17 of the best fictional dads of all time and 10 of the worst

Newly minted best picture winner "CODA" (Child of Deaf Adults), is the story of Ruby (Emilia Jones), the only hearing person in her family. But, in a twist of fate, Ruby's true dream in life is to sing and attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston for college.

Understandably, her family can't totally relate to Ruby's dreams. But in one of the sweetest scenes in the movie, Frank (Kotsur), asks his daughter to sing while he puts his hands on her throat to feel the vibrations. It's genuinely lovely.

Across five seasons and two football teams, Coach Taylor, played by Kyle Chandler, was, as his wife said, "a molder of men." Some of his best "parenting" moments didn't even come from his relationship with his daughter Julie — though there were some — but from his talks with players Matt Saracen, Tim Riggins, Jason Street, and Vince Howard.

A moment that sticks out is when, in the series finale, Coach Taylor tells Vince (played by a young Michael B. Jordan) that he "may never know how proud I am of you," and Vince replies with a simple, "You changed my life, Coach." We suspect Vince isn't the only one whose life was changed by Eric Taylor.

Jack, played by Milo Ventimiglia, is what many would call "perfect" — even as the show went out of its way to prove he's not. Jack always had a speech for his each of his three kids, whether it was telling Kate that she was beautiful just the way she was, protecting Kevin from his abusive football coach, or showing Randall how much he cared by doing push-up after push-up at karate class.

In fact, it's the fact Jack is flawed that makes him such a wonderful dad — he tried to help his kids avoid repeating his mistakes (sometimes unsuccessfully). The death of Jack was so traumatic for viewers that Crock-Pot had to issue a statement explaining how the circumstances leading to his death wouldn't really happen.

In fact, Randall (played by Sterling K. Brown) might even be a better dad to his three daughters. He supported Tess when she comes out and made it a point to bond with Deja, his and Beth's adopted daughter, over their shared experiences. Randall went through the ringer over all six seasons of "This Is Us," but his commitment to being a good dad never wavered.

Of course, Fred was sadly lost too soon when actor Luke Perry died in 2019 between filming seasons three and four. But while he was around, he was potentially the only good father in the town of Riverdale — his competition being Jughead's absentee father FP, Betty's serial killer father Hal, Cheryl's killer father Cliff, Reggie's abusive father, and Veronica's cartoonishly evil father Hiram. Only Sheriff Keller could've given Fred a run for his money.

Fred supported Archie's dreams, whether it was music or football, was always a good sounding board, and left Archie with a lasting respect and love for his hometown that is still felt years later.

The whole reason Scott — played perfectly by Paul Rudd — became Ant-Man in the first place was to attempt to make money to pay child support and see his daughter, Cassie.

Their steadfast devotion to each other makes for one of the MCU's most beautiful relationships. Who among us didn't weep when Scott reunited with his Peanut in "Endgame" after years (for her) of separation? We can't wait to see how their dynamic evolves in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."

Mohan (played by Sendhil Ramamurthy) and Devi's relationship is at the heart of "Never Have I Ever," as viewers got to watch Mohan encourage his daughter's love for the harp and plant a garden in their backyard together. He was also the only one who could calm Devi down when she gets angry.

His death left a hole in the Vishwakumar household, but hopefully Devi will take the lessons she learned from him through the rest of the show.

For eight seasons, viewers could tune in each week to watch Andy (played by Griffith) dispense wisdom to his son Opie with humor and kindness that we all could use in our lives once in a while.

In a TV landscape that's now filled with anti-heroes and family dysfunction, there's a need for more dads like Andy.

Every few months, the internet seems to remember that Stanley Tucci played one of the best movie dads in recent history in "Easy A."

Dill is quick-witted, supports his daughter with no reservations, and — along with on-screen wife Rosemary (played by Patricia Clarkson) — provides his daughter with solid advice throughout.

We don't get a lot of time with Mufasa before his (traumatizing) death in "The Lion King," but the few moments we get with him are enough to warm your heart. From enlightening Simba about the circle of life to teaching him about responsibility and fear — the scene where Simba steps in Mufasa's huge paw-print remains chills-inducing — Mufasa is an A1 Disney dad.

Sure, Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, may be overprotective to a fault — but it's not every fish that would travel the entire ocean searching for one small clownfish.

"Finding Nemo" is, at its core, a story of a father learning to let go in order to let his son experience all of life, both positives and negatives. It's a lesson all parents learn at some point or another, but rarely is it as fun as it is in this Pixar gem.

Perhaps in one of the most iconic scenes in sitcom history, Will finally allowed himself to be upset at his father who has once again let him down — and instead of the usual antagonistic relationship between Will and Phil (played by the late James Avery), Phil grabbed his nephew in a silent bear hug. It's perfectly played, and cements Uncle Phil's place on this list forever.

Michael Stuhlbarg's performance as Elio's dad in the film sneaks up on you — at first you think he's just going to be a typical movie dad, not a huge presence.

But when Elio is devastated by his breakup with Oliver, Samuel reveals he knew about their relationship the whole time, and he encourages his son not to shut down, but to feel his grief and sadness and to grow from it. It's worth watching the speech in full.

Jefferson, voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, only wants what's best for his son Miles. But that doesn't mean the two's relationship is smooth sailing — Miles doesn't feel like his father understands him and doesn't support his love for street art, but by the end of the film, the two have come together to honor Jefferson's brother and Miles' uncle, Aaron. Here's hoping Jefferson has more to do in the sequel.

The impact of Atticus — played by Gregory Peck in an Oscar-winning performance — on the legal community cannot be overstated. Even Barack Obama quoted him in his farewell address in 2017, calling him "one of the great characters in American fiction."

He quoted him as such: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Atticus, father to Scout and Jem, is a lawyer in the Alabama town of Maycomb. Throughout the novel, he defends Tom, a Black man wrongfully accused of rape. Through it all, Atticus remains steadfast in his defense, and in turns imparts that lesson on Scout.

The less we talk about "Go Set a Watchman" the better.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" tells the real story of a father (played by Will Smith) willing to do whatever it takes to support and provide for his son (played by Smith's real-life son Jaden). The moment that Chris finally gets his job as a stockbroker and rushes to tell his son that they finally got a win will bring a tear to anyone's eye.

On paper, it seems like "Glee" would be setting up a contentious relationship between Kurt, a gay teenager living in Ohio, and his father, Burt, played by Mike O'Malley, a more traditionally masculine person.

But from the minute that Kurt comes out to his dad, Burt becomes his biggest supporter — he makes it a point to stand up for Kurt when he wants to sing "Defying Gravity," he yells at Finn when he uses a slur in front of Kurt, and is easily the best adult on the show.

Even before the whole fake death thing, Bart (Robert John Burke) was an absolutely terrible parent. He constantly put Chuck down, never believed in him, and was just ... the worst.

Then, when you add in that he let his only son believe he was dead for years, traumatizing him, and then eventually attempts to kill multiple times, you have an all-time bad dad. No wonder Chuck let him fall off a building.

Sure, Frank, played perfectly by William H. Macy, loved his kids, in his own way. But when you leave your oldest daughter in charge of your five other kids so you can go off and drink your weight in alcohol, scam the system in any way possible, and are literally pushed off a bridge by your kids, you're one of the worst fictional dads of all time.

For most of "Breaking Bad's" run, Walter, played by Bryan Cranston, claimed that he had become Heisenberg, a deadly meth kingpin, to support his wife and kids and provide for them after he died of lung cancer.

But as the years went by, the cancer stopped progressing and Walter became more and more detached from his humanity. By the end, Walter finally admitted what we the viewers and his wife already knew — he did it because he liked it.

Ego (Kurt Russell) might actually be the worst dad in the MCU, which is saying something. He almost brags to his son Peter about how many of his own kids he's killed in the quest for power, admits to Peter that he killed his mom, and then, when Peter is rightfully upset and trying to stop his dad from taking over the entire universe, he attempts to kill him.

We should've known with a name like Ego that he was not to be trusted, but it's still a gut punch.

Charles Dance's flawless portrayal of Tywin aside — we can all agree he was an absolutely horrendous father, right? He was so blinded by arrogance, he had no idea his twins were secretly hooking up for their entire lives, and he was so disgusted by Tyrion he couldn't see that Tyrion was the smartest one of all.

Tywin attempted several times to kill Tyrion, leading to his youngest son killing him on the toilet with a crossbow in an episode that iconically aired on Father's Day.

"No, I am your father." With those five words, "Star Wars" cemented itself as having the greatest plot twist of all time — instead of his father dying a hero, like he thought, Luke instead discovered his father became one of the most terrifying villains of all time: Darth Vader.

Maybe he redeemed himself in the end ... but remember the younglings!

Plus, with the inclusion of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones (the voice of both Vader and Mufasa) is the only actor to be both one of the best and one of the worst dads.

While it might not be totally his fault that he got possessed by the spirits of the Overlook Hotel, Jack (Jack Nicholson) had already broken his own kid's arm while he was drunk. That's bad enough on its own, but add in the attempted murder of his wife and son, and you've got yourself an all-time bad dad.

Leaving out the crime and murders he committed as part of the Mafia, the Don, played by Marlon Brando, was an abjectly terrible father. He got his sons in on the organized crime business, leading them on a path of fratricide, betrayals, abusive relationships, and more.

Who knows what might've happened if Michael had stayed away from the family, like he wanted to.

Even before Norman Osborn, played by Willem Dafoe, became the Green Goblin in "Spider-Man," he wasn't great at the whole fatherhood thing. He was absentee at best, uncaring and snobby at worst.

Once you added in the serum that turned him into Green Goblin, Norman went full evil — killing business partners, insulting his son and his girlfriend, and attempting to kill Peter — and he becomes irredeemable.

Logan, the patriarch of the Roy family played by Brian Cox, terrorizes his kids more effectively than any dad on this list.

He frequently pits them against each other, dangles rewards over their heads only to jerk them around, and has driven at least one kid to drug addiction. Perhaps in the highly anticipated season four, we'll see at least a few of the Roy children get some self-respect.