[4] He went on to gain attention for his television roles in Psychoville (2009–2011), The Fades (2011), and the Black Mirror episode "Fifteen Million Merits" (2011).

In 2017, Kaluuya had his breakthrough starring in Jordan Peele's horror film Get Out, which garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

[14] Kaluuya appeared in his first credited acting role in 2006 as Reece in the BBC's controversial drama Shoot the Messenger.

[15] After Skins, Kaluuya appeared as a guest star in many popular television series such as Silent Witness, the Doctor Who special "Planet of the Dead", and Lewis.

At the end of 2009, the Screen International Magazine picked Kaluuya out in their annual report as a UK Star of Tomorrow.

[17] In 2010, Kaluuya played the lead role in Roy Williams' Sucker Punch at the Royal Court Theatre in London; Kaluuya won rave reviews for his performance and he won both the Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer.

[22][23] Kaluuya played one of the lead characters opposite Jessica Brown Findlay in "Fifteen Million Merits", an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror, for which he received positive reviews from critics.

[24] The episode originally premiered on Channel 4 in 2011, but gained popularity after it was subsequently released on Netflix in the United States.

[25] It was his performance in Black Mirror that attracted the attention of Jordan Peele, who later cast him in Get Out, which proved to be his breakthrough role.

[29][30] Steven Gaydos of Variety wrote that "the terror, tension, humor, and fury of this powerfully effective cinematic balancing act all rests on the shoulders of this brilliant young British actor who communicates universal anxieties without ever losing the essential home address of his beleaguered African-American hero.

[38] Kaluuya also had a large role in the heist film Widows (2018), and starred in the road trip/crime movie Queen & Slim (2019), opposite Jodie Turner-Smith.

In early 2021, Kaluuya was cast in Peele's sci-fi horror Nope, alongside Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun.

[50] In March 2022, it was revealed that Kaluuya was writing a dystopian drama for Netflix, titled The Kitchen, with Kibwe Tavares set to direct.

[51] The drama will star Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman, and is being co-written by Joe Murtagh, and executive-produced by Michael Fassbender.