I Ranked The Best Blue-Haired Characters In Movies

Gorgeous, gorgeous blue-haired people, holograms, and mermaids.

Hartley Mellick, BuzzFeed / Everett Collection: Warner Brothers, Sundance Selects, Double Negative, Universal, Focus Features / Alamy: TCD, Prod. DB

While, today, bleaching and dying your hair any number of neon colors might be thought of as a Billie Eilish-inspired Gen Z trend, the practice of dunking your head in a vat of colorful goo has actually been around for decades. The punks of the '70s/'80s as well as the twee and the ~*rawr*~ generation of the 2010s, all knew that colorful hair could say it all if you were brave enough to let it. ("I've gotta get out of this town...," or, "I'm not like other girls...")

It's undeniable that blue hair has become the universal symbol of independence and parental disappointment. But why blue? Perhaps because it compliments every skin tone. Perhaps because it's a dye color that's readily available. But I suspect it's simply because it's a color that could never emerge out of a human head naturally. Cold, deep, fading into a light bluish-green and often looking even better the less you keep it up, blue is the ultimate color choice for anyone looking to visually separate themselves from society and the average human experience. 

Being a visual cue for anyone looking to mark themselves as "different," it's only natural that blue-haired characters in movies have cropped up in everything from teen movies to dramas to romantic comedies, marking their characters as the ones to watch. Blue hair can be a plot point, mark the passage of time, serve (often lazily) as shorthand for a character going through mental health struggles, or simply be a distractingly bad wig. It runs the gamut. 

Below, I've decided to rank the quality of blue hair belonging to live-action characters in movies, ranging from the barely there to the unforgettable. I tried to picture the images of these characters cropped meticulously and pasted onto a Tumblr-era GIF of a swirling galaxy to determine if I would have reblogged it. They say that indie-sleaze and twee is back, so I leaned in and kept that in mind while ranking. 

13. Aquamarine — Aquamarine (2006)

20th Century Fox / Everett Collection

The use of blue in the titular mermaid Aquamarine's hair is a product of its time. I think this level of light-blue streaks in a movie made for children was what was deemed appropriate and trendy in 2006, but with 2022 eyeballs, it looks — as someone in the mid-'00s might be more likely to say — weak sauce. If this movie were remade (please?) Aquamarine's hair would be so retina-achingly blue you'd be like, "Too much!" Regardless, this is a poor excuse for blue hair, especially for a teen who's not like other mermaids and often spends her time lounging in the pool of a beach club.

Rent it on Prime Video.

12. Liv Lerner — Bride Wars (2009)

20th Century Fox / Everett Collection

Unfortunately, in Bride Wars — the story of Emma and Liv, former best friends, now brides-to-be fighting for the same wedding venue and date — getting blue hair functions as the pinnacle of disaster. Again, I'm struck by the times and evolution of the trend. While, in 2009 when this movie was made, a blue hair attack would have been a true disaster for someone like Liv, today I could see a rich white Instagram lady being like, "Thank you, Emma — you have saved me the $400 I was going to spend on the first appointment toward the colorful wedding hair surprise I promised my followers in partnership with Overtone." But sadly for Liv, this just looks bad, and going back to blonde will be a true hassle. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

11. Kelly — Kelly & Cal (2014)

IFC Films / Alamy

While the blue is bright and the curls technically perfect, I need this teal wig to leave my sight with haste. Kelly's a punk-turned-housewife who returns to herself after befriending a teenage neighbor, and her new blue hair is doing its job by shocking neighbors, fellow moms, and family (how dare a MOTHER express herself?!). As someone who will likely have children followed by a dramatic hair-based change in attempt to remind myself that I'm a person, I wish I could love this hair, but...I simply cannot believe that a Riot Grrrl would end up with blue hair that looks like it came out of Kylie Jenner's hair closet. Gimme some weird bangs! Gimme some streakiness! In this case, worse would be better. 

Rent it on Prime Video.

10. Joi — Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Warner Bros / Everett Collection

Don't come for me @ArmasUpdates! I think Ana/Joi looks absolutely incredible with this blue hair, but sadly, I feel I must place Joi lower on the list because she is an AI. Hence, this stunning blue lob is not truly of this world and should be held to slightly different standards. It's a great cut. A wonderful color. And had it been made of dead cells emerging from a human head, it would have been an absolute feat and been bumped higher. But for an Artificially Intelligent being, I have a feeling this style is average. 

Watch it on HBO Max.

9. Tibby — The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

Warner Brothers / Everett Collection

Tibby was a very important character to me in my youth — I, too, was destined to have an overwrought distaste for managers, customers, and the concept of work, particularly in retail — so the blue streaks in her hair were naturally important to me as well. Tibby introduced me to colorful hair like it was an original thought. Like it was Tibby's blue-haired world, and I was just lucky enough to live in it. Looking back, the blue isn't so prominent, but hey, it's there, and it's a good reminder that even the most minimally alternative action can be important when it comes to inspiring youth to grow up to be cool and maybe even question why the minimum wage is so low. Tibby loses some blue hair points for lack of quantity, but gains points for getting the blue to stand out on her dark hair — an impressive feat, considering she likely did this herself or with the help of one of her friends. (I don't see Lena or Carmen assisting with bleach. Maybe Bridget though?)

Rent it on Prime Video.

8. Brian Slade — Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Miramax Films / Everett Collection

It tracks that Brian Slade, the urtext of a 1970s glam rocker, would choose to have blue hair when (not a spoiler) he fakes his own death via shooting at a concert. It's meta iconography, the aesthetic of London's alt and queer scene, and an homage to David Bowie, all in one perfectly sideburn'd wig. It's a beautiful thing, and it's as simple as that. 

Currently unavailable to watch or rent. 

7. Stevo — SLC Punk! (1998)

Sony Pictures / Everett Collection

Representing the OG DIY punk cut and color is Stevo, who is making it VERY clear that he is, indeed, an outsider in Salt Lake City (the SLC in the title in case you are like me and didn't understand what it stood for and then felt very stupid). He at one point also has an incredibly impressive mohawk, but TBH I feel like the style above — short, spiky, lookin' heavy with gel or just unwashed — does more for the character who is a walking, talking billboard reading, "I'm different!" from the second he rolls out of bed. Huge shoutout to this head that is absolutely soaked and sopping with dye, and thoughts and prayers to the surely bleached-to-hell hair beneath.

Rent it from Prime Video.

6. Bugs — The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Warner Bros. / Everett Collection

I know what you're thinking: You just said another character got dinged for having AI blue hair, and Bugs only has blue hair when she's in "The Matrix" and can look however she wants. That's all true. But have you considered how COOL Bugs is? Or how the projected version of selfhood in The Matrix has been updated for modern trends, and this short blue cut is the element that's styled best on Bugs *and* on any other new character? If anything, I need MORE of this short blue 'do. Replace these glasses with glasses covered in short blue hair! Make that chain out of short blue hair! Lana Wachowski, if you're listening, I pray for Bugs to wear a short blue hair jacket in the fifth Matrix installment. 

Rent it on Prime Video.

5. Winona — Pink Skies Ahead (2020)

MTV / Everett Collection

Winona in Pink Skies Ahead is a 20-year-old just trying to figure out this thing called life, coping with mental health struggles along the way. How do you know? 1) A doctor said so, and 2) Her hair is the color of a slushy. This is just one instance of movies using blue hair as shorthand for mental illness, which at once feels reductive but perhaps not unfair (I dyed my hair sunflower yellow during my lowest year). Blue hair doesn't always = pain, but when it does, you should be so lucky as to have blue hair this nice. Dark and pigmented with just a bit of root, this is the blue raspberry dye dreams are made of.  

Buy it on Amazon Prime.

4. Emma — Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)

Sundance Selects / Everett Collection

The world stopped spinning in 2013 when Emma — the queer French artist from Blue Is the Warmest Color — sparked sexual awakenings the world over with her just-OK paintings, lingering glances, and, most importantly, faded blue hair. In my initial ranking, Emma was much further down on the list because — I'll say it! — this dye job is crappy. But that's what's so great about it. The coolest, most heartbreaking woman in the world doesn't come with perfect pigment and a cut that makes sense (more on that in a bit). Maybe it's the millennial in me talking, but I like my [manic pixie?] dream girls with hair that I could see on a real person and exchange heated eye contact with. 

Rent it on Prime Video.

3. Angela Childs — Kimi (2022)

Warner Bros. Pictures

This is very high placement for blue hair in a new movie that has yet to become a piece of iconography, but facts are facts: This blue hair is amazing! Blue hair in movies is back, baby, and Angela (who I consistently refer to as Kimi despite Kimi actually being the Alexa-like AI device whose all-hearing technology the film centers around) has some of the best I've ever seen, even if it is blue hair appearing once again to signal, "I am unwell." The cut is wholly modern, the color is vibrant but not wiggy, and, all in all, it's revived my excitement for colorful hair. Looking forward to sending Steven Soderbergh an invoice for the stupidly expensive haircut and color this will likely prompt in my near future (I have finally lived long enough to be afraid of bleaching my own hair; I am a poser and should be held accountable as such). As a stray note, Angela — who asks at one point, "Why can't things just be good? Why do things always have to be 'the best'?" — would absolutely hate to learn that she was featured in this ranking. 

Watch it on HBO Max.

2. Ramona Flowers — Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (2010)

Double Negative / Universal / Everett Collection

I am not here to discuss wether or not Ramona Flowers is a manic pixie dream girl in the movie or in the graphic novels — I am here to discuss how freaking cool her hair is. First of all, shoutout to the haircut for making any color that's *not* vibrant and unnatural seem like the stupid, ill-fitting choice. This hair was made to be bright, and it's only in the second-place spot because it was made to be *a* color, but not specifically blue. The green and pink we see in the rest of the movie are equally good, if not even better, looks, rendering the blue one of several great options rather than The One. 

Watch it on Peacock. 

1. Clementine Kruczynski — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Focus Features / Everett Collection

Yes, Clementine's dye is faded. Yes, her hair is a different color in half of the movie. But the blue is just...*sigh*. Imagine this little blue head with blonde roots popping up from the train seat in front of you or sitting behind a desk at a bookstore or wandering through a crumbling home in Montauk or saying goodbye to you in a hallway, and you know in your heart of hearts that it's the greatest blue hair there ever was. The only blue hair for you! The number-one blue hair. Blue hair so good it doesn't matter that it's stringy and dry and uncared for. Blue hair so good I'd argue it launched most blue hair on this list post its depiction. Blue hair so good that even if it was erased from your memory with a miraculous and dark new piece of technology, you could never really forget it.  

Watch it for free on Prime Video with IMDb.

Honorable mention: Enid Coleslaw — Ghost World (2001)

TCD/ Prod. DB / Alamy Stock Photo

And finally, an honorable mention to Enid Coleslaw from Ghost World who has greenish and black and almost blue hair in the movie, but seems to only *actually* have it in the promotional material...? You could have cracked the top 3! Idk, tell me if I'm totally wrong on this! Maybe we've found our new The Dress. 

Rent it on Prime Video. 

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