Five of the best from Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock is one of the most powerful and well-respected women working in Hollywood today. Having won her first Oscar for The Blind Side in 2009, she's gone on to star in one of the most successful films of last year, Gravity. Here's some of her greatest hits...

5. MURDER BY NUMBERS

It really speaks to Bullock's bravery that she signed on for something like Murder By Numbers. Playing a somewhat unlikeable character, a hard-bitten detective, Bullock's performance was riven with the same kind of underlying tension and darkness behind the eyes that she would later use in Gravity. Also, keep an eye for baby-faced Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt as the two psychopathic killers who decide to frame Chris Penn for murder.

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4. TWO WEEKS NOTICE

It might be more famous for being called out in 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' – also known as the Grammar Nazi's bible – but Two Weeks Notice is a light, airy romantic comedy that plays to Bullock's strengths. Playing a lawyer working to save a community center, she's hired by a flamboyant playboy in the form of Hugh Grant. It's soon apparent that Grant's playboy has nothing in his life worth keeping and forms a friendship – and more – with Bullock.

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3. FORCES OF NATURE

It doesn't get much more early 2000's than this – Ben Affleck, pre-everything really, Sandra Bullock when she was in her rom-com phase and Maura Tierney; the woman from ER who looked creepily like Jennifer Anniston. Bullock plays a free-spirited young woman who's seated next to writer Affleck. He's trying to get to his wedding but “forces of nature” are working against him. It's almost as if everything is trying to put him and Bullock together. 'Cos that happens in real life. Cough.

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2. DEMOLITION MAN

Demolition Man is a cult favourite, featuring Wesley Snipes in his prime and a painfully-young Sandra Bullock as an idealistic cop who's teamed up with Sylvester Stallone. Stallone's character – John Spartan – is woken up in the future to fight Snipes, a criminal mastermind who's bent on destroying the supposed peace the world lives in. It's daft as hell but the blend of comedy, sci-fi, action and violence makes Demolition Man an overlooked classic.

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1. THE BLIND SIDE

The role Bullock won a Best Actress Oscar for, The Blind Side tells the story of Leigh Anne Tuohy, a tough-but-fair businesswoman who takes in Michael, a soft-spoken youth who becomes a star football player on his high school team. Directed by John Lee Hancock, the film is an emotional story of adopted families and the loyalties that grow from sport and family. Bullock's strong-minded character cries out for you to dislike her, but you're won over over the course of the film. So much so, that you're actively rooting for her by the end. A truly deserved Oscar win for Bullock.