Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#383
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Cameron Diaz represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and Cameron is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Cameron Diaz appears in 37 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Cameron. Shrek is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 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 comedy, fantasy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Conrad Vernon, Jonah Hill, Seth Gordon and others, Cameron Diaz 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.
Shrek (2001) as Princess Fiona (voice) · Shrek 2 (2004) as Princess Fiona (voice) · Gangs of New York (2002) as Jenny Everdeane
Career snapshot
Ranked #383 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
37
1994–2027
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Shrek
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.8
Shrek
Most frequent director
Jake Kasdan
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Jake Kasdan
Most common genre
Comedy
32 titles
Average runtime
1h 33m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
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
6.5
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
6.7 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Being John Malkovich, Any Given Sunday, There's Something About Mary — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.7
Across 9 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.6
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. Being John Malkovich, Any Given Sunday, There's Something About Mary.
Most productive era
2000s
14 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 | 7.13 films | 7.41 film | 5.83 films | 5.41 film |
| Action | — | 5.72 films | 5.92 films | 6.41 film |
| Thriller | 6.31 film | 5.61 film | 5.31 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.68 films | 6.411 films | 5.910 films | 3.93 films |
| Crime | 6.82 films | 7.41 film | 5.53 films | — |
| Romance | 6.45 films | 6.65 films | 6.01 film | — |
| Horror | — | — | 6.71 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1994The Mask
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Tina Carlyle.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2001Shrek
8.0 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
2027Shrek 5
The current state of the argument, as Princess Fiona (voice).
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.
37 of 37 films
as Princess Fiona (voice)
Directed by Andrew Adamson
as Princess Fiona (voice)
Directed by Andrew Adamson
as Amanda
Directed by Nancy Meyers
as Jenny Everdeane
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Lotte Schwartz
Directed by Spike Jonze
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Princess Fiona (voice)
Shrek (2001)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Princess Fiona (voice) gives Cameron Diaz a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Princess Fiona (voice)
Shrek 2 (2004)
Performance score7.8
Shrek 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Princess Fiona (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Amanda
The Holiday (2006)
Performance score7.7
The Holiday asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Amanda is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jenny Everdeane
Gangs of New York (2002)
Performance score7.7
Gangs of New York asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jenny Everdeane 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 Princess Fiona (voice)
Start here. Shrek is the clearest statement of what Cameron Diaz does — accessible, 90 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Cameron 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.
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Keeps the comedy register of Shrek but asks for a colder reading of it.
Gangs of New York (2002)
Keeps the drama register of Being John Malkovich but asks for a colder reading of it.
Shrek 2 (2004)
A deliberate change of key after Gangs of New York — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Holiday (2006)
Keeps the romance register of Shrek 2 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
McG
Director
2 films together
Notably Charlie's Angels
Simon J. Smith
Director
2 films together
Notably Far Far Away Idol
Andrew Adamson
Director
2 films together
Notably Shrek
Gary Trousdale
Director
2 films together
Notably Scared Shrekless
Jake Kasdan
Director
2 films together
Notably Bad Teacher
Chuck Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably The Mask
Edward Burns
Director
1 film together
Notably She's the One
Danny Boyle
Director
1 film together
Notably A Life Less Ordinary
P.J. Hogan
Director
1 film together
Notably My Best Friend's Wedding
Peter Berg
Director
1 film together
Notably Very Bad Things
Terry Gilliam
Director
1 film together
Notably Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Bobby Farrelly
Director
1 film together
Notably There's Something About Mary
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Any Given Sunday
Spike Jonze
Director
1 film together
Notably Being John Malkovich
Cameron Crowe
Director
1 film together
Notably Vanilla Sky
Roger Kumble
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sweetest Thing
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably Gangs of New York
Nancy Meyers
Director
1 film together
Notably The Holiday
Chris Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Shrek the Third
Tom Vaughan
Director
1 film together
Notably What Happens in Vegas
Richard Kelly
Director
1 film together
Notably The Box
James Mangold
Director
1 film together
Notably Knight and Day
Walt Dohrn
Director
1 film together
Notably Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably Shrek Forever After
Michel Gondry
Director
1 film together
Notably The Green Hornet
Kirk Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably What to Expect When You're Expecting
Michael Hoffman
Director
1 film together
Notably Gambit
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Counselor
Will Gluck
Director
1 film together
Notably Annie
Seth Gordon
Director
1 film together
Notably Back in Action
Jonah Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Outcome
Conrad Vernon
Director
1 film together
Notably Shrek 5
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Andrew Adamson
Director
2 films together · 7.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ShrekGary Trousdale
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Scared ShreklessSimon J. Smith
Director
2 films together · 6.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Far Far Away IdolMcG
Director
2 films together · 5.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Charlie's AngelsJake Kasdan
Director
2 films together · 5.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Bad TeacherMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gangs of New YorkSpike Jonze
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Being John MalkovichTerry Gilliam
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fear and Loathing in Las VegasChuck Russell
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MaskNancy Meyers
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The HolidayCameron Crowe
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Vanilla SkyOliver 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 SundayBobby Farrelly
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
There's Something About MaryP.J. Hogan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Best Friend's WeddingChris Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shrek the ThirdSeth Gordon
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Back in ActionMike Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shrek Forever AfterPeter Berg
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Very Bad ThingsWill Gluck
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AnnieJames Mangold
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Knight and DayDanny Boyle
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Life Less OrdinaryTom Vaughan
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What Happens in VegasKirk Jones
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What to Expect When You're ExpectingWalt Dohrn
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Donkey's Christmas ShrektacularMichel Gondry
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Green HornetRichard Kelly
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The BoxRoger Kumble
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Sweetest ThingMichael Hoffman
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GambitEdward Burns
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She's the OneJonah Hill
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
OutcomeRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The CounselorConrad Vernon
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shrek 5Six 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
Shrek
as Princess Fiona (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Shrek 2
as Princess Fiona (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Shrek
as Princess Fiona (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
as Blonde TV Reporter
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Shrek
as Princess Fiona (voice)
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. Cameron Diaz 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
33 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
32 catalogue titles in comedy, 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
Shrek
as Princess Fiona (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Gangs of New York
as Jenny Everdeane
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Shrek 2
as Princess Fiona (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Vanilla Sky
as Julie Gianni
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Shrek
as Princess Fiona (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
as Natalie Cook
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Shrek 2
as Princess Fiona (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Shrek
as Princess Fiona (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Mark Ruffalo
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Tom Wilkinson
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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