazon Prime Video’s 2024 apocalyptic sci-fi series Fallout. The adaptation of the game series also stands as the best Aaron Moten TV show or movie to date, and his most prominent role in any project. It’s inarguably the breakout role of Moten’s career, and has generated no small amount of interest in his name.

Set in the future of an alternate history decades after a global nuclear war in 2077, Fallout focuses on the various inhabitants of the wasteland that remains. Various factions fight for control of the dwindling resources that remain. Among them are the Brotherhood of Steel, a zealous militaristic group known for wearing powered armor. Aaron Moten’s Fallout character, Maximus, was a Brotherhood of Steel knight-in-training before going rogue. Moten is hilarious in the role, and has great chemistry with co-star Elle Purnell - and it’s these aspects that secure Fallout as the best movie or TV show he’s featured in so far.

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