Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2601
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Bill Pullman represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 40 years in, and Bill is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Bill Pullman appears in 29 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Bill. Dark Waters is the clearest case: a film rated 7.5 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 science fiction, comedy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Josh Greenbaum, Nisha Ganatra, Todd Haynes and others, Bill Pullman 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.
Dark Waters (2019) as Harry Dietzler · The Equalizer (2014) as Brian Plummer · Phoebe in Wonderland (2008) as Peter Lichten
Career snapshot
Ranked #2601 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
29
1987–2027
Career length
40 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
Dark Waters
Average Nutevio score
6.0
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
Dark Waters
Most frequent director
Antoine Fuqua
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Antoine Fuqua
Most common genre
Drama
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 47m
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
6.6
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
1980s
6.9 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Spaceballs — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
6.9
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
6.9
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Spaceballs.
Most productive era
2010s
10 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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 6.85 films | 7.21 film | 6.56 films | 3.52 films |
| Action | — | 7.11 film | 6.61 film | 6.44 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.51 film | 6.12 films | 6.66 films | 5.71 film |
| Comedy | 6.91 film | 6.94 films | 5.63 films | 6.42 films | 3.52 films |
| Crime | — | — | 5.72 films | 6.63 films | — |
| Romance | — | 6.92 films | 6.21 film | — | 7.01 film |
| Horror | — | — | 5.91 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1987Spaceballs
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Lone Starr.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2019Dark Waters
7.5 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
The current state of the argument, as Lone Starr.
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.
29 of 29 films
as Harry Dietzler
Directed by Todd Haynes
as President Thomas J. Whitmore
Directed by Roland Emmerich
as Lone Starr
Directed by Mel Brooks
as Brian Plummer
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
as Jack Callaghan
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Harry Dietzler
Dark Waters (2019)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Harry Dietzler gives Bill Pullman a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
President Thomas J. Whitmore
Independence Day (1996)
Performance score7.5
Independence Day asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. President Thomas J. Whitmore is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lone Starr
Spaceballs (1987)
Performance score7.5
Spaceballs asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lone Starr is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Brian Plummer
The Equalizer (2014)
Performance score7.4
The Equalizer asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Brian Plummer 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 Harry Dietzler
Start here. Dark Waters is the clearest statement of what Bill Pullman does — accessible, 127 minutes, and rated 7.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Bill 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.
Spaceballs (1987)
A deliberate change of key after Dark Waters — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Keeps the comedy register of Spaceballs but asks for a colder reading of it.
Independence Day (1996)
A deliberate change of key after While You Were Sleeping — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Equalizer (2014)
Keeps the action register of Independence Day but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Nora Ephron
Director
2 films together
Notably Sleepless in Seattle
Roland Emmerich
Director
2 films together
Notably Independence Day
Antoine Fuqua
Director
2 films together
Notably The Equalizer
Mel Brooks
Director
1 film together
Notably Spaceballs
Kenny Ortega
Director
1 film together
Notably Newsies
Penny Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably A League of Their Own
Lawrence Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Wyatt Earp
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably While You Were Sleeping
Brad Silberling
Director
1 film together
Notably Casper
Jonathan Kaplan
Director
1 film together
Notably Brokedown Palace
Gary Goldman
Director
1 film together
Notably Titan A.E.
Takashi Shimizu
Director
1 film together
Notably The Grudge
David Zucker
Director
1 film together
Notably Scary Movie 4
John Dahl
Director
1 film together
Notably You Kill Me
Daniel Barnz
Director
1 film together
Notably Phoebe in Wonderland
Nima Nourizadeh
Director
1 film together
Notably American Ultra
Rob Reiner
Director
1 film together
Notably LBJ
Jonathan Dayton
Director
1 film together
Notably Battle of the Sexes
Todd Haynes
Director
1 film together
Notably Dark Waters
Nisha Ganatra
Director
1 film together
Notably The High Note
Josh Greenbaum
Director
1 film together
Notably Spaceballs: The New One
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Antoine Fuqua
Director
2 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The EqualizerRoland Emmerich
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
Independence DayNora Ephron
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Sleepless in SeattleTodd Haynes
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dark WatersDaniel Barnz
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Phoebe in WonderlandPenny Marshall
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A League of Their OwnNisha Ganatra
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The High NoteJon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
While You Were SleepingMel Brooks
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SpaceballsJonathan Dayton
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Battle of the SexesLawrence Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wyatt EarpKenny Ortega
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NewsiesGary Goldman
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Titan A.E.Jonathan Kaplan
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Brokedown PalaceBrad Silberling
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CasperRob Reiner
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LBJJohn Dahl
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
You Kill MeNima Nourizadeh
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American UltraTakashi Shimizu
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The GrudgeDavid Zucker
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scary Movie 4Josh Greenbaum
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Spaceballs: The New OneSix 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
Dark Waters
as Harry Dietzler
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The High Note
as Max
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Dark Waters
as Harry Dietzler
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
A League of Their Own
as Bob Hinson
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Dark Waters
as Harry Dietzler
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. Bill Pullman has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
40 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
Dark Waters
as Harry Dietzler
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Equalizer
as Brian Plummer
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The High Note
as Max
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Peacock
as Edmund French
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Independence Day
as President Thomas J. Whitmore
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Titan A.E.
as Korso (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The High Note
as Max
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Independence Day
as President Thomas J. Whitmore
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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