His films include The Punisher (2004), X-Men: The Last Stand and Alpha Dog (both 2006), 30 Days of Night (2007), The Messenger and Pandorum (both 2009),[2] The Mechanic (2011), Contraband (2012), Kill Your Darlings and Lone Survivor (both 2013), The Program (2015), Warcraft (2016), and Leave No Trace (2018).

He has won an Independent Spirit Award for portraying Tanner Howard in Hell or High Water (2016).

[7][8] His paternal grandparents were Celia (Segal) and Abraham Foster, who was a prominent judge and politician in Boston; their families emigrated from the Russian Empire.

[6] In the crime thriller Alpha Dog, he played the character Jake Mazursky and added glaucoma drops to his eyes to simulate the appearance of a drug addict in the film.

[15] In February 2013, he was cast to replace Shia LaBeouf in the Broadway play Orphans as his first theater performance.

[16] In May 2014, it was announced that he would star opposite Gillian Anderson and Vanessa Kirby in Benedict Andrews' new production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic in London.

[18] Foster played Lance Armstrong in the biopic The Program,[19][20] and co-starred in the fantasy adventure Warcraft, released in June 2016.

[21] Also in 2016, Foster appeared in Hell or High Water as the dangerous Tanner Howard, opposite Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges.

[36] After filming of the movie Here ended, five members of the cast and crew got tattooed with the letters T.I.A., which stand for This Is Armenia.