Lanthimos started his career in experimental theatre before making his directorial film debut with the sex comedy My Best Friend (2001).

Lanthimos transitioned to making English-language films with the black comedy The Lobster (2015), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the psychological thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017).

Since 1995 he has directed TV commercials, short films, experimental theater plays and music videos (such as for Sakis Rouvas).

"[10] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter wrote a positive review he stating, "The standoffish debut holds some pleasures for patient viewers" adding, "Lanthimos enjoys provoking us visually...The camera’s gaze is as idiosyncratic as the visions the Driver tries to bring to life, but unlike him, the film seems satisfied with what it creates.

But its edgy integrity and distinctive atmosphere should win fans in some corners, particularly among those who admire the less tongue-in-cheek work of Lars Von Trier.

"[20] Lanthimos's fifth film was the absurdist black comedy The Lobster (2015) starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, and John C. Reilly.

"[25] In 2017, Lanthimos directed the psychological horror film The Killing of a Sacred Deer starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Barry Keoghan.

Mark Kermode of The Guardian wrote: "As black comedy gives way to grand guignol, we are reminded of the tortured games that Michael Haneke once played upon his bourgeois protagonists and audiences."

[26] In 2018 he directed the period black comedy, The Favourite starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

The film is a tragicomic tale of personal and political jealousy and intrigue revolving around Anne, Queen of Great Britain in 18th-century England.

Scott writing, "Lanthimos, his camera gliding through gilded corridors and down stone staircases — in exquisitely patterned light and shadow, with weird lenses and startling angles — choreographs an elaborate pageant of decorum and violence, claustrophobia and release.

[30][31] The story, set on the Greek Cycladic island of Tenos, revolves around a woman in black who is mourning inside a simple house.

[32][33] The film has been described as experimental and surrealist in style and focuses on themes of loneliness, connection, death, and desire as well as human and animal interaction.

[44] Between 2018 and 2021 it was reported that Lanthimos was in talks to direct adaptations of The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western,[45] with New Regency and Vertigo Entertainment joined as co-producers, and Pop.

In January 2024, it was announced he would direct an English-language remake of the 2003 Korean science fiction comedy Save the Green Planet!

[49] In February 2025, it was reported that Lanthimos would write and direct an adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette's thriller Fatale with James Schamus producing.

[citation needed] While working as an actor and producer on Attenberg (2010), Lanthimos met and began dating the film's star, French actress Ariane Labed.