Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#541
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Al Pacino represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 55 years in, and Al is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Al Pacino appears in 62 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Al. The great American register shift — decades of quiet before the eruption. Killing Castro is the clearest case: a film rated 10.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for crime, drama, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Gus Van Sant, Bobby Moresco, Alec Griffen Roth and others, Al Pacino helped set a standard other performers now audition against. 1 Academy Award confirm what the films already argue.
Killing Castro (2026) as Robert Maheu · The Godfather (1972) as Michael Corleone · Heat (1995) as Lt. Vincent Hanna
Career snapshot
Ranked #541 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
62
1971–2026
Career length
59 yrs
Active since 1967
Academy Awards
1
Competitive wins
Oscar nominations
9
Career total
Highest Nutevio score
10.0
Killing Castro
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
10.0
Killing Castro
Most frequent director
Francis Ford Coppola
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Francis Ford Coppola
Most common genre
Drama
46 titles
Average runtime
2h 3m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
4
Career total
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.5
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
8.6
out of 10
Substantial influence: the work changed casting, not only credits.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1970s
7.9 average MV
The 1970s are where the work and the material meet. ...And Justice for All, Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather Part II — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1970s
7.9
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1970s
7.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
3 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. ...And Justice for All, Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather Part II.
Most productive era
1990s
15 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.98 films | 7.52 films | 7.412 films | 5.96 films | 6.29 films | 5.19 films |
| Action | — | 8.31 film | 8.52 films | 6.41 film | 6.01 film | 7.01 film |
| Thriller | 7.71 film | — | 7.56 films | 6.27 films | 6.05 films | 6.24 films |
| Comedy | — | — | 6.52 films | 5.43 films | 6.05 films | — |
| Crime | 8.26 films | 7.52 films | 7.88 films | 6.05 films | 5.63 films | 6.44 films |
| Romance | 6.71 film | 6.61 film | 6.81 film | 5.63 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | — | 7.61 film | — | — | 5.91 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
Career begins
1967Working from 1967
The start of the professional record — years before the catalogue picks the story up.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Bobby.
First Nutevio masterpiece
1972The Godfather
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches.
First Academy Award nomination
1973The Godfather
Best Supporting Actor — the moment the industry started writing the same sentences our editors had been writing.
First Academy Award
1993Scent of a Woman
Best Actor. Confirmation rather than revelation, which is how the best of these usually arrive.
Highest rated performance · Career peak · Most recent film
2026Killing Castro
10.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once. The current state of the argument, as Robert Maheu.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
62 of 62 films
as Robert Maheu
Directed by Eif Rivera
as Michael Corleone
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
as Lt. Vincent Hanna
Directed by Michael Mann
as Don Michael Corleone
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
as Don Michael Corleone
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 63 titles · 65 total credits · active 1971–2026
Dead Man's Wire
2026 · M.L. Hall
In the Hand of Dante
2026 · Uncle Carmine
Maserati: The Brothers
2026 · Actor
Billy Knight
2026 · Billy Knight
Killing Castro
2026 · Robert Maheu
The Ritual
2025 · Father Theophilus Riesinger
Breakdown: 1975
2025 · Sonny Wortzik (archive footage)
Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness
2024 · Maurice Gangnat · Producer
Knox Goes Away
2024 · Xavier Crane
Sly
2023 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Family Stallone
2023 · TV · Self
House of Gucci
2021 · Aldo Gucci
American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally
2021 · James Laughlin
Making 'The Irishman'
2020 · Self
Al Pacino: The Reluctant Star
2020 · (archive footage)
Hunters
2020 · TV · Meyer Offerman / Wilhelm Zuchs
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
2019 · Marvin Schwarz
The Irishman: In Conversation
2019 · Self
Paterno
2018 · Joe Paterno
Hangman
2017 · Detective Archer
The Pirates of Somalia
2017 · Seymour Tolbin
Misconduct
2016 · Charles Abrams
Danny Collins
2015 · Danny Collins
Manglehorn
2015 · A.J. Manglehorn
The defining work
#1
Robert Maheu
Killing Castro (2026)
Performance score9.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Robert Maheu gives Al Pacino a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Michael Corleone
The Godfather (1972)
Performance score9.7
The Godfather asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Michael Corleone is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lt. Vincent Hanna
Heat (1995)
Performance score9.3
Heat asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lt. Vincent Hanna is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Don Michael Corleone
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992)
Performance score9.3
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Don Michael Corleone is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Robert Maheu
Start here. Killing Castro is the clearest statement of what Al Pacino does — accessible, 0 minutes, and rated 10.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Al at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
The Godfather (1972)
Keeps the drama register of Killing Castro but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Same director as The Godfather, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992)
Same director as The Godfather Part II, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Heat (1995)
Keeps the crime register of The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
5 films together
Notably The Godfather
Michael Mann
Director
3 films together
Notably Heat
Barry Levinson
Director
3 films together
Notably You Don't Know Jack
Jerry Schatzberg
Director
2 films together
Notably Scarecrow
Sidney Lumet
Director
2 films together
Notably Dog Day Afternoon
Brian De Palma
Director
2 films together
Notably Scarface
Martin Brest
Director
2 films together
Notably Scent of a Woman
Jon Avnet
Director
2 films together
Notably Righteous Kill
Norman Jewison
Director
1 film together
Notably ...And Justice for All
Warren Beatty
Director
1 film together
Notably Dick Tracy
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Frankie and Johnny
Alek Keshishian
Director
1 film together
Notably Madonna: Truth or Dare
James Foley
Director
1 film together
Notably Glengarry Glen Ross
Taylor Hackford
Director
1 film together
Notably The Devil's Advocate
Mike Newell
Director
1 film together
Notably Donnie Brasco
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Any Given Sunday
Daniel Algrant
Director
1 film together
Notably People I Know
Andrew Niccol
Director
1 film together
Notably S1m0ne
Christopher Nolan
Director
1 film together
Notably Insomnia
Roger Donaldson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Recruit
Michael Radford
Director
1 film together
Notably The Merchant of Venice
D.J. Caruso
Director
1 film together
Notably Two for the Money
Dennis Dugan
Director
1 film together
Notably Jack and Jill
Fisher Stevens
Director
1 film together
Notably Stand Up Guys
David Gordon Green
Director
1 film together
Notably Manglehorn
Dan Fogelman
Director
1 film together
Notably Danny Collins
Shintaro Shimosawa
Director
1 film together
Notably Misconduct
Quentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together
Notably Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably House of Gucci
Thom Zimny
Director
1 film together
Notably Sly
Michael Keaton
Director
1 film together
Notably Knox Goes Away
Johnny Depp
Director
1 film together
Notably Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness
Morgan Neville
Director
1 film together
Notably Breakdown: 1975
Eif Rivera
Director
1 film together
Notably Killing Castro
Alec Griffen Roth
Director
1 film together
Notably Billy Knight
Bobby Moresco
Director
1 film together
Notably Maserati: The Brothers
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Man's Wire
Marlon Brando
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
James Caan
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Robert Duvall
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Richard S. Castellano
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Diane Keaton
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Talia Shire
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Gianni Russo
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Sterling Hayden
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
John Marley
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Richard Conte
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Al Lettieri
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Abe Vigoda
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Godfather
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
5 films together · 8.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The GodfatherMichael Mann
Director
3 films together · 8.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
HeatBarry Levinson
Director
3 films together · 6.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
You Don't Know JackBrian De Palma
Director
2 films together · 8.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ScarfaceSidney Lumet
Director
2 films together · 7.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Dog Day AfternoonJerry Schatzberg
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ScarecrowMartin Brest
Director
2 films together · 5.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Scent of a WomanJon Avnet
Director
2 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Righteous KillEif Rivera
Director
1 film together · 10.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Killing CastroQuentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Once Upon a Time... in HollywoodTaylor Hackford
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Devil's AdvocateMike Newell
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Donnie BrascoThom Zimny
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SlyJames Foley
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Glengarry Glen RossChristopher Nolan
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
InsomniaNorman Jewison
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
...And Justice for AllMichael Keaton
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Knox Goes AwayMorgan Neville
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Breakdown: 1975Michael Radford
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Merchant of VeniceOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Any Given SundayGarry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Frankie and JohnnyDan Fogelman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Danny CollinsRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
House of GucciGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead Man's WireRoger Donaldson
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The RecruitAlek Keshishian
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madonna: Truth or DareJohnny Depp
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Modi, Three Days on the Wing of MadnessWarren Beatty
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dick TracyD.J. Caruso
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Two for the MoneyFisher Stevens
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stand Up GuysAndrew Niccol
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
S1m0neShintaro Shimosawa
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MisconductDavid Gordon Green
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ManglehornDaniel Algrant
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
People I KnowDennis Dugan
Director
1 film together · 4.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jack and JillBobby Moresco
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Maserati: The BrothersAlec Griffen Roth
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Billy KnightSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
3 wins · 2 nominations
2 wins · 2 nominations · latest 1993
Scent of a Woman · as Actor
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II · as Actor
The Godfather · as Actor
1 win · latest 2004
Angels in America · as Actor
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
The Godfather
as Michael Corleone
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Killing Castro
as Robert Maheu
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Godfather
as Michael Corleone
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Breakdown: 1975
as Sonny Wortzik (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Godfather
as Michael Corleone
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Al Pacino has known it for a long time.”
“I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.”
“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.8 | 8.9 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #5 of 681 | #2 of 681 |
| Awards on file | 4 recorded | 4 recorded |
| Oscar wins | 1 | 2 |
| Oscar nominations | 9 | 6 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.3 | 9.3 |
| Genres | Crime, Thriller, Action, Drama | Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama, Thriller |
| Directors | Michael Mann, Francis Ford Coppola | Christopher Nolan |
| Performance DNA | Screen presence, Quiet performance, Charisma | Transformation, Screen presence, Rewatchability |
| Career timeline | 1972–1995 | 2006–2014 |
| Most iconic role | Michael Corleone — The Godfather | Professor Brand — Interstellar |
| Most rewatchable film | The Godfather | The Dark Knight |
| Filmography | 2 catalogue films | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Best Heist Movies, Best Action Movies, Action Movies, Crime Movies, Thriller Movies, Top 250 Movies of All Time
Our editors cannot separate them on the catalogue as it stands. Al Pacino and Michael Caine score within a rounding error of each other.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
55 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Editor's Icon
Awarded
Named by our desk for a body of work we return to when we need to explain what screen acting is for.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Most Influential Career
Awarded
Recognised for changing what casting directors thought a leading performance could look like.
Drama Legend
Awarded
46 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Killing Castro
as Robert Maheu
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Godfather
as Michael Corleone
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Killing Castro
as Robert Maheu
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Glengarry Glen Ross
as Ricky Roma
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Killing Castro
as Robert Maheu
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Heat
as Lt. Vincent Hanna
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Gigli
as Starkman
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Heat
as Lt. Vincent Hanna
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 8 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
genre
Top 100 Crime Movies
Includes Heat, The Godfather
Read the collectiongenre
Crime Movies
Includes Heat, The Godfather
Read the collectiontheme
Best Heist Movies
Features Heat at #1
Read the collectionranking
Top 250 Movies of All Time
Features The Godfather at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Drama Movies
Features The Godfather at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Best Action Movies
Features Heat at #2
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
If you like this performer
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Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
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Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
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Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
Robert Downey Jr.
Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
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