Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#5656
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Ashley Judd represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 32 years in, and Ashley is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Ashley Judd appears in 26 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Ashley. Heat is the clearest case: a film rated 9.0 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 thriller, drama, history. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Maria Schrader, Robert Schwentke, Vikram Gandhi and others, Ashley Judd helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Heat (1995) as Charlene Shiherlis · Heat (1995) as Charlene Shiherlis · Frida (2002) as Tina Modotti
Career snapshot
Ranked #5656 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
26
1992–2024
Career length
32 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.0
Heat
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
Heat
Most frequent director
Robert Schwentke
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Robert Schwentke
Most common genre
Drama
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 57m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
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
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
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
1990s
6.9 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Double Jeopardy, Eye of the Beholder, Simon Birch — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.9
Across 9 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Double Jeopardy, Eye of the Beholder, Simon Birch.
Most productive era
1990s
9 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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.25 films | 6.47 films | 5.71 film | 7.21 film |
| Action | 7.63 films | 5.61 film | 6.44 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.95 films | 6.03 films | 6.42 films | 6.01 film |
| Comedy | 6.63 films | 6.43 films | 5.92 films | — |
| Crime | 7.26 films | 6.03 films | — | — |
| Romance | — | 6.83 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | 6.11 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1992Kuffs
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Wife of Paint Store Owner.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
1995Heat
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.0 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.
Most recent film
2024Lazareth
The current state of the argument, as Lee.
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.
26 of 26 films
as Charlene Shiherlis
Directed by Michael Mann
as Charlene Shiherlis
Directed by Michael Mann
as Lexie Coop
Directed by Matt Williams
as Carla Brigance
Directed by Joel Schumacher
as Natalie
Directed by Neil Burger
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 26 titles · 27 total credits · active 1992–2024
Lazareth
2024 · Lee · Executive Producer
She Said
2022 · Ashley Judd
Allegiant
2016 · Natalie Prior
Barry
2016 · Ann Dunham
Good Kids
2016 · Gabby
Berlin Station
2016 · TV · BB Yates
Insurgent
2015 · Natalie Prior
Divergent
2014 · Natalie
Olympus Has Fallen
2013 · Margaret Asher
Tooth Fairy
2010 · Carly
Crossing Over
2009 · Denise Frankel
Bug
2007 · Agnes White
Twisted
2004 · Jessica Shepard
High Crimes
2002 · Claire Kubik
Frida
2002 · Tina Modotti
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
2002 · Younger Vivi
Someone Like You...
2001 · Jane Goodale
Where the Heart Is
2000 · Lexie Coop
Double Jeopardy
1999 · Libby Parsons
Eye of the Beholder
1999 · Joanna Eris
Simon Birch
1998 · Rebecca Wenteworth
Kiss the Girls
1997 · Dr. Kate McTiernan
A Time to Kill
1996 · Carla Brigance
Heat
1995 · Charlene Shiherlis
The defining work
#1
Charlene Shiherlis
Heat (1995)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Charlene Shiherlis gives Ashley Judd a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Charlene Shiherlis
Heat (1995)
Performance score7.8
Heat asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Charlene Shiherlis is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lexie Coop
Where the Heart Is (2000)
Performance score7.5
Where the Heart Is asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lexie Coop is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Carla Brigance
A Time to Kill (1996)
Performance score7.5
A Time to Kill asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Carla Brigance 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 Charlene Shiherlis
Start here. Heat is the clearest statement of what Ashley Judd does — accessible, 170 minutes, and rated 9.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Ashley 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.
Heat (1995)
Same director as Heat, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
A Time to Kill (1996)
Keeps the crime register of Heat but asks for a colder reading of it.
Where the Heart Is (2000)
Keeps the drama register of A Time to Kill but asks for a colder reading of it.
Divergent (2014)
A deliberate change of key after Where the Heart Is — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Michael Mann
Director
2 films together
Notably Heat
Robert Schwentke
Director
2 films together
Notably Insurgent
Bruce A. Evans
Director
1 film together
Notably Kuffs
Joel Schumacher
Director
1 film together
Notably A Time to Kill
Gary Fleder
Director
1 film together
Notably Kiss the Girls
Mark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Simon Birch
Bruce Beresford
Director
1 film together
Notably Double Jeopardy
Matt Williams
Director
1 film together
Notably Where the Heart Is
Tony Goldwyn
Director
1 film together
Notably Someone Like You...
Callie Khouri
Director
1 film together
Notably Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Julie Taymor
Director
1 film together
Notably Frida
Carl Franklin
Director
1 film together
Notably High Crimes
Philip Kaufman
Director
1 film together
Notably Twisted
William Friedkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Bug
Wayne Kramer
Director
1 film together
Notably Crossing Over
Michael Lembeck
Director
1 film together
Notably Tooth Fairy
Antoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together
Notably Olympus Has Fallen
Neil Burger
Director
1 film together
Notably Divergent
Vikram Gandhi
Director
1 film together
Notably Barry
Maria Schrader
Director
1 film together
Notably She Said
Robert De Niro
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Al Pacino
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Ted Levine
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Val Kilmer
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Jon Voight
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Tom Sizemore
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Diane Venora
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Amy Brenneman
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Mykelti Williamson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Wes Studi
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Dennis Haysbert
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
William Fichtner
Actor
1 film together
Notably Heat
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Michael Mann
Director
2 films together · 8.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
HeatRobert Schwentke
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
InsurgentJulie Taymor
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FridaJoel Schumacher
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Time to KillMaria Schrader
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She SaidMatt Williams
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Where the Heart IsNeil Burger
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DivergentMark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Simon BirchBruce Beresford
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Double JeopardyGary Fleder
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kiss the GirlsAntoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Olympus Has FallenCarl Franklin
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
High CrimesWayne Kramer
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crossing OverWilliam Friedkin
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BugCallie Khouri
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya SisterhoodTony Goldwyn
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Someone Like You...Bruce A. Evans
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
KuffsVikram Gandhi
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BarryPhilip Kaufman
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TwistedMichael Lembeck
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tooth FairySix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Heat
as Charlene Shiherlis
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Frida
as Tina Modotti
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Heat
as Charlene Shiherlis
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
She Said
as Ashley Judd
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Heat
as Charlene Shiherlis
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. Ashley Judd has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.1 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #354 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.0 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Crime, Thriller, Action | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Michael Mann | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Intensity, Villain presence, Screen presence | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 1995–1995 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Charlene Shiherlis — Heat | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Heat | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Top 100 Crime Movies, Crime Movies, Thriller Movies
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
32 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
14 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
Heat
as Charlene Shiherlis
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Heat
as Charlene Shiherlis
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
She Said
as Ashley Judd
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
High Crimes
as Claire Kubik
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Heat
as Charlene Shiherlis
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Twisted
as Jessica Shepard
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Where the Heart Is
as Lexie Coop
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Heat
as Charlene Shiherlis
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 6 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
theme
Best Heist Movies
Features Heat at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Best Action Movies
Features Heat at #2
Read the collectiongenre
Top 100 Crime Movies
Features Heat
Read the collectiongenre
Action Movies
Features Heat
Read the collectiongenre
Crime Movies
Features Heat
Read the collectiongenre
Thriller Movies
Features Heat
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Ted Levine
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
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Reference
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